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. [1]
There have been 19 [lower-alpha 1] 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. [2] 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. [3] [4]
Six times in Colts history there were interim head coaches. In 1972, Don McCafferty was fired five games into the season. [2] 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. [2] 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. [5] In 2005 Tony Dungy was forced to miss one game due to personal issues. Jim Caldwell was named as the one game interim. [6] 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. [7] 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.
# | Number of coaches |
GC | Games coached |
W | Wins |
L | Losses |
T | Ties |
Win% | Winning percentage |
* | Elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame |
^ | Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a player |
† | Spent entire professional NFL head coaching career with the Colts |
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 season, the Colts have played their games in Lucas Oil Stadium. Previously, the team had played for over two decades (1984–2007) at the RCA Dome. Since 1987, the Colts have served as the host team for the NFL Scouting Combine.
Wilbur Charles "Weeb" Ewbank was an American professional football coach. He led the Baltimore Colts to consecutive NFL championships in 1958 and 1959 and the New York Jets to victory in Super Bowl III in January 1969. He is the only coach to win a championship in both the National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL).
Donald Francis Shula was an American professional football player and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 1963 to 1995. He played seven seasons as a defensive back in the NFL. For most of his career, Shula was the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. He is the most winningest head coach in NFL history with 347 career victories and 328 regular season victories.
Anthony Kevin Dungy is an American former football player and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts. Dungy's teams became perennial postseason contenders under his leadership, missing the playoffs only twice with Tampa Bay. He led the Colts to victory in Super Bowl XLI over the Chicago Bears, making him the first African-American head coach to win the Super Bowl.
Martin Edward Schottenheimer was an American football linebacker and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 1984 to 2006. He was the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs for 10 seasons, the Cleveland Browns and the San Diego Chargers for five each, and the Washington Redskins for one. He ranks seventh in regular season wins with 200, and has the most wins of an NFL head coach to not win a Super Bowl. After coaching in the NFL, he won a 2011 championship in his one season with the Virginia Destroyers of the United Football League (UFL). He was inducted to the Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Fame in 2010.
James Caldwell is an American football coach who is a special advisor for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts from 2009 to 2011 and Detroit Lions from 2014 to 2017. Caldwell has been a part of two Super Bowl-winning teams in his career; as the assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach of the Colts team that won Super Bowl XLI and as offensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens team that won Super Bowl XLVII.
Tom Moore is an American football coach and former college player who is an offensive consultant for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). A four-time Super Bowl champion, he spent a majority of his coaching career with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Indianapolis Colts.
Donald William McCafferty was an American football player and coach who, in his first year as head coach of the Baltimore Colts, led the team to a victory in Super Bowl V, and became the first rookie head coach to win the Super Bowl.
Bruce Charles Arians is an American football executive and former coach in the National Football League (NFL). Since 2022, he has been a senior football consultant for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Arians was previously the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals from 2013 to 2017 and the Buccaneers from 2019 to 2021. He was also the interim head coach of the Indianapolis Colts during the 2012 season. Arians is known for his slogan "No risk-it, no biscuit," which encourages aggressive playcalling.
John Thomas "Sandy" Sandusky, Jr. was an American football player and coach. He played seven seasons as an offensive and defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) during the 1950s for the Cleveland Browns and the Green Bay Packers before starting a 36-year career as an assistant coach. He was head coach of the Baltimore Colts for part of the 1972 season.
Charles David Pagano is a former American football coach in the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts from 2012 to 2017. He also served as the defensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens in 2011 and of the Chicago Bears from 2019 to 2020, and was an assistant coach for the Oakland Raiders and Cleveland Browns. After the Colts fired him following the 2017 season, Pagano took a year off from coaching, working as a consultant for the NFL. He retired from coaching in early 2021.
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They play in the South Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The organization began play in 1953 as the Baltimore Colts with the team located in Baltimore, Maryland; it relocated to Indianapolis following the 1983 season.
Anthony Salvatore Castonzo is a former American football offensive tackle. He played his entire 10-year professional career with the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). After a college career at Boston College, Castonzo was selected by the Colts with their first round draft pick in the 2011 NFL Draft.
The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team who played in Baltimore, starting in 1953, to 1983, when owner Robert Irsay moved the franchise to Indianapolis, Indiana. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breeding and racing. It was the second incarnation of the Baltimore Colts, the first having played for three years in the All-America Football Conference and one in the National Football League (NFL). This Baltimore Colts team played its home games at Memorial Stadium.