List of Washington Commanders head coaches explained

The Washington Commanders are a professional American football franchise based in the Washington metropolitan area. They are members of the East division in the National Football Conference (NFC) of the National Football League (NFL). The Commanders were founded in as the Boston Braves, named after the local baseball franchise.[1] The franchise changed its name the following year to the Redskins and moved to Washington, D.C. in . In, the team retired the Redskins name after longstanding controversies surrounding it and briefly played as the Washington Football Team before becoming the Commanders in .

There have been 31 head coaches for the franchise, four of which played for the franchise during their career. Joe Gibbs is the only coach to have more than one tenure with the team.[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: Flaherty, Turk Edwards, Curly Lambeau, Otto Graham, Vince Lombardi, George Allen, and Gibbs.[5]

Coaches

Number of coaches
GCGames coached
WWins
LLoses
TTies
Win %Winning percentage
Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a coach
Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a player
Spent their entire NFL head coaching career with Washington
ImageNameTermRegular seasonPlayoffsAwardsReference
GCWLTWin%GCWL
Boston Braves
1Lud Wray193210442.500[6]
Boston Redskins
2Lone Star Dietz19331934*2411112.500[7]
3Eddie Casey193511281.200[8]
Washington Redskins
4Ray Flaherty193619427854213.720422[9]
5Dutch Bergman194310631.667211[10]
6Dudley DeGroot19441945*201451.737101
7Turk Edwards
19461948*3516181.471[11]
8John Whelchel19497331.500[12]
9Herman Ball19491951*204160.200[13]
10Dick Todd19519540.556[14]
11Curly Lambeau195219532410131.435[15]
12Joe Kuharich195419586026322.448Sporting News Coach of the Year (1955)
UPI NFL Coach of the Year (1955)
[16]
[17]
13Mike Nixon19591960244182.182[18]
14Bill McPeak19611965*7021463.313[19]
15Otto Graham
19661968*4217223.436[20]
16Vince Lombardi †196914752.583[21]
17Bill Austin197014680.429[22]
18George Allen197119779867301.691725 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)
[23]
19Jack Pardee197819804824240.500 AP Coach of the Year (1979)
UPI NFC Coach of the Year (1979)
[24]
20Joe Gibbs19811992*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)
21Richie Petitbon1993164120.250[25]
22Norv Turner1994200010949591.454211[26]
23Terry Robiskie20003120.333[27]
24Marty Schottenheimer200116880.500[28]
25Steve Spurrier20022003*3212200.375[29]
Joe Gibbs20042007*6430340.469312
26Jim Zorn20082009*3212200.375[30]
27Mike Shanahan201020136424400.375101[31]
28Jay Gruden201420198535491101[32]
29Bill Callahan201911380000[33]
Washington Football Team / Commanders
30Ron Rivera202020236726401101George Halas Award (2022)[34]
Washington Commanders
31Dan Quinn2024–present0000000[35]

References

General
Specific

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Washington Commanders Team History. Pro Football Hall of Fame. March 14, 2024. en.
  2. Web site: Joe Gibbs' Coaching Record. March 26, 2024. Pro-Football-Reference.com. en.
  3. Web site: NFLTeamHistory.com . Washington Redskins Championship History . March 14, 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080422032749/http://www.nflteamhistory.com/nfl_teams/washington_redskins/championship_history.html . April 22, 2008 .
  4. Web site: Dudley DeGroot's Coaching Record. March 26, 2024. Pro-Football-Reference.com. en.
  5. Web site: Hall of Famers by Franchise . . March 14, 2008 .
  6. Web site: Lud Wray's Coaching Record. March 26, 2024. Pro-Football-Reference.com. en.
  7. Web site: Lone Star Dietz's Coaching Record. March 26, 2024. Pro-Football-Reference.com. en.
  8. Web site: Eddie Casey's Coaching Record. March 26, 2024. Pro-Football-Reference.com. en.
  9. Web site: Ray Flaherty's Coaching Record. March 26, 2024. Pro-Football-Reference.com. en.
  10. Web site: Dutch Bergman's Coaching Record. March 26, 2024. Pro-Football-Reference.com. en.
  11. Web site: Turk Edwards' Coaching Record . Pro Football Reference . August 4, 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120902211246/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/EdwaTu0.htm . September 2, 2012 .
  12. Web site: John Whelchel's Coaching Record . Pro Football Reference . August 4, 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120902195707/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/WhelJo0.htm . September 2, 2012 .
  13. Web site: Herman Ball's Coaching Record . Pro Football Reference . August 4, 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120902193350/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/BallHe0.htm . September 2, 2012 .
  14. Web site: Dick Todd's Coaching Record . Pro Football Reference . August 4, 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20121107105525/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/ToddDi0.htm . November 7, 2012 .
  15. Web site: Curly Lambeau's Coaching Record. Pro Football Reference. March 22, 2008.
  16. Web site: NFL Coach of the Year Award . Hickok Sports . March 22, 2008 . dead . https://archive.today/20121205094433/http://www.hickoksports.com/history/nflcoy.shtml . December 5, 2012 .
  17. Web site: Joe Kuharich's Coaching Record. Pro Football Reference. August 4, 2012.
  18. Web site: Mike Nixon's Coaching Record . Pro Football Reference . March 14, 2008.
  19. Web site: Bill McPeak's Coaching Record . Pro Football Reference . August 4, 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20121107034859/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/McPeBi0.htm . November 7, 2012 .
  20. Web site: Otto Graham's Coaching Record. Pro Football Reference. August 4, 2012.
  21. Web site: Vince Lombardi's Coaching Record . Pro Football Reference . August 4, 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120629003238/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/LombVi0.htm . June 29, 2012 .
  22. Web site: Bill Austin's Coaching Record . Pro Football Reference . August 4, 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120902210603/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/AustBi0.htm . September 2, 2012 .
  23. Web site: George Allen's Coaching Record. Pro Football Reference. August 4, 2012.
  24. Web site: Jack Pardee's Coaching Record. Pro Football Reference. August 4, 2012.
  25. Web site: Richie Petitbon's Coaching Record . Pro Football Reference . August 4, 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120902211422/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/PetiRi0.htm . September 2, 2012 .
  26. Web site: Norv Turner's Coaching Record . Pro Football Reference . August 4, 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120820044339/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/TurnNo0.htm . August 20, 2012 .
  27. Web site: Terry Robiskie's Coaching Record. Pro Football Reference. August 4, 2012.
  28. Web site: Marty Schottenheimer's Coaching Record. Pro Football Reference. August 4, 2012.
  29. Web site: Steve Spurrier's Coaching Record. Pro Football Reference. August 4, 2012.
  30. Web site: Jim Zorn's Coaching Record . Pro Football Reference . August 4, 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20121020132656/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/ZornJi0.htm . October 20, 2012 .
  31. Web site: Mike Shanahan's Coaching Record. Pro Football Reference. August 4, 2012.
  32. Web site: Jay Gruden . . . December 30, 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160105183430/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/GrudJa0.htm . January 5, 2016 .
  33. Web site: Bill Callahan . . . October 7, 2019.
  34. Web site: Ron Rivera Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks . Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. January 8, 2024.
  35. Web site: Dan Quinn Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks . Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. February 3, 2024.