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List of Indianapolis Colts head coaches
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The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are a member of the South Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). In 1953, a Baltimore-based group led by Carroll Rosenbloom won the rights to a new Baltimore franchise. Rosenbloom was granted an NFL team, and was awarded the holdings of the defunct Dallas Texans organization. The team was known as the Baltimore Colts for 31 seasons before moving to Indianapolis in March 1984.
There have been 19 head coaches for the Colts franchise. Keith Molesworth became the first coach of the Baltimore Colts in 1953, but he was reassigned to a different position with the team following the season. In terms of tenure, Weeb Ewbank has led the team for more games (112) and more complete seasons (nine) than any other head coach. He led the team to two of their NFL championships. Four Colts head coaches; Ewbank, Don Shula (3), Ted Marchibroda, and Tony Dungy have been named coach of the year by at least one major news organization. Ewbank, Shula, and Dungy are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 1978, 1997, and 2016 respectively.
Six times in Colts history there were interim head coaches. In 1972, Don McCafferty was fired five games into the season. John Sandusky was named as the interim head coach for the rest of the season, during which he led the Colts to a 4–5 record, but he was not made the permanent coach the next year. In 1974, head coach Howard Schnellenberger started off the season 0–3 and was fired. Joe Thomas assumed the duties of head coach and finished the season at 2–12. In 1991, the Colts started off 0–5 and Ron Meyer was fired as head coach. Rick Venturi was named as the interim for the final 11 games. In 2005 Tony Dungy was forced to miss one game due to personal issues. Jim Caldwell was named as the one game interim. In 2012 offensive coordinator Bruce Arians was named as the interim head coach indefinitely after Chuck Pagano was diagnosed with leukemia four weeks into the 2012 NFL season. Arians led the Colts to a 9–3 record – the record being credited to Pagano – and made the playoffs. Following a 3–5–1 start, Frank Reich was fired and on November 7, 2022, the Indianapolis Colts named Jeff Saturday as the team's interim coach for the rest of the season, during which he led the Colts to a 1–7 record. He was not made the permanent coach the next year.
Key
| † | Spent entire professional NFL head coaching career with the Colts |
|---|
Coaches
:Note: Statistics are accurate through the end of the 2025 NFL season.
| # | Image | Name | Term | Regular season | Playoffs | Awards | Reference | GC | W | L | T | Win% | GC | W | L | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore Colts}};" | Baltimore Colts | ||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Keith Molesworth† | 1953 | 12 | 3 | 9 | 0 | .333 | – | – | – | |||||||
| 2 | [[File:Weeb Ewbank 1961.jpg | 60px]] | Weeb Ewbank* | 1954–1962 | 112 | 59 | 52 | 1 | .527 | 2 | 2 | 0 | AP NFL Coach of the Year (1958) | ||||
| UPI NFL Coach of the Year (1958) | |||||||||||||||||
| 3 | [[File:Don Shula at Giants Stadium.jpg | 60px]] | Don Shula* | 1963–1969 | 98 | 71 | 23 | 4 | .725 | 5 | 2 | 3 | AP NFL Coach of the Year (1964, 1967, 1968) | ||||
| Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year (1964, 1968) | |||||||||||||||||
| Pro Football Weekly NFL Coach of the Year (1968) | |||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Don McCafferty | 1970–1972 | 33 | 22 | 10 | 1 | .667 | 5 | 4 | 1 | |||||||
| 5 | [[File:John Sandusky, American football tackle, in 1952.png | 60px]] | John Sandusky† | 1972 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | .444 | – | – | – | |||||
| 6 | [[File:Howard Schnellenberger Carrfour (headshot).jpg | 60px]] | Howard Schnellenberger† | 1973–1974 | 17 | 4 | 13 | 0 | .235 | – | – | – | |||||
| 7 | [[File:Thomas-Joe-1973.jpg | 60px]] | Joe Thomas† | 1974 | 11 | 2 | 9 | 0 | .182 | – | – | – | |||||
| 8 | [[File:Ted Marchibroda.jpg | 60px]] | Ted Marchibroda | 1975–1979 | 74 | 41 | 33 | 0 | .554 | 3 | 0 | 3 | AP NFL Coach of the Year (1975) | ||||
| Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year (1975) | |||||||||||||||||
| Pro Football Weekly NFL Coach of the Year (1975) | |||||||||||||||||
| UPI NFL Coach of the Year (1975) | |||||||||||||||||
| 9 | [[File:Mike McCormack 1973.JPG | 60px]] | Mike McCormack^ | 1980–1981 | 32 | 9 | 23 | 0 | .281 | – | – | – | |||||
| 10 | Frank Kush† | 1982–1983 | 25 | 7 | 17 | 1 | – | – | – | ||||||||
| Indianapolis Colts}};" | Indianapolis Colts | ||||||||||||||||
| – | Frank Kush† | 1984 | 15 | 4 | 11 | 0 | – | – | – | ||||||||
| 11 | Hal Hunter† | 1984 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | – | – | – | |||||||
| 12 | Rod Dowhower† | 1985–1986 | 29 | 5 | 24 | 0 | .172 | – | – | – | |||||||
| 13 | [[File:Ron Meyer 1982.webp | 60px]] | Ron Meyer | 1986–1991 | 71 | 36 | 35 | 0 | .507 | 2 | 0 | 2 | UPI NFL Coach of the Year (1987) | ||||
| 14 | Rick Venturi | 1991 | 11 | 1 | 10 | 0 | .100 | – | – | – | |||||||
| – | [[File:Ted Marchibroda.jpg | 60px]] | Ted Marchibroda | 1992–1995 | 64 | 30 | 34 | 0 | .469 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |||||
| 15 | Lindy Infante | 1996–1997 | 32 | 12 | 20 | 0 | .375 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||||
| 16 | [[File:Jim E. Mora 2011.jpg | 60px]] | Jim Mora | 1998–2001 | 64 | 32 | 32 | 0 | .500 | 2 | 0 | 2 | |||||
| 17 | [[File:Tony Dungy award cropped.jpg | 60px]] | Tony Dungy* | 2002–2008 | 112 | 85 | 27 | 0 | .759 | 13 | 7 | 6 | Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year (2005) | ||||
| Maxwell Football Club NFL Coach of the Year (2005) | |||||||||||||||||
| 18 | [[File:Jim Caldwell 2016.jpg | 60px]] | Jim Caldwell | 2009–2011 | 48 | 26 | 22 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | ||||||
| 19 | [[File:Chuck pagano ravens.jpg | 60px]] | Chuck Pagano† | 2012–2017 | 96 | 53 | 43 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | ||||||
| 20 | [[File:Frank Reich Behind enemy lines (cropped).png | 60px]] | Frank Reich | 2018–2022 | 74 | 40 | 33 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| 21 | [[File:Jeff Saturday 2022 (cropped).jpg | Jeff Saturday 2022 (cropped) | 60px]] | Jeff Saturday† | 2022 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 0 | – | – | – | |||||
| 22 | [[File:Shane Steichen.jpg | 60px]] | † | 2023–present | 51 | 25 | 26 | 0 | – | – | – |
Notes
References
;General
;Specific
References
- "Indianapolis Colts". Pro Football Hall of Fame.
- "Baltimore Colts: Historical Moments". Baltimore Colts.
- (November 18, 1998). "Coach Ewbank Laid To Rest". CBS News.
- "Don Shula: NFL Coaching Legend". Nationwide.
- "Indianapolis Colts: Historical Moments". Indianapolis Colts.
- (December 22, 2005). "Dungy's son, 18, found dead in Tampa suburb". ESPN.
- (October 2012). "Chuck Pagano battling leukemia". ESPN.
- "Keith Molesworth". databaseSports.com.
- "NFL Coach of the Year Award". HickokSports.com.
- "Weeb Ewbank". databaseSports.com.
- "Don Shula". databaseSports.com.
- "Don McCafferty". databaseSports.com.
- "John Sandusky". databaseSports.com.
- "Howard Schnellenberger". databaseSports.com.
- "Joe Thomas". databaseSports.com.
- "Ted Marchibroda". databaseSports.com.
- "Mike McCormack". databaseSports.com.
- "Frank Kush Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Sports Reference LLC.
- "Hal Hunter Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Sports Reference LLC.
- "Rod Dowhower". databaseSports.com.
- "Ron Meyer". databaseSports.com.
- "Rick Venturi". databaseSports.com.
- "Lindy Infante". databaseSports.com.
- "Jim Mora". databaseSports.com.
- "Tony Dungy". databaseSports.com.
- "Jim Caldwell Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Sports Reference LLC.
- "Chuck Pagano Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Sports Reference LLC.
- "Frank Reich Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Sports Reference LLC.
- "Jeff Saturday Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks".
- "Shane Steichen Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Sports Reference LLC.
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