RE: the best coondog
We have a Walker/Black & Tan cross that is the coonhunting-est dog you've ever seen. She is amazing to watch. We also have a Redtick/Black & Tan cross that looks like a yellow lab with long ears and a curly tail. She really doesn't hunt much. The Redtick or English houndwe have is a crazy hunting lion dog. It seems to be more about the dog itself rather than the breed.
Two suggestions though... 1. treat your coonhound like a family pet. My husband raised coonhounds and beagles most his life, and they were true kennel dog. Hunting is the only time they got doggie-loving (at least they hunted them all the time). I refused to have a dog stuck in a kennel that we just feed and don't pay attention to other than that. My husband now has a totally different outlook. If you treat coonhounds like family, they will hunt harder and better for you. We have an aquaintence that has national treeing champ black & tans, and those dogs are even more spoiled than ours. Nothing wrong with a coonhound on the couch!
2. sometime you can have trouble with very hard hunting dogs getting along with the rest of the pack. We have 5 large dogs, and the W/B & T cross can get pretty rough with the rest if she hasn't been hunted enough.
Either way coonhounds (and german shorthairs) are the greatest dogs.