List of Washington Commanders head coaches

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Ron Rivera, hired in 2020, is the team's 30th and current head coach Ron Rivera 2022 (cropped).jpg
Ron Rivera, hired in 2020, is the team's 30th and current head coach

This is a complete list of head coaches for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). There have been 30 head coaches for the team, including their time as the Boston Braves (1932), Boston Redskins (1933–1936), Washington Redskins (1937–2019), Washington Football Team (2020–2021), and Washington Commanders (2022–present). [1]

Contents

Joe Gibbs is the only coach to have more than one tenure. [2] Two different coaches have won NFL championships with the team: Ray Flaherty in 1937 and 1942, and Joe Gibbs in 1982, 1987 and 1991. [3] Gibbs is the all-time leader in games coached and wins, and Dudley DeGroot leads all coaches in winning percentage with .737. [4] Of all the coaches, seven have been elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Ray Flaherty, Turk Edwards, Curly Lambeau, Otto Graham, Vince Lombardi, George Allen, and Gibbs. [5]

Coaches

#Number of coaches [lower-alpha 1]
GCGames coached
WWins
LLoses
TTies
Win % Winning percentage
00Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a coach
00Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a player
00*Spent their entire NFL head coaching career with Washington
#NameYearsRegular seasonPlayoffsAwardsRef.
GCWLTWin%GCWL
Boston Braves
1 Lud Wray 1932 10442.500 [6]
Boston Redskins
2 Lone Star Dietz* [lower-alpha 2] 19331934*2411112.500 [7]
3 Eddie Casey* 1935*11281.200 [8]
Washington Redskins
4 Ray Flaherty 19361942 7854213.720422 [9]
5 Dutch Bergman* 1943*10631.667211 [10]
6 Dudley DeGroot* [lower-alpha 3] 19441945*201451.737101 [4]
7 Turk Edwards* ‡ 19461948*3516181.471 [11]
8 John Whelchel* [lower-alpha 4] 1949*7331.500 [12]
9 Herman Ball* [lower-alpha 5] 19491951*204160.200 [13]
10 Dick Todd* 1951*9540.556 [14]
11 Curly Lambeau 19521953 2410131.435 [15]
12 Joe Kuharich 19541958 6026322.448 Sporting News Coach of the Year (1955)
UPI NFL Coach of the Year (1955)
[16]
[17]
13 Mike Nixon 19591960 244182.182 [18]
14 Bill McPeak* 19611965*7021463.313 [19]
15 Otto Graham* ‡ 19661968*4217223.436 [20]
16 Vince Lombardi [lower-alpha 6] 1969 14752.583 [21]
17 Bill Austin 1970 14680.429 [22]
18 George Allen 19711977 9867301.691725 AP Coach of the Year (1971)
Pro Football Weekly Coach of the Year (1971)
Sporting News Coach of the Year (1971)
UPI NFC Coach of the Year (1971)
[16]
[23]
19 Jack Pardee 19781980 4824240.500 AP Coach of the Year (1979)
UPI NFC Coach of the Year (1979)
[24]
20 Joe Gibbs* [lower-alpha 7] 19811992*184124600.67421165 AP Coach of the Year (1982, 1983)
Pro Football Weekly Coach of the Year (1982, 1983)
Sporting News Coach of the Year (1982, 1983, 1991)
UPI NFC Coach of the Year (1982)
[16]
[2]
21 Richie Petitbon* 1993*164120.250 [25]
22 Norv Turner 19942000 10949591.454211 [26]
23 Terry Robiskie [lower-alpha 8] 2000 3120.333 [27]
24 Marty Schottenheimer 2001 16880.500 [28]
25 Steve Spurrier* 20022003*3212200.375 [29]
Joe Gibbs* [lower-alpha 7] 20042007*6430340.469312 [2]
26 Jim Zorn* 20082009*3212200.375 [30]
27 Mike Shanahan 20102013 6424400.375101 [31]
28 Jay Gruden* [lower-alpha 9] 20142019 8535491.418101 [32]
29 Bill Callahan 2019 11380.273000 [33]
Washington Football Team / Commanders
30 Ron Rivera 2020–present4420240.455101 [34]

Footnotes

Notes

  1. A running total of the number of coaches of the Redskins. Thus any coach who has two terms as head coach is only counted once.
  2. George Preston Marshall, owner and founder of the franchise, sought to rename the Boston Braves after leaving the stadium they shared with the baseball team of the same name. He chose the name Redskins in honor of Dietz, who was Sioux.
  3. DeGroot was a member of the United States rugby team that won an Olympic gold medal during the 1924 competition in Paris.
  4. Fired after seven games
  5. Fired after three games in the 1951 season.
  6. Lombardi died before the start of the 1970 season.
  7. 1 2 Gibbs full coaching record with the Redskins is 248 regular season games coached with a record of 154–94–0 and a W–L percentage of .621. He is also 17–7 in 24 Playoff games.
  8. Took over for last 3 games of the season.
  9. Fired five games into the 2019 season, with Bill Callahan taking over for the rest of the year.

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