NFL’s longest tenured head coaches after firings, plus 6 wild coaching trends

January 11, 2024

With Bill Belichick's departure from the New England Patriots and Pete Carroll's new role with the Seattle Seahawks, the list of NFL's longest-tenured head coaches has changed significantly since the end of the 2023 regular season. Ta. Here are some numbers that show the fluctuations in the NFL head coach ranks.

Two of the longest-tenured coaches have both left.

Belichick was hired in 2000 to (ironically) replace Carroll as the Patriots' coach. Carroll took over the position after a successful career at the University of Southern California. seahawks Belichick is the NFL's longest-tenured coach by a considerable margin, with Carroll fourth on the list.

25% of NFL will have new coaches in 2024

At least eight of the 32 teams will have new players on the sidelines for the 2024 season opener. In 2023, that number was just five, in 2022 it was nine, in 2021 seven, in 2020 five, and in 2019 eight. On average, the modern NFL changes seven coaches every recruiting cycle.

Few coaches can see a second contract.

Only six NFL head coaches have been with their current team for more than six seasons. Most head coach contracts are five years, meaning the majority cannot sign twice on the dotted line. In fact, 75% of the leagues have had at least one new coach since 2019, and some have had more.

The goal is the Super Bowl

In the NFL, the Lombardi Trophy is clearly the ultimate goal. Of the six coaches who have been with the team for at least six years, only Sean McDermott and Kyle Shanahan have never won a Super Bowl, and McDermott is the only one who has never played in a Super Bowl. (In addition to the NFC Championship once, Shanahan has appeared in the conference title game two more times, while McDermott has only appeared in the conference championship once.)

NFL head coaches aren't guaranteed a full season

of carolina panthers has hired its second head coach in two offseasons since firing Frank Reich in late November. He coached just 11 games.of denver broncos After firing Nathaniel Hackett after 15 games in his tenure, they hired Sean Payton in 2023.Urban Meyer was fired. jacksonville jaguars After 13 games in 2021.

Belichick is isolated.

Ironically, Belichick has the shortest tenure of any NFL head coach. In 2000 he new york jets But he resigned the next day to take over the Patriots. New England owner Bob Kraft was sending a first-round pick to the Jets in exchange for Belichick, a good move for the Patriots. Per ESPNSince Belichick went to New England, 31 other NFL teams have hired 162 head coaches for a total of 224 stints.