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The oldest head coach in NFL history was Romeo Crennel, who was 73-years-old.
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Now, the NFL’s oldest head coach is only in his mid-60s.
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The recently-retired Pete Carroll and Bill Belichick also rank among the oldest head coaches in NFL history.
There’s been somewhat of a swing in recent years towards younger head coaches. The Sean McVay Effect, as it were, has teams dipping to coaches in that 30 to 40-year bracket rather than hardened veterans.
That said, a swingback may occur soon as the oldest head coach in the league, Andy Reid (66-years-old), now has a haul of championship rings and is the favourite in the NFL betting to raise the Lombardi Trophy again.
For now, though, these are the oldest head coaches in NFL history.
Romeo Crennel (73 years, 199 days)
For the most part, Romeo Crennel was a defensive co-ordinator, but through his prominence in the role, he often found himself called into the head coach seat when those above him moved on.
In total, Crennel was a head coach at some point in seven different seasons, but only five of those saw him in the role for the full campaign.
At the time of his last game in January 2021 with the Houston Texans, he was 73 years and 199 days, and he fully retired from the game in 2022.
George Halas (72 years, 318 days)
Famed head coach of the Chicago Bears, George Halas just kept on coaching until he couldn’t anymore.
Halas was one of the founders of the NFL, an owner of the Bears, and was later among the first to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
By the end of his head coaching career, Halas had amassed 324 wins in the league – which remains the second-most of all time – and a mighty eight championships.
Marv Levy (72 years, 139 days)
Marv Levy commenced his NFL head coaching run in 1978 with the Kansas City Chiefs, having already been a coach with many NFL teams in different roles.
He landed the role after joining the Montréal Alouettes in 1973 and steering them to two Grey Cup triumphs through to 1977.
After the Chiefs, Levy spent time with the Chicago Blitz in the USFL, and, in 1986, he joined the Buffalo Bills. Here, he held the head coaching position for 11 years before calling it a day at 72-years-old.
Pete Carroll (72 years, 117 days)
So close to moving to third among the oldest head coaches in NFL history, Pete Carroll was the oldest head coach in the league when he parted ways with the Seattle Seahawks.
While in Seattle, Carroll orchestrated a colossal swing in focus in the NFL, placing it on mighty defensive units with his lauded Super Bowl-winning ‘Legion of Boom.’
With the Seahawks for 13 seasons, he also oversaw one of the worst trades in NFL history – but, luckily for Seattle fans, Carroll wasn’t on the receiving end of the lopsided deal.
Seattle were very much in a rebuild when Carroll hung up his headpiece in 2024, and entering the new season, they’re still out at 50/1 to win the Super Bowl in the outright betting.
Bill Belichick (71 years, 269 days)
Perhaps the greatest NFL head coach of all time, Bill Belichick certainly didn’t need to push on into his 70s to cement this legacy: he won his sixth and final Super Bowl to conclude the 2018 season.
When he finally called it a day in 2024, he did hold the title of the oldest active NFL head coach for a short while, with Pete Carroll vacating the top spot just before Belichick left the New England Patriots that January.
Seeing as Belichick’s last throw of the dice with Mac Jones didn’t bear fruit, and he’s quoted as saying that the new rule changes are “hard to get used to,” the end of last season looks to be the right time to pass the reins after 24 seasons with the Pats.
When the orchestrator of the Patriots dynasty that dominated the opening decades of the millennium was on the touchline for his last game, he was 71 years and 269 days old.
*Credit for the main photo belongs to Alamy*
