List of Atlanta Falcons head coaches explained

The Atlanta Falcons are an American football team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are members of the South division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Falcons joined the NFL as an expansion team in 1966, and have compiled an all-time record of 337 wins, 436 losses, and 6 ties. The team has won the NFC West championship twice in 1980 and 1998 and the NFC South championship 4 times in 2004, 2010, 2012 and 2016. The Falcons have appeared in two Super Bowls, losing both times; their first appearance was in Super Bowl XXXIII, with the Falcons falling to the Denver Broncos 19–34, and the second was in Super Bowl LI, where the Falcons fell to the New England Patriots 28–34 in overtime.^[1]

There have been 18 head coaches for the Falcons franchise, 13 serving full-time. Among full-time head coaches, Mike Smith is the Falcons' winningest and longest tenured head coach, with a 66–46 regular season record. Under Smith's leadership, the team attained consecutive winning seasons (11–5 in 2008 and 9–7 in 2009), consecutive playoff appearances (2010 and 2011), and consecutive seasons with 10 wins or more (also in 2010 and 2011) for the first time in franchise history. Also, Smith is the only Falcons coach to win 2 divisional titles (NFC South, 2010 and 2012).

Key

	Number of coaches^[2]
Yrs	Years coached
First	First season coached
Last	Last season coached
GC	Games Coached
W	Wins
L	Loses
T	Ties
Win%	Win – Loss percentage	-	†	Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a coach-->
‡	Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a player
	Spent entire NFL head coaching career with the Falcons

Coaches

Note: Statistics are correct as of end of the 2023 NFL season.

	Image	Name	Term^[3]			Regular season					Playoffs			Accomplishments	Ref.
			Yrs	First	Last	GC	W	L	T	Win%	GC	W	L
1			3	1966	1968	31	4	26	1		—				^[4]
2		^‡	7	1968	1974	89	37	49	3		—				^[5]
3			3	1974	1976	25	6	19	0		—				^[6]
4			1	1976		9	3	6	0		—				^[7]
5			6	1977	1982	87	46	41	0		4	1	3	1 NFC West Championship (1978) 3 Playoff Berths 2 UPI NFL Coach of the Year Awards (1977, 1980)	^[8]
6			4	1983	1986	64	22	41	1		—				^[9]
–			3	1987	1989	43	11	32	0		—
7			1	1989		4	0	4	0		—				^[10]
8			4	1990	1993	64	27	37	0		2	1	1	1 Playoff Berth	^[11]
9			3	1994	1996	48	19	29	0		1	0	1	1 Playoff Berth	^[12]
10			7	1997	2003	109	49	59	1		5	3	2	1 NFC Championship (1998) 1 NFC South Championship (1998) 2 Playoff Berths 1 AP NFL Coach of the Year Award (1998)	^[13]
11			1	2003		3	2	1	0		—				^[14]
12			3	2004	2006	48	26	22	0		2	1	1	1 NFC South Championship (2004) 1 Playoff Berth	^[15]
13			1	2007		13	3	10	0		—				^[16]
14		^‡	1			3	1	2	0		—				^[17]
15			7	2008	2014	112	66	46	0		5	1	4	2 NFC South Championships (2010, 2012) 4 Playoff Berths 1 AP NFL Coach of the Year Award (2008)^[18]	^[19]
16			6	2015	2020	85	43	42	0		5	3	2	1 NFC Championship (2016) 1 NFC South Championship (2016) 2 Playoff Berths	^[20]
17			1	2020		11	4	7	0		—				^[21]
18			3	2021	2023	51	21	30	0	.412	—				^[22]
–			0	2024–present		0	0	0	0		—

Notes and References

1. Web site: Atlanta Falcons . May 3, 2008 . Pro Football Hall of Fame . January 5, 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080105024348/http://www.profootballhof.com/history/team.jsp?franchise_id=2 . live .
2. A running total of the number of coaches of the Falcons. Thus, any coach who has two or more terms as head coach is only counted once.
3. Each year is linked to an article about that particular NFL season.
4. Web site: Norb Hecker Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks. Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. February 14, 2011. April 6, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110406062048/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/HeckNo0.htm. live.
5. Web site: Norm Van Brocklin Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks. Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. February 14, 2011. November 20, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20101120230722/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/VanBNo0.htm. live.
6. Web site: Marion Campbell Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks. Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. February 14, 2011. February 26, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190226081223/https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/CampMa0.htm. live.
7. Web site: Pat Peppler Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks. Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. February 14, 2011. September 10, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100910025033/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/PeppPa0.htm. live.
8. Web site: Leeman Bennett Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks. Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. February 14, 2011. April 8, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110408155138/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/BennLe0.htm. live.
9. Web site: Dan Henning Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks. Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. February 14, 2011. September 27, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110927064822/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/HennDa0.htm. live.
10. Web site: Jim Hanifan Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks. Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. February 14, 2011. July 9, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080709083517/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/HaniJi0.htm. live.
11. Web site: Jerry Glanville Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks. Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. February 14, 2011. December 15, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20101215182715/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/GlanJe0.htm. live.
12. Web site: June Jones Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks. Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. February 14, 2011. September 8, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100908200550/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/JoneJu0.htm. live.
13. Web site: Dan Reeves Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks. Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. February 14, 2011. January 25, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220125062837/https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/ReevDa0.htm. live.
14. Web site: Wade Phillips Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks. Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. February 4, 2014. March 22, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190322093139/https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/PhilWa0.htm. live.
15. Web site: Jim Mora Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks. Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. February 14, 2011. February 14, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100214032124/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/MoraJi1.htm. live.
16. Web site: Bobby Petrino Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks. Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. February 14, 2011. November 13, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20101113045203/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/PetrBo0.htm. live.
17. Web site: Emmitt Thomas Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks. Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. February 14, 2011. August 5, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110805062831/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/ThomEm0.htm. live.
18. Web site: Falcons' Smith voted as coach of year . July 4, 2009 . . November 2, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121102220840/http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3809378 . live .
19. Web site: Mike Smith Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks. Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. February 3, 2015. September 19, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100919150359/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/SmitMi0.htm. live.
20. Web site: Dan Quinn Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks. Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. February 9, 2021. January 16, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210116235313/https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/QuinDa0.htm. live.
21. Web site: Raheem Morris Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks. Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. February 9, 2021. January 26, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210126180140/https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/MorrRa0.htm. live.
22. Web site: Arthur Smith Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks. Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. January 8, 2024. January 2, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230102220819/https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/SmitAr0.htm. live.