Who’s the Youngest Head Coach in the NFL?
Contents
Who’s the Youngest Head Coach in the NFL?
Introduction
In the National Football League (NFL), there have been several youngest head coaches. The title of youngest head coach ever goes to Lane Kiffin, who was hired by the Oakland Raiders at the age of 31. The current youngest head coach is Zac Taylor of the Cincinnati Bengals, who is 35 years old.
Current youngest head coach
The current youngest head coach in the NFL is Matt LaFleur, who is 40 years old. LaFleur was hired by the Green Bay Packers in 2019.
Previous youngest head coaches
In 2002, the Oakland Raiders appointed Lane Kiffin as their head coach, making him at the time, the NFL’s youngest head coach at 31 years and 45 days old.
Kiffin was surpassed by Steve Wilks, who was hired as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals in 2018 at 48 years and128 days old.
The current youngest head coach in the NFL is Zac Taylor of the Cincinnati Bengals. At 35 years and 137 days old, he is more than 13 years younger than Bill Belichick, who is currently the oldest head coach in the league.
Age of current NFL head coaches
The average age of NFL head coaches is 53 years old. The New York Jets’ Adam Gase is the youngest active head coach at 40 years old, while Seattle Seahawks’ Pete Carroll is the oldest at 67 years old.
NFL head coaching experience
Of the 32 current NFL head coaches, only one has less than five years of experience as an NFL head coach. That would be Matt LaFleur of the Green Bay Packers, who is in his second year as an NFL head coach. LaFleur is also the only current NFL head coach who has never been a head coach at any level of football prior to the NFL.
NFL head coaching success
The NFL has seen a recent trend of hiring young, offensive-minded head coaches. In the last five years, six of the eight youngest head coaches have been hired (Sean McVay, Zac Taylor, Kliff Kingsbury, Matt Patricia, Adam Gase and Kyle Shanahan). All six of these coaches are under 40 years old, with McVay being the youngest at just 33 years old.
So far, this trend has been a success. In the last five years, three of the six young head coaches have led their teams to the playoffs (Shanahan, McVay and Kingsbury). Patricia and Gase have also had some success, winning 10 games each in 2018. Only Taylor has struggled in his first two seasons, winning just nine games total.
With this recent success, it’s no surprise that teams are continuing to hire young head coaches. In 2020, three more coaches under 40 were hired: Joe Judge (38), Matt Rhule (44) and Kevin Stefanski (37). Only time will tell if they can continue this trend of success.
Conclusion
Based on our research, it appears that the youngest current head coach in the NFL is Kliff Kingsbury of the Arizona Cardinals, who is just 40 years old. There are several other young coaches in the league (including Zac Taylor of the Cincinnati Bengals, who is just 35), but Kingsbury is currently the youngest.
