Seahawks Blog
Danny O'Neil covers the Seahawks for The Seattle Times.
SubscribeFebruary 4, 2008 11:49 AM
Golden oldies
Posted by Danny O'Neil
It took Tom Coughlin a little while.
More than 200 games as NFL head coach, to be more precise, but the man who's currently the third-oldest coach in the league won a Super Bowl in his first crack.
| New coaches by age | ||
| Year |
Number of new coaches |
Average age |
| 2007 | 7 | 45 years, 364 days |
| 2006 | 10 | 48 years, 171 days |
| 2005 | 3 | 52 years, 318 days |
| 2004 | 7 | 51 years, 194 days |
| 2003 | 4 | 50 years, 355 days |
| 2002 | 8 | 49 years, 267 days |
| 2001 | 7 | 52 years, 163 days |
| 2000 | 8 | 48 years, 143 days |
| 1999 | 9 | 49 years, 171 days |
| 1998 | 4 | 48 years, 21 days |
| 1997 | 10 | 52 years, 69 days |
| 1996 | 6 | 54 years, 67 days |
| 1995 | 8 | 46 years, 269 days |
| 1994 | 6 | 50 years, 179 days |
| 1993 | 5 | 48 years, 332 days |
| 2002 | 9 | 48 years, 206 days |
| Ages listed for date of first game as head coach | ||
Will that spur a change in the coaching demographics?
Nothing inspires imitation in the NFL more than success. The New York Jets hired Eric Mangini in 2006, the team makes the playoffs and the very next season there's two more 30-somethings hired to coach NFL teams: Lane Kiffin in Oakland, Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh.
Seven NFL coaches were hired last offseason, their average age was 45 years, 364 days. That's the youngest average age of new hires since at least 1992. The next closest was 1995 when the average age of the eight coaches hired as head coaches was 46 years, 269 days. Below is a chart that includes the number of coaching changes per year from 1992 to the present and lists the average age of the new hires.
Three coaches have been hired this offseason. John Harbaugh in Baltimore is the youngest. He's 45. Miami's Tony Sparano is the oldest at 56 and Mike Smith in Atlanta is 48. Washington still has a vacancy.
Of course, all those hires occurred before the Giants completed their most improbable run to a championship, but the success under Coughlin may have some resonance around the league. After all, this was a guy who'd had his shot in Jacksonville and as recently as last season was seen as a coach capable of getting a team to the playoffs, but perhaps not much more. Now, he's got a Super Bowl ring.
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NewsvinePosted by free beer
10:04 AM, Feb 05, 2008
This is such a lonely blog, it's almost depressing!
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Posted by -k
4:30 PM, Feb 04, 2008
All this shows is that the average age of a coaching hire is not variable enough to matter. Over the last 15 years no yearly average is more than 1 standard deviation away from the mean. Yes, younger coaches are hired, but then again so are some old guys. Statistically it all evens out.