Trends Surrounding Seven NFL Head Coaching Changes
In concert with draft week every spring is the beginning of my NFL offseason prep work. I have a time-tested routine I do annually that includes several different exercises to help me get ready for the upcoming season. Things happen 365 days a year in the league, and with the media saturation it enjoys, it’s almost impossible to miss any of the major storylines. Of course, the first thing I always do in my routine for VSiN readers is to look at all of the new NFL head coaches affecting teams for the upcoming season.
Again, in 2024, several new faces will command the sidelines for various clubs. In fact, seven new men will be put in charge of franchises across the league, four of them rookies and the other three veterans who served in the same capacity previously in other locales. With any changes like this, there is a good supply of data that we can use to make projections for the upcoming season.
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As I begin my annual spring preparations for the upcoming NFL season, which will then be followed by college football prep, I dig deep into the recent data surrounding coaching changes and use it to get a feel for what might happen in 2024 with the current group of new coaches. Without giving away too much early, I can tell you that based upon the crunching of different data sets, the early prospects for the teams with first-time head coaches are typically far brighter when compared to the teams that are bringing in new but experienced head coaches.
Here is a look at each of those new head coaches who will be leading franchises in 2024:
Rookie Head Coaches for 2024
Dave Canales, CAROLINA
It was a mess in Carolina from the get-go last season as the Panthers lost their first six games under newly hired Frank Reich. Making matters worse, experts were already questioning the franchise’s decision to draft QB Bryce Young with the #1 pick last April. He was let go after Reich’s team fell to 1-10. Interim replacement Chris Tabor coached the rest of the way. Ultimately, it was a 2-15 season, and the team was outscored 24.5-13.9. The only positive news for rookie NFL head coach Dave Canales is that the disastrous 2023 campaign has left expectations very low for his first season. There is nowhere to go but up.
Canales earned a shot at a head coaching gig after spending the last 14 seasons as an assistant at Seattle and, most recently, Tampa Bay, where he spent the 2023 season as the Bucs’ offensive coordinator. This is generally not considered a splash hire, and it probably shouldn’t be for a team in true rebuild mode. Young’s continued development and the ability to get enhanced production from the offense will be critical for this team to realize any improvement. The OC duties now belong to Brad Idzik, who comes over with Canales from Tampa, where he was wide receivers coach.
Jerod Mayo, NEW ENGLAND
I’m not sure there has ever been a coach in the NFL with bigger shoes to fill than that of rookie NFL head coach Jerod Mayo for the Patriots. Replacing a legend is never easy, and in this case, it’s unheard of, as outgoing Bill Belichick won a record six Super Bowl titles for New England. However, since QB Tom Brady left a few years ago, it’s been increasingly obvious that the franchise had to make the difficult decision to move on from that successful era.
Interestingly, Mayo was a linebacker for one of those championship teams in 2010, so he already knows how great things can be in Foxboro. He has a big job to do, with the Patriots coming off a 4-13 season, their fewest wins in a campaign since 1992. The biggest question for them will be under center, as they haven’t gotten consistent production from the quarterback position since Brady left.
The team made a huge draft night move to straighten out that situation by choosing Drake Maye out of North Carolina with the #3 pick. The offense averaged an anemic 13.9 PPG in 2023. Mayo’s coordinators, who will shoulder much of the responsibility, are Alex Van Pelt on offense and DeMarcus Covington on defense. Van Pelt comes over from Cleveland.
Mike Macdonald, SEATTLE
While not quite the legend-replacement scenario in New England, there is still a lot of pressure on Mike Macdonald to take over for Pete Carroll, who has been in Seattle since 2010. The fewest games the Seahawks won in any regular season during that time was seven, so success has become the norm. Macdonald has seen his own success as a defensive coordinator for the Ravens over the last couple of seasons. Including the postseason, his team allowed just 16.2 PPG in 2023.
Like most successful franchises in the NFL, Seattle has been hit hard by the salary cap, as their key players have advanced in age and experience. The transition to a younger, more financially flexible team began in recent years but will probably be kicked into higher gear with a rookie coach at the helm. Just this past February, the franchise restructured the contract of QB Geno Smith, and they may find their long-term replacement in the draft.
Coming off a 9-8 season, the experts at DraftKings have set the Seattle win total at 7.5 for 2024, a sign that those in the know see a bit of regression for the team in the first year post-Carroll.
Brian Callahan, TENNESSEE
The removal of the popular Mike Vrabel as head coach of the Titans was one of the more controversial coaching moves of the offseason. He had a pretty solid six-year run with the franchise, and even as the team slipped below .500 in each of the last two years after a 41-24 record prior, most experts never felt the coaching was the problem.
With that backdrop, Brian Callahan enters his first NFL head coaching situation. Like the father-son of Tom and Tommy Callahan from the Auto Parts dynasty in the movie Tommy Boy, the Bill-Brian coaching family tree is also well-respected in NFL circles. The elder Callahan was a Super Bowl coach for the Raiders about 20 years ago. His son has worked his way up the ranks as an assistant in the league since 2010, most recently as the OC at Cincinnati.
If any of the rookie NFL head coaches has a shot at reviving a team early, it would have to be Callahan. He has the benefit of taking over a competent defensive team that allowed just 21.6 PPG and boasts what could already be its quarterback of the future in Will Levis, who showed some very good signs in his rookie season of 2023.
The Titans have a posted win total of 6.5 after going 6-11 last season. If recent history of successful first-year coaches holds true for Callahan, they could rightfully get to nine wins or more.
Rookie Head Coach Recent History
The most important question that bettors need to ask themselves as they prepare to handicap these new head coaches heading into the 2024 season is how they tend to fare, both early and overall. While there is no preset formula for predicting the success level of rookie NFL head coaches, I can tell you that, in general, they tend to make their teams better in their first seasons.
However, it certainly isn’t automatic, as proven by the Urban Meyer debacle in Jacksonville in 2022. He was fired after 13 games, and as he didn’t complete a full season, he is not on our chart or in the analysis.
On the flip side, there have been some major success stories lately, most recently DeMeco Ryans of the Texans, who guided his team to a 10-7 record and playoff win last season after taking over a 3-13-1 team from 2022. Shane Steichen of the Colts also helped his team improve by five wins last year. In 2022, Kevin O’Connell of the Vikings and Brian Daboll of the Giants led their teams to five-win improvements and playoff appearances.
While not 100% reliable, there are some things that we can look for as potential hints of what to expect. I’ll go through some of those things in a little bit. Here is a chart showing all of the rookie full-season head coach results over the last 10 seasons.
Over the last decade, 40 different coaches have started their careers and lasted at least one full season. For each coach, you’ll find their record that season, the next season, and the franchise’s record in the season before that coach took over.
VIEW ROOKIE HEAD COACH CHART HERE
A few highlights from this chart:
- For the most part, rookie head coaches have successfully improved their teams in their first seasons. In fact, over the last 10 years, of the 40 different first-time head coaches that spent a full season with their new teams, 26 have led their teams to improved won-lost marks, six have produced equal records, and only eight have seen their teams drop. In 2023, two rookies’ teams improved, and one stayed the same.
- The average win improvement by rookie NFL head coaches over the last decade has been 2.0 wins per season. The greatest improvement seasons have been seven wins by any team, and that has happened for five different coaches, most recently DeMeco Ryans of Houston in 2023.
- Matt LaFleur of Green Bay has been the most successful rookie coach over the last decade. He not only won 13 games in his rookie season but followed that up with the same total the next two seasons as well. After a down year in 2022, he had his Packers’ team back in the playoffs last season, and they are expected to be one of the top teams in the NFC this fall.
- Brian Daboll of the Giants set a new benchmark for the last decade by going 13-4 ATS in 2022-23, beating the old mark of 12-4 set by Matt Nagy of Chicago in 2018.
- The worst decline of a team after hiring a first-time coach was by Arizona in 2018, as the Cardinals went from 8-8 in 2017 to 3-13 under Steve Wilks. He was let go after that miserable campaign. Two other rookie coaches oversaw four-win drops. Of those three, only Zac Taylor of Cincinnati is still employed in the same position.
- Taylor had the worst first-year mark of rookie coaches over the last decade, going 2-14 in 2019. However, his career turned around quickly, so much to the point that he was coaching the team in the Super Bowl in his fourth season and another AFC title game following the 2022 season. The Bears’ Matt Eberflus came close to matching Taylor’s first-year futility in 2022, going 3-14. After a 7-10 campaign last year, Eberflus and Chicago hope to use the draft’s #1 pick, likely QB Caleb Williams, as an immediate springboard to playoff contention.
- Of the 33 coaches to stick around for a second season with a team over the last decade, only 14 have built upon their rookie campaign with an improved win total the next season. Doug Pederson and Nick Sirianni, coincidentally both of Philadelphia, are the shining stars of that bunch, leading their Eagles to the Super Bowl in their second seasons. The difference in the two resumes? Pederson won an NFL title; Sirianni’s team came up short. Interestingly, Pederson also led a six-game turnaround as a retread in Jacksonville in 2022.
- In terms of statistical improvements, Sean McVay’s 2017 Rams team made the biggest jump in scoring under any first-year head coach of the last decade, improving by 15.9 PPG. Defensively, Ben McAdoo’s Giants of 2016 improved their points allowed total by 9.8 PPG under his leadership.
- The worst offensive decline guided by any first-year head coach over the last decade came in 2022 with David Culley at Houston, who dropped by 7.5 PPG. Vance Joseph’s 2017 Broncos fell the worst defensively, going from 18.6 PPG allowed in 2016 to 23.9 PPG allowed.
As far as the new head coaches for 2024, here are a few rookie coaching systems to keep an eye on:
- Of the 35 rookie head coaches who inherited teams that finished under .500 the prior season, 26 led their teams to better records the next season, and 16 finished over .500 in that first year. Three of the four coaches in this current rookie crop (Carolina, New England, Tennessee) finished well under .500 in 2023-24, so that would mean that chances are at least two would figure to improve. If the number is two, my guesses would be Carolina and New England, if for no other reason than they have the most room to do so.
- Of the 11 rookie NFL head coaches over the last 10 seasons who inherited offenses that scored at least 23.5 PPG the prior season, only one saw his team produce a worse record the next season. The others improved by about 3.1 wins per season. None of the four rookie coaches for 2024 will be fortunate enough to inherit this situation.
- Obviously, there has been a lot of room to grow when a new head coach takes over a team that scored less than 18 PPG the prior season. There have been immediate results for this lucky group of coaches, as all nine teams that fit this bill over the last decade have improved by an average of 5.3 wins per season, including Ryans and Steichen last year. For 2024, count Canales of Carolina, Mayo of New England, and Callahan of Tennessee as coaches whose teams have the greatest room for improvement.
- Point differential has also proven to be a good indicator of potential improvement as none of the last 11 rookie coaches to inherit teams that were outscored by 7.5 PPG or more saw their teams get worse in that first season. In fact, 10 of them improved their franchise’s win total that first season by an average of 4.6 wins per! For 2024, we have two candidates: Canales (Carolina) and Mayo (New England).
As far as in-season game-by-game betting opportunities, it should be noted that rookie NFL head coaches have produced a regular season record of 299-354-2 SU and 324-316-15 ATS (50.6%) over the last decade. In other words, they lose more than they win on the scoreboard but hold their own at the betting window. Here are some other things to consider regarding betting on and against rookie head coaches throughout the NFL season:
- Rookie head coaches have been far more proficient at covering point spreads on the road over the last decade. Here is the breakdown: Home games: 152-167-8 ATS (47.6%). Road/Neutral games: 172-149-7 ATS (55.3%). It seems as if oddsmakers may be tending to shade lines against these rookie coaches on the road, wrongly assuming the pressure and difficulty of the road environments will impact the execution levels. At 55.3%, these coaches are obviously worthy of consideration in road games.
- Rookie head coaches have won as big favorites, but covering point spreads has been a different story. In fact, as favorites of 7 points or more since 2014, rookie head coaches are 35-6 SU, good for 85.4% outright, but have gone just 16-23-2 ATS, a covering rate of just 41%.
- Rookie head coaches have also struggled in the large underdog role, going 29-118 SU (19.7%) and 71-74-2 ATS (49%) when catching seven points or more since 2013.
- Ironically, its in the games where coaching figures to matter most (+6.5 to -6.5 lines) where rookie head coaches enjoy better point spread success rates. Their record in this line window over the last decade is 235-230-2 SU and 237-219-11 ATS (52%).
- In a trend that seems to make sense as far as familiarity is concerned, the more familiar the opponent, the less successful rookie head coaches have been. Take a look at these ATS winning percentages by opponent type since 2013: Divisional games 112-121-6 ATS (48.1%), Conference games 122-116-4 ATS (51.3%), Non-conference games 90-78-5 ATS (53.5%). These are not groundbreaking betting numbers by any means, but it could serve as a foundational concept that the more familiar the opponent, the less successful the rookie coach.
- Rookie head coaches have shown a tendency to start and finish their first season most successfully when it comes to covering point spreads. Since 2013, in games #1-#4 of their first seasons, they’ve combined to go 81-75-6 ATS, good for 51.9%. In games #5-#12, they’ve gone 152-159-9 ATS (48.9%). To close the season in games #13-#17, the record has been 91-82-2 ATS (52.6%). Again, these are not awe-inspiring patterns, but there is some foundation to this. Think of these trends when you see the schedules of the four rookie head coaches in 2024 released shortly.
- Among the key challenges new head coaches face is keeping teams grounded after wins and keeping them together after losses. Rookie head coaches have been better at the latter. When coming off losses, rookie NFL head coaches own a record of 191-176-6 ATS (52%) since 2014. After wins, they’ve done measurably worse, 132-139-9 ATS (48.8%).
- Rookie head coaches have also struggled in the revenge spot. When taking on a team they lost to earlier that season, they are just 25-45 SU and 31-38-1 ATS (44.9%) in the follow-up contest.
New “Retread” Head Coaches for 2024
Raheem Morris, ATLANTA
Two of the “retread” coaches bring plus-.500 career records to their new teams for 2024. The one who doesn’t is Raheem Morris of Atlanta. The hiring of Morris was controversial to everyone outside of the Falcons’ organization, for as they saw him as their top candidate, most others were hoping for a more splashy hire like Bill Belichick.
According to team sources, Belichick ranked behind at least Morris and one other candidate on their preferred hire list. What does Morris bring to the table? Well, he was 21-38 for the Buccaneers from 2009-11. Obviously, a lot has changed in the league since then, but he has served as a defensive assistant at two different stops and as assistant head coach for the Falcons since.
Clearly, he has made a favorable impression on owner Arthur Blank and the team upper management. However, he may have inherited an early QB controversy, as after he was able to lure QB Kirk Cousins over from the Vikings, the franchise made a peculiar move by drafting Michael Penix with the #8 draft pick.
The offense scored just 18.9 PPG last season but has tremendous talent at the skill positions to support Cousins or Penix so there is reason for optimism, especially in the NFC South Division. How much optimism is there? The win total is set at 9.5, which would make Atlanta a likely playoff team.
Jim Harbaugh, LA CHARGERS
The hiring of Jim Harbaugh by the Chargers for their open head coaching position was undoubtedly the biggest coaching story of the offseason. After leading Michigan to the national title this past January in college football, Harbaugh opted to make the jump back to the pros.
There are many speculating that he was leaving trouble behind at Ann Arbor. Nonetheless, the Wolverines’ loss is the Chargers’ gain, as Harbaugh has been successful at every level he has coached.
For San Francisco, he built a 44-19-1 record in the regular season and reached a Super Bowl. It could be argued that he has as much talent to work with for the Chargers as any other newcomer to the NFL coaching ranks, although the franchise is in the uncomfortable position of having to rebuild some of their go-to offensive weapons around QB Justin Herbert.
DraftKings posts the Chargers’ win total at 8.5, which would be a major improvement over last year’s 5-12 performance. This should be a fun story to watch this season, and it wouldn’t be a shock if Harbaugh and the Chargers made a big splash in 2024.
Dan Quinn, WASHINGTON
The last coaching hire that the Commanders executed was also a “retread” and that didn’t work out as hoped, as the team was just 26-40-1 under Ron Rivera. This past season, they bottomed out, going 4-13 while yielding 30.5 PPG.
With defensive improvement clearly needed, Washington turns to Dan Quinn, who led the electric defensive attack at Dallas the last three seasons. While not exactly known for their shutdown abilities, the Cowboys thrived under Quinn in forcing turnovers, recording sacks, and getting defensive scores. Any of this added to the Commanders’ defense would be an improvement.
The other side of the ball is also a question mark for 2024. While QB Sam Howell showed some positive signs in his first season as a starter, the team’s poor finish allowed them to secure the #2 spot in the draft. They used that pick on Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels out of LSU. The offense hit the 20-point mark or more 10 times in 17 games and averaged 19.4, above the standards of a typical 4-13 team.
Quinn made an intriguing hire in bringing Kliff Kingsbury on as offensive coordinator, and he brought new defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. over with him from Dallas. Expectations are mixed, with a modest 6.5 season win total. Quinn has the most head coaching experience of any of the new hires, having gone 43-42 in six regular seasons with the Falcons from 2015-20.
“Retread” NFL Head Coach Recent History
As we dig into the recent history of the coaches I designate as “re-tread,” here is a clarification of that designation. These are guys that had head coaching jobs previously at another franchise, any experience included. It doesn’t matter the time between jobs either, just that they had prior head coaching responsibility.
As I indicated earlier, there are three such coaches for 2024: Raheem Morris in Atlanta, Jim Harbaugh for the Chargers, and Dan Quinn in Washington. How do these coaches tend to fare? We’ll dig deeper into that shortly, but overall, you’re going to want to acknowledge right away that the records for the Retread NFL Head Coaches over the last decade in their first full regular seasons are a paltry 153-243 SU and 168-212-16ATS (44.2%). This immediately gives us a lot of fade potential for 2024.
Keep in mind too, that these records do not include coaches who were fired during the season such as Frank Reich, who went 1-0 SU and 2-8-1 ATS for Carolina before being let go. In other words, the numbers are probably worse for re-treads in their first years in actuality.
Here is a chart showing the retread results over the last 10 seasons. There have been 24 different coaches who have re-started their careers at new teams over the last decade and lasted at least one season. For each coach you’ll find their record that season, the next season, and the franchise’s record in the season prior to that coach taking over.
VIEW RETREAD HEAD COACH CHART HERE
A few highlights from this chart:
- There isn’t a whole lot of predictive improvement/decline expectation from a general perspective, as over the last decade, of the 24 retread head coaches. 11 have helped their teams improve the next season; one maintained a record, and the 12 others managed a decline. However, the 12 that did improve did so by 3.5 wins per season, while those that declined averaged just 2.6 fewer victories.
- The greatest improvement seasons from any retread head coach over the past decade belonged to Todd Bowles (NY Jets) in 2015, and Doug Pederson (Jacksonville) in 2022, each of whom led their teams to six-win improvements year over year.
- Gary Kubiak has been the most successful retread coach over the last decade in his first season, although his 12-4 mark for the Broncos in 2015 simply maintained the standard set by the franchise a year earlier.
- The two worst team declines following the hiring of retread coaches were by Tennessee in 2014, as the Titans went from 7-9 in 2013 to 2-14 under Ken Whisenhunt, and by Tampa Bay a year ago, as the Bucs were 8-9 under that same Todd Bowles mentioned earlier after going 13-4 the prior season.
- Hue Jackson of the Browns had the worst first-year mark of any retread coach over the last decade, going 1-15 in 2016. He did one worse a year later, guiding Cleveland to a 0-16 finish.
- Of the 21 retread coaches to stick around for a second season with a team over the last decade, ten have built upon their first campaign with an improved win total the next season. The best two seasons from this group came in each of the last two seasons, with Mike McCarthy leading the Cowboys to a 12-5 record in 2021, and Dan Campbell guiding the Lions to a 9-8 finish, both marking six-win improvements. Sean Payton of Denver will look to build on an 8-9 finish last season.
- In terms of statistical improvements, Pederson’s 2022 Jaguars team made the biggest jump in scoring under any re-tread head coach of the last decade, improving by 8.9 PPG. Defensively, Anthony Lynn’s Chargers of 2017 improved their points allowed total by 9.4 PPG under his leadership.
- The worst offensive decline guided by any re-tread head coach over the last decade came last year with Todd Bowles at Tampa Bay, who dropped by 11.7 PPG. Mike McCarthy’s 2020 Cowboys fell the worst defensively, going from 20.1 PPG allowed in 2019 to 29.6 PPG allowed in 2020.
As far as the new retread head coaches for 2024, here are a few coaching systems to keep an eye on:
- Of the 18 retread head coaches who inherited teams that finished under .500 the prior season, 11 of them led their teams to better records the next season. The average improvement for this team was 3.5 wins per season. Atlanta, LA Chargers, and Washington all finished below .500 this past year. A 3.5-win improvement would just the Falcons over .500 in 2024.
- As indicated earlier in the rookie NFL head coach section, there has been a lot of room to grow when a new head coach takes over a team that scored less than 18 PPG the prior season. There have also been immediate results for this same group of retread coaches, as six of the last nine teams that fit this bill over the last decade have improved by an average of 4.2 wins per season. None of the three candidates match this criteria for this upcoming season.
- There is a potentially troubling sign for retread coaches who have taken over sound defensive teams. Of those whose teams allowed less than 24 PPG the prior year, six of the nine teams saw their win total the next season decline by an average of 2.8 per season. Both Atlanta and the Chargers fit this bill for 2024.
- Alternatively, eight of the 12 teams that allowed in excess of 25 PPG the prior year improved under the retread coach by 3.8 wins per. Washington allowed 30.5 PPG and will look to improve under Quinn.
As far as in-season game-by-game betting opportunities, I noted earlier that retread coaches have covered the point spread in just 44.2% of their first-season games. Here are some other things to consider regarding betting on and against retread head coaches throughout the NFL season:
- Like the rookie NFL head coaches, retread head coaches have been far more proficient at covering point spreads on the road over the last decade. Here is the breakdown: Home games: 76-111 ATS (40.6%). Road/Neutral games: 92-101 ATS (47.7%). This is a very interesting trend that should be watched closely this season with the home games in Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Washington. None of those franchises have been regarded as strong home teams to wager on as it is.
- Retread head coaches have been brutal bets as favorites but respectable in the underdog role in their first seasons with a new franchise. As favorites since 2013, they’ve gone 75-63 SU but just 41-86-11 ATS, for 32.3%! As dogs (or pick ‘em), 78-180 SU and 127-126-5 ATS (50.1%). This would seem to be an auto-fade situation should the Falcons, Chargers, or Commanders be favored in games in 2024.
- The ATS results by game type are almost identical for the Division (44.9%)/Conference (44.0%)/ Non-conference (43.4%) scenarios for re-tread head coaches in their first seasons with new teams over the last decade.
- Retread head coaches tend to start very slow at their new franchises and finish their first seasons more successfully when covering point spreads. Since 2014, in weeks #1-#10 of their first seasons, they’ve combined to go 81-131-6 ATS (38.2%), while in weeks #11 and later, they’ve gone 87-81-10 ATS (51.8%). It seems that it takes some time for these coaches to find footing in their new homes.
- There seems to be a noteworthy trend of momentum that comes with these re-tread head coaches. Since 2014, when coming off a win or tie, these coaches have posted a modest 67-73 ATS (47.9%) record in their first seasons. When coming off a loss, the record has been an ugly 101-139 ATS (42.1%) in that same time span. Fade the latter scenario.
- Retread coaches have been solid in revenge scenarios over the last decade, going 24-20-3 ATS (54.5%) when losing an earlier-season game against an opponent. When defeating that team the first time around, these coaches have gone just 9-18-1 ATS (33.3%) in the rematch. Pay attention to Atlanta, LA, and Washington’s early divisional results this season and take advantage of these findings the second time around.
I tout these trends and systems every week in the VSiN NFL Analytics Reports, so even if these angles don’t find a permanent place in your memory bank, I will recall them for you every time they pop up this season. Hopefully what you’ve read here gives you a better feel of what to expect from our seven new NFL head coaches for 2024.
Over the course of the next six weeks, I will be unveiling some of the other key offseason analyses I conduct every year, including post-draft analysis and transitional systems based on the team’s resumes and stats from last season. At the conclusion, I will wrap up my NFL prep work by updating my power ratings and running them against the schedule to produce win projections and schedule strengths. Then, I will be offering my best bets for the season win totals already released.