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According to information released this week, the National Football League has eight head football coaching job openings for the league’s 32 franchises. That is a 25% turnover rate in one season.
Think about that number as it applies to your office.
If a quarter of your company’s staff was replaced every year, most of us might believe your company would seem to be a rather unstable and risky place to work.
So, with eight NFL franchises tossing their current head coaches overboard, why would anyone want to jump in to replace them?
Three primary reasons come to mind. Money, control, and ego (plus a new job title on your resume).
Let’s start with money. According to some reports, NFL head coaching annual pay in 2018 ranged from about $10 million (Bill Belichick, New England and Jon Gruden, Oakland Raiders) down to about $3.5 million at the lower end.
From the NFL owner’s perspective, paying the team’s strategic leader this kind of money is pocket change in comparison to the team’s player payroll of about $200 million per season. If things don’t work out well, a slump in ticket sales alone can justify making a coaching change.
Now, let’s look at the control aspect. Some coaches like being in control of the entirety of the team instead of just one side of the ball on offense or defense.
The most consistently winning franchises will have a good balance on both offense and defense. A successful head coach will try to get both sides of the ball playing to their maximum potential. The selection and supervision of assistant coaches by the head coach are tantamount to success.
From the owner’s perspective, NFL coaches usually have some input to player selection. However, the ultimate decision on players rests with the team’s general manager. A great coaching staff with only mediocre NFL players will usually result in mediocre team records, too.
Finally, let’s examine the ego side of becoming an NFL head coach. For all football players and most coaches, the National Football League marks the pinnacle of success in the sport of football.
Though many coaches are content to make very good money (and have lower stress) by remaining a successful assistant coach, the internal drive (ego) will lead certain coaches to try their hand at driving the ultimate thrill machine – an NFL franchise.
Even legendary college football coaches like Nick Saban and Steve Spurrier felt the need to try their hand at the professional level. Though these two coaches ultimately returned to college coaching, the need to achieve can become a never-ending quest.
A good question was posed to me this week by my daughter-in-law. “What happens to all of these eight coaches after they have been fired? Do they just recycle them and get picked by another team?”
Generally, most NFL coaches will be paid the remainder of their contract after being fired.
Hue Jackson (Cleveland), Mike McCarthy (Green Bay), Dirk Koetter (Tampa Bay), Todd Bowles (New York Jets), Vance Joseph (Denver), Adam Gase (Miami), Marvin Lewis (Cincinnati), and Steve Wilks (Arizona) were initially hired to bring more wins than losses to the field this season.
Some of these names will resurface again in 2019 as head coaching candidates with other teams (McCarthy and Gase are mentioned early in the annual coaching carousel). Others may regroup and sit out for a year or become assistant coaches again. A few may try their hand at something else (like becoming a television analyst).
Statistically speaking, only 15 of the NFL’s 32 teams had a winning season in 2018. That left 17 teams with a losing season this season. From within the losing group of teams, eight head coaches were fired.
According to a report, the new head coach selected to take the helm at one of these franchises will have a career span of about three seasons.
Who has the longest NFL head coaching tenure? New England’s Bill Belechick started in the year 2000 and just completed his 18th season. Next in line are Sean Payton with the New Orleans Saints (2006), Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh (2007) and John Harbaugh with Baltimore (2008).
These four coaches (with career winning records of roughly 60% or more) represent the only NFL head coaches who have remained employed for ten years or more in the same location. That represents only 12.5% of the total number of NFL franchises.
Which current NFL coach has the longest tenure with a losing record? As of this writing, that would be Jay Gruden of the Washington Redskins. He has posted a measly .444 winning percentage after taking the reins in 2014.
The moral of this story? If you want to become the next head coach of an NFL franchise, make sure that you sign a solid long-term contract which will provide you and your family with some financial security.
The odds of succeeding as an NFL head coach for ten years or more are definitely against you.