Joe Bugel and Emmitt Thomas won the 2018 Paul “Dr. Z” Zimmerman Award for lifetime achievement as assistant coaches. The Pro Football Writers of America has given the award since 2014.
Bobb McKittrick, Jim McNally and Dave Toub were the other finalists.
Bugel spent 27 of 32 NFL seasons as an assistant coach and is best known for building Washington’s famous Hogs offensive line. He coached in three Super Bowls.
Bugel was offensive coordinator (1981-82) and assistant head coach/offense (1983-89) in Washington. He was the Cardinals head coach from 1990-93, the Raiders assistant head coach/offense from 1995-96 and the Raiders head coach in 1997. He coached the Chargers offensive line from 1998-2001 before returning to Washington from 2004-09 as an assistant. He retired after the 2009 season.
Thomas, inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a player in 2008, is in his ninth season coaching the Chiefs defensive backs.
He began his coaching career with the Cardinals (1981-85) and has coached in Washington (1986-94), Philadelphia (1995-98), Green Bay (1999), Minnesota (2000-01) and Atlanta (2002-09). Thomas was Atlanta’s interim head coach for the final three games of 2007.
He has coached in two Super Bowls.