The 2026 regular season kicks off on September 10, and ten teams will enter it with a brand-new head coach. The league produced a record-tying ten head-coaching openings this cycle - and every vacancy has now been filled.
Some organizations were praised for their hires. Others were criticized for recycling familiar names. Some bet on established veterans with decades of experience. But is experience still the safest route to success?
There was a clear common denominator among many coaches who got fired during or after the 2025 campaign: age. The average age of dismissed head coaches was 51.1. Pete Carroll was 74 when the Las Vegas Raiders let him go after a disastrous one-year stint.
John Harbaugh, 63, was dismissed after Baltimore missed the postseason despite rostering Lamar Jackson and adding Derrick Henry. Since winning the Super Bowl in 2013, the Ravens reached just one AFC Championship Game - and lost it.
Sean McDermott, 51, was fired by the Buffalo Bills after the franchise lost in the Divisional Round Game. The Bills became the first team in NFL history to win at least one playoff game in six consecutive seasons without reaching a Super Bowl. Even with MVP quarterback Josh Allen, they couldn’t break through.
The issue wasn’t just losing. It was stagnation. The consensus about Harbaugh was that he failed to adapt his strategies. Widely known for his conservative approach, it feels like the game eventually got in front of him, and his established, outdated-for-some methods couldn’t keep up with current trends & players he had on the roster.
Football evolves rapidly. Offensive systems expand. Defensive schemes adjust. Analytics influence decision-making. What worked five years ago may already be outdated. Carroll spent 14 years with the Seattle Seahawks. He coached them to a Super Bowl win in 2014 and another Super Bowl appearance the following season.
But then a drought came, even though Seattle made the postseason multiple times, Carroll couldn’t make another deep playoff run.
Veteran coaches often face a difficult challenge: abandoning philosophies that once made them successful. When the game shifts faster than they do, the results follow. Oftentimes, innovation is older coaches’ Achilles heel. They have been coaching in a certain way for so long that they cannot see past their preferred strategies. It has always worked for them.
So, why shake things up now? But with all the movement that the sport has, and younger and smarter coaches taking over, the old ways slowly start betraying the established leaders.
Now, youth alone doesn’t guarantee success. Younger coaches aren't flawless. They lack experience, can struggle in high-pressure moments, and are still refining their identities. But recent trends suggest that adaptability - often found in younger hires - is winning out.
Statistics don’t lie. In the 2025 season, teams led by younger coaches had more success. That’s a fact. In 2025, most playoff teams were led by coaches 46 or younger.
Most teams advancing to the postseason had coaches who were 46 years old or younger. Jaguars’ Liam Coen, 40, needed just one year to coach Jacksonville to a playoff berth and a 13-4 record.
DeMeco Ryans, 41, took over the Houston Texans in January 2023. He guided the Texans into the postseason every year and transformed them into one of the best defensive teams in the league. The list of rising, successful young coaches could go on.
And then there is Seattle. After the team was stagnant for years, the leadership parted ways with Carroll after the 2023 season. They hired Mike Macdonald, then 36 - the youngest head coach in the NFL.
Two seasons later, he delivered a Super Bowl title.
It seems like the NFL teams have finally started recognizing that adaptiveness, innovation, and boldness play crucial roles in winning games. It all started back in 2017 with the Los Angeles Rams.
Almost 10 years ago, the Rams took a chance on Sean McVay. Only 30 years old at the time, McVay was fearless. He believed in a courageous offensive strategy, was willing to take risks, and constantly studied the game. It only took him a year to flip the franchise culture around and transform the Rams’ offense into one of the most lethal in the NFL.
In his second season, he reached the Super Bowl. In 2022, he won it - becoming the youngest head coach ever to lift the Lombardi Trophy. The “Sean McVay effect” reshaped hiring strategies across the league.
Teams began searching for their own version of the innovative, fearless offensive architect who could modernize an organization overnight. Some found success. Others are still searching.
Some called it a coaching youth revolution. The outcome was the same - the youth reshaped the NFL. McVay served as the foundation. He took over a team that was in shambles. In 2016, Los Angeles was struggling, ranking last in points, total yards, and first downs.
Under McVay’s leadership, the Rams became a nightmare for every defense. They finished 2017 as the league’s top offensive team. McVay took the Rams to the postseason in his first season tenure, ending the organization’s twelve-year playoff drought. To everyone’s expectation, he was named the AP NFL Coach of the Year.
His outstanding success produced a phenomenon. Suddenly, every losing team wanted to be part of it. So, teams started replicating the strategy. They started focusing on younger coaches who possessed a similar mindset to McVay. In the eyes of many, he was considered a football mastermind. But more teams wanted, or still want, to find their own.
That is exactly why more teams have chosen to go down the youth path. The Saints, Bears, Bills, Colts, just to name a few. And those teams have been having success. Chicago struggled early in the decade until Ben Johnson took over before this season. The Bears had a great year until the Rams ended their season in the Divisional Round Game.
The results speak for themselves - and that’s why the coaching carousel of the same old names needs to shut down, for the most part. Of course, it would be foolish to say that veteran coaches experiencing losing seasons and failures should be written off.
Mike Vrabel, 50, took over a 4–13 Patriots team and turned it into a 14–3 contender in one season. New England fell short in the Super Bowl, but the transformation was undeniable. His prior stint in Tennessee ended in dismissal, yet his second opportunity proved different.
But second chances don’t always work. The Las Vegas Raiders hired Pete Carroll in January 2025 to help a struggling franchise. Unable to make improvements, the Raiders posted the worst record in the NFL this season. Carroll was fired in January 2026.
This time, the Raiders pivoted toward youth, hiring 38-year-old Klint Kubiak fresh off a Super Bowl win as Seattle’s offensive coordinator. It’s a clear bet on innovation over familiarity. Other franchises chose differently. And that is, without a doubt, okay.
But only time will tell whether it was a wise decision. The New York Giants recently hired Jim Harbaugh. The Giants haven’t had a winning record since 2022. Can 63-year-old Harbaugh turn things around and make the Giants competitive again?
The same rings true for the Steelers. After 19 incredible seasons, Mike Tomlin stepped down. Pittsburgh appointed Mike McCarthy, 62, as the new head coach. Despite his rich coaching resume, experts labelled the move as controversial. The fanbase expressed concerns.
These decisions will be judged quickly.
Every NFL team is hungry for success. Nowadays, there is no tolerance for extensive loss and no room for lengthy rebuilding. New coaches must lay down a winning foundation right away – patience in the NFL is dead. Once again, statistics don’t lie. During the 2000s, only four coaches were fired after a single season. In the 2010s, that number rose to five. Halfway through the 2020s, eight coaches have already been one-and-done. And the decade is only halfway through!
Everybody wants a quick turnaround. And there are only two options - going the recycling route or trying to find a new up-and-coming guy, hoping he will emerge as one of the great leaders. The latter option seems to have more success recently. The 2026 season will reveal which organizations read the moment correctly - and which may soon find themselves back on the coaching carousel.
In today’s NFL, adaptability isn’t optional. It’s success and survival.