Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald. Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

NFL coaching undergoing a youth movement

By Bruce Ewing | Last updated 2/5/24

They say age is just a number but with eight new hires for 2024, how do the numbers look for NFL head coaches?

At the start of the 2023 season, the average NFL head coach was 49.6 years old. Former Patriots coach Bill Belichick was the oldest (71) and Rams coach Sean McVay was the youngest (37).

In September, the league had four coaches in their ‘30s, five in their ‘60s and two in their ‘70s. Now that the septuagenarians (Belichick and Seattle’s Pete Carroll) are gone, the average NFL head coach is now 47 years old.

New England’s Jerod Mayo was briefly the league’s youngest coach (37) until the Seahawks hired former Ravens DC Mike Macdonald (36). Among new coaching hires, Mayo, Macdonald and the Titans’ Brian Callahan (39) are the only three under the age of 40.

This year, the league will see eight new head coaches with an average age of 44.8 years, replacing coaches with an average age of 55.5 years.

The oldest coach to join the NFL is the Chargers’ Jim Harbaugh (60). Harbaugh coached the Michigan Wolverines to a national championship in 2023 but was the 49ers head coach from 2011-14 and even coached against his big brother John Harbaugh (61) in Super Bowl XLVII.

Super Bowl LVIII will feature the NFL’s oldest coach, Andy Reid (65) against one of the league’s younger coaches Kyle Shanahan (44). After 25 years as an NFL head coach, Reid clearly has an edge in terms of experience. But Shanahan has been around football his entire life.

Thanks to his father, the 49ers coach literally grew up in NFL locker rooms. His father Mike Shanahan (71) spent 20 years as an NFL head coach, starting with the Raiders and ending in Washington where his son served as the team’s offensive coordinator from 2010-13.

So even as the NFL coaches get younger, there still seems to be no substitute for experience. With two coaches from the “old guard” about to meet for a championship, the kids may have to wait.

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