Coaching Hires In The NFL Since 2000

by Chase Stuart on August 21, 2016

In 2000, the Raiders head coach was Jon Gruden. He was traded to Tampa Bay and replaced by Bill Callahan, who was fired after two years. Norv Turner then took over for two years before he was fired. Oakland then brought back Art Shell for one season, before finding the team’s coach of the future with Lane Kiffin. That lasted just over a season; Tom Cable took over as interim head coach and was retained for the full-time gig for a couple of years. Then it was Hue Jackson, and then Dennis Allen, and now Jack Del Rio.

That’s 9 head coaching hires since 2000, the most in the NFL. The table below shows the number of head coaches (excluding interim coaches) for each team since 2000, the year Bill Belichick came to New England. There were 142 of them:

Tm	# HC	Coaches
OAK	9	Jon Gruden; Bill Callahan; Norv Turner; Art Shell; Lane Kiffin; Tom Cable; Hue Jackson; Dennis Allen; Jack Del Rio
CLE	8	Chris Palmer; Butch Davis; Romeo Crennel; Eric Mangini; Pat Shurmur; Rob Chudzinski; Mike Pettine; Hue Jackson
SFO	7	Steve Mariucci; Dennis Erickson; Mike Nolan; Mike Singletary; Jim Harbaugh; Jim Tomsula; Chip Kelly
WAS	7	Norv Turner; Marty Schottenheimer; Steve Spurrier; Joe Gibbs; Jim Zorn; Mike Shanahan; Jay Gruden
BUF	7	Wade Phillips; Gregg Williams; Mike Mularkey; Dick Jauron; Chan Gailey; Doug Marrone; Rex Ryan
DET	6	Bobby Ross; Marty Mornhinweg; Steve Mariucci; Rod Marinelli; Jim Schwartz; Jim Caldwell
KAN	6	Gunther Cunningham; Dick Vermeil; Herman Edwards; Todd Haley; Romeo Crennel; Andy Reid
TAM	6	Tony Dungy; Jon Gruden; Raheem Morris; Greg Schiano; Lovie Smith; Dirk Koetter
MIA	6	Dave Wannstedt; Nick Saban; Cam Cameron; Tony Sparano; Joe Philbin; Adam Gase
ATL	5	Dan Reeves; Jim Mora; Emmitt Thomas; Mike Smith; Dan Quinn
MIN	5	Dennis Green; Mike Tice; Brad Childress; Leslie Frazier; Mike Zimmer
NYJ	5	Al Groh; Herman Edwards; Eric Mangini; Rex Ryan; Todd Bowles
CHI	4	Dick Jauron; Lovie Smith; Marc Trestman; John Fox
IND	4	Jim Mora; Tony Dungy; Jim Caldwell; Chuck Pagano
ARI	4	Dave McGinnis; Dennis Green; Ken Whisenhunt; Bruce Arians
DAL	4	Dave Campo; Bill Parcells; Wade Phillips; Jason Garrett
DEN	4	Mike Shanahan; Josh McDaniels; John Fox; Gary Kubiak
JAX	4	Tom Coughlin; Jack Del Rio; Mike Mularkey; Gus Bradley
NOR	4	Jim Haslett; Sean Payton; Aaron Kromer; Sean Payton
TEN	4	Jeff Fisher; Mike Munchak; Ken Whisenhunt; Mike Mularkey
STL	4	Mike Martz; Scott Linehan; Steve Spagnuolo; Jeff Fisher
SDG	4	Mike Riley; Marty Schottenheimer; Norv Turner; Mike McCoy
CAR	3	George Seifert; John Fox; Ron Rivera
CIN	3	Bruce Coslet; Dick LeBeau; Marvin Lewis
HOU	3	Dom Capers; Gary Kubiak; Bill O'Brien
NYG	3	Jim Fassel; Tom Coughlin; Ben McAdoo
PHI	3	Andy Reid; Chip Kelly; Doug Pederson
SEA	3	Mike Holmgren; Jim Mora; Pete Carroll
GNB	2	Mike Sherman; Mike McCarthy
PIT	2	Bill Cowher; Mike Tomlin
BAL	2	Brian Billick; John Harbaugh
NWE	1	Bill Belichick

Over that time period, John Fox coached for the Panthers, Broncos, and Bears. Norv Turner was the head coach in Washington, Oakland, and San Diego, while also working as the offensive coordinator in San Diego, Miami, San Francisco, Cleveland, and Minnesota. In 2000, Mike Mularkey was the tight ends coach in Pittsburgh; in ’01 he was the Steelers offensive coordinator. He would become the Bills head coach in 2004, the Dolphins offensive coordinator and then tight ends coach, the Falcons offensive coordinator, the Jaguars head coach, the Titans tight ends coach, and now is the Titans head coach.

The Patriots aren’t the only team with impressive stability at head coach: Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Green Bay have each also made just one coaching hire since 2000. And Cincinnati has its own unique situation. But it’s easy to take for granted how dominant Belichick has been for the Patriots since 2000, and data dumps like this help to remind me how much turnover there usually is for head coaches. On average, the other 31 teams have had 4.5 head coaches during this time frame.

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