Great NFL Coaches That Never Played Football After College
by Richard Janvrin,
November 04, 2025
There are several avenues to becoming a successful NFL coach, including having played the game at the NFL level, advancing through the ranks in various roles, and gaining a deep understanding of the game, among other factors.
Finding NFL coaches who never played football whatsoever is difficult. In fact, there are just a few examples, with the most prominent being former Kansas City Chiefs head coach Todd Haley. He never played football past the youth level . While he did climb to the peak of NFL coaching, he went 28-37 as a head coach.
With that, are there any NFL coaches who never played football whatsoever? Sure, there are some, but very few.
As for how many NFL coaches are former players, that’s a much easier question to answer.
As of the 2025 season, several head coaches in the NFL have played in the league, including Mike Vrabel, Aaron Glenn, Dan Campbell, and others.
For this exercise, instead of focusing on football coaches who never played, we’ll make the cutoff at college.
Below are five of the best NFL coaches that never played football past the college level.
Let’s dive in.
Bill Belichick
Belichick isn’t just one of the best NFL coaches who never played football beyond college; he’s one of the best to hold the position.
Belichick played center and tight end at Wesleyan, a Division III school, from 1971 to 1974.
However, after that, he immediately got into coaching.
His first-ever job was as a special assistant for the Baltimore Colts in 1975.
From there, he held various roles until 1991, when he became the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.
He was their head coach from 1991 to 1995.
After that, he spent one season with the New England Patriots in 1996 as the assistant head coach and defensive backs coach.
After that, he spent three seasons with the New York Jets from 1997 to 1999 as the defensive coordinator and assistant head coach.
He was supposed to be the next head coach of the Jets, but he quickly resigned and took the Patriots head coaching job after Bill Parcells, who Belichick coached under there in 1996, stepped down.
From there, he went on to have a legendary coaching run, serving as their head coach from 2000 to 2023.
As their head coach, he won six Super Bowls in 2001, 2004, 2005, 2014, 2017, and 2018.
He was named the NFL Coach of the Year three times (2003, 2007, and 2010).
He holds several NFL records, including most Super Bowl wins with eight (six as head coach; two as an assistant).
Additionally, he holds the records for the most Super Bowl wins as a head coach (six), the most Super Bowl appearances (12), the most Super Bowl appearances as a head coach (nine), and the most playoff wins as a head coach (31), among others.
Today, in 2025, he’s the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Belichick went 302-165 during the regular season, which is the third-most wins in NFL history.
Joe Gibbs
Gibbs’ coaching career spanned from 1964 to 2007 with some hiatuses in between.
He did play football in college at San Diego State, but was one of those football coaches who never played in the NFL.
After his playing days were over, his first coaching gig was as the offensive line coach for San Diego State, his alma mater, from 1964 to 1966.
He then spent more time at the college level, including with Florida State, USC, and Arkansas, until 1972.
Gibbs joined the NFL ranks in 1971 as the St. Louis Cardinals’ running backs coach. He was in that role from 1973 to 1977.
He then spent one season as the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, followed by two seasons as the offensive coordinator for the San Diego Chargers.
Gibbs finally landed a head coaching job in 1981 with the Washington Redskins. His first stint went from 1981 to 1992. He returned in 2004 and was there until 2007.
During his first stint, the Redskins won three Super Bowls in 1982, 1987, and 1991.
He was named the NFL Coach of the Year in back-to-back seasons in 1982 and 1983.
Gibbs is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame after going 154-94 during the regular season and 17-7 in the postseason. He’s easily one of the best NFL coaches who never played football past college.
Mike Tomlin
Tomlin played wide receiver for William & Mary from 1990 to 1994 and was named second-team All-Yankee Conference in 1994. That said, he’s one of the NFL coaches that never played football at the pro level.
Tomlin began as the wide receivers coach for the Virginia Military Institute in 1995.
He remained in the college ranks until 2001, coaching VMI, Memphis, Arkansas State, and Cincinnati.
Tomlin was named the defensive backs coach of the Buccaneers. He served in the role from 2001 to 2005.
He then spent one season as the defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings in 2006 before being named head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2007.
As of the 2025 NFL season, he remains in that role.
In 2008, he led the Steelers to a Super Bowl win. With that win, he became the youngest coach ever to win a Super Bowl at just 36 years old.
Since becoming the Steelers’ head coach, they’ve had mixed playoff success, but have never had a losing record during the regular season.
He holds the NFL record for most consecutive non-losing seasons with 18.
Thus far, he’s 183-107-2 during the regular season and 8-11 in the postseason.
Andy Reid
Reid played college football at Glendale Community College before moving on to Stanford. He injured his knee at Stanford and later transferred to BYU. However, he’s yet another example of football coaches who never played at the NFL level.
After his playing career ended in 1980, he returned to BYU in 1982 and was a graduate assistant.
He then moved on to San Francisco State as the offensive line coach from 1983 to 1985.
He remained at the college level until 1992, serving in various roles at Northern Arizona, UTEP, and the University of Missouri.
His first NFL coaching gig was with the Green Bay Packers from 1992 to 1998. He served as the assistant offensive line coach, tight ends coach, quarterbacks coach, and assistant head coach.
Following the 1998 season, he was named the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.
He served in that role from 1999 to 2012. He led them to a Super Bowl in 2004, but they lost to the Patriots, coached by Belichick.
As the head coach of the Eagles, he went 130-93-1 but was relieved of his duties after the team went 4-12 in 2012.
The Chiefs then picked him up and have had him as their head coach ever since.
Over his first six seasons, the Chiefs had winning seasons each year.
Then, in 2019, he won his first Super Bowl title.
In 2020, they were crowned AFC champions but lost in the Super Bowl.
Then, after missing out on an AFC championship in 2021, the team rebounded and won back-to-back Super Bowls in 2022 and 2023.
This past season, in 2024, they made it to the Super Bowl, but lost to Reid’s former team, the Eagles.
Reid and the Chiefs beat the Eagles two years earlier at Super Bowl 57.
Reid has a lifetime regular season record of 273-146-1, which is the fourth-most all-time.
Not bad for being one of the NFL coaches that never played football at the highest level, huh?
He’s 30 games away from supplanting Belichick.
Sean McVay
McVay has emerged as one of the best head coaches of this generation. He’s also one of the best NFL coaches who never played football professionally.
Whenever you visit the best NFL sportsbooks, the Rams are a team always worth glancing at, regardless of their roster, due to McVay’s coaching prowess.
He, like the others mentioned above, played college football. For the Miami (OH) RedHawks, he caught 39 passes for 312 yards.
After his playing days, he was named an offensive assistant for the Buccaneers.
In 2009, he was the wide receivers coach for the Florida Tuskers in the UFL.
He then returned to the NFL in 2010.
Initially, he was the Redskins’ offensive assistant. In 2011, he was promoted to tight ends coach, a position he held until 2013.
Then, in 2014, he was named the Redskins’ offensive coordinator and held the position until 2016.
He then landed the head coaching job for the Los Angeles Rams and has been there since.
Since becoming their head coach, he’s gone 80-52 during the regular season and 8-5 in the playoffs. He led them to a Super Bowl win in 2021-22 over the Cincinnati Bengals.
He was named the NFL Coach of the Year in his first season.
McVay has consistently spearheaded one of the top offensive units, ranking inside the top 10 in points per game three times since 2017 and within the top three twice.