How many NFL HCs have coached in their 70s? Seahawks' Pete Carroll joins exclusive list
Pete Carroll is as sprightly as ever and it is hard to imagine him being in his seventies. Yet that is what he is, and he will join an exclusive club when he takes charge of the second regular season game of the 2021 NFL season for the Seattle Seahawks.
He will become only the third ever coach to work into his seventies on a permanent basis. As we wish him a happy birthday today, we look at the other members of this special clique.
Pete Carroll celebrates his 70th birthday tomorrow — he’ll become only the third 70+ full-time head coach in NFL history. George Halas and Marv Levy are the only others to serve as a head coach on a non-interim basis into their 70s.
Pete Carroll completes a trinity
Pete Carroll
Pete Carroll has been around the NFL for a long time, even though younger fans will only identify him with the Seattle Seahawks. He began his head coaching career in the NFL with the New York Jets in 1994, and followed it up at the New England Patriots between 1997 and 1999. None of that left much of a mark, though, and he slid quietly back into college football at USC.
But that is where his redemption began, as USC was not a college powerhouse at the time and it was he who built them up. He won the BCS National Championship with them and when he won the Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks, Pete Carroll joined an exclusive list of just three coaches who have won both titles.
He is in a similar situation here as well, as he joins the ranks of two other bonafide greats.
George Halas
George Halas was the founder and owner of the Chicago Bears. He was also one of the founders of the NFL itself. Because of his contributions to the game, the NFC Championship trophy is named after George Halas.
He was nicknamed "Papa Bear" for his complete control over the Chicago Bears organization, where he was not only the owner but served as head coach on four different occasions. In his final stint from 1958 to 1967, he crossed the age of seventy.
Marv Levy
The other coach to achieve this distinction is Marv Levy. He held a variety of coaching roles with different teams over the years, including a head coaching role with the Kansas City Chiefs, before becoming the Buffalo Bills head coach for which he is best known.
Only one #NFL head coach has won a playoff game in his 70s.
Only one NFL head coach has won a division title in his 70s.
Marv Levy.
#Bills #BillsMafia https://t.co/wIqIbKNCH8
From 1986 to 1997, he was at their helm and in 1995 he crossed into his seventies. He would later go on to become the General Manager of the Bills for a year in 2006.
And that's it; that's the list! Pete Carroll is joining an exclusive group and in a couple of years will hope to become its seniormost member.