8 Youngest Coaches to Win a Superbowl

Winning a Super Bowl is undoubtedly one of the greatest accomplishments in professional football. Coaches who lead their team to a Super Bowl victory are among the most respected in the National Football League (NFL). It’s a recognition of their skill, leadership abilities, and strategy.

While the football game is full of vigor and youthfulness, the coach post is usually reserved for some grey-haired man with years of experience. It is believed that as these men spent their life studying and learning the tactics and craft of the game, only they are capable of guiding a team.

However, there are coaches in the NFL who proved their capabilities at a young age. These young professionals led their teams to victory in the biggest game of the NFL and cemented their place in the game’s history.    

Here we list 8 of the youngest coaches ever to win a Super Bowl in NFL history. Note that we have only included the head coaches in this list. There might be assistant coaches who were even younger at the time of winning a Super Bowl.

8. Tom Flores (March 21, 1937 – Present) 

photo source: www.si.com

Tom Flores began his coaching career as an assistant coach, first with Buffalo Bills and the Oakland Raiders. In 1979 he became the head coach of the Raiders. 

In January 1981, the Raiders won against Philadelphia Eagles and became the wild-card playoff team to win the Super Bowl. In 1982, Flores moved with the team to LA and led the team to another Super Bowl (XVIII) victory the following year. It made him the first and only coach in NFL history to win two Super Bowls with the same teams in two cities. 

Did you know?

Tom Flores is the first minority head coach to win a Super Bowl in NFL history. 

7. Don Shula (January 4, 1930 – May 4, 2020) 

photo source: wikipedia.org

Don Shula served as a head coach in NFL from 1963 to 1995. His first stint as a head coach was with the Baltimore Colts. He led them for seven seasons before becoming the head coach of the Miami Dolphins in 1970. 

He spent 26 seasons with Miami and led them to two consecutive Super Bowl titles. His first Super Bowl title came in Super Bowl VII, played on January 14, 1973, at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where Miami defeated Washington Redskins. With this win, Dolphins became the first and only team in NFL history to complete a perfect undefeated season. 

Did you know?

Shula had only two losing seasons during his 33-year-long career as a head coach. He was the first head coach who appeared in six Super Bowls. He was also the first head coach who could bring two franchises to the Super Bowl. 

6. Chuck Noll (January 5, 1932 – June 13, 2014) 

photo source: wikipedia.org

Charles Henry Noll, popularly known as Chuck Noll, was three days younger than Don Shula when he led Pittsburgh Steelers to the Super Bowl title in Super Bowl IX. Steelers played the game against Minnesota Vikings at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, on January 12, 1975.

Noll is widely regarded as one of the greatest head coaches in the history of the NFL. He led the Steelers for 23 years, from 1969 to 1991. Under his guidance, the team won four Super Bowls (IX, X, XIII, XIV), four AFC titles, and nine Central Division championships. 

He is ranked second in terms of winning most Super Bowls as a head coach. He also holds the record of winning most Super Bowls without a loss.  

Did you know?

­­­­Before Noll took charge, Steelers had played in only one post-season game in its 36 years of history, and it was a loss at 21-0.  

5. Joe Gibbs (November 25, 1940 – Present) 

photo source: wikipedia.org

Joe Gibbs is one of the most successful coaches in NFL history. He served as the head coach of the Washington Redskins from 1981 to 1992 and from 2004 to 2007 and led the team two three Super Bowl titles (XVII, XXII, XXVI)), four NFC Championship titles, and eight playoff appearances.

The first Super Bowl that Redskins won under his leadership was held on January 30, 1983, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. Redskins defeated the Miami Dolphins 27-17 to win their first-ever Super Bowl title. 

Gibbs is the only head coach to win Super Bowls with three different starting quarterbacks.

Did you know?

After retiring from the position of the head coach of Redskins, Gibbs formed the NASCAR team, Joe Gibbs Racing. The team has won five NASCAR Cup Series so far.    

4. John Madden (April 10, 1936 – December 28, 2021) 

photo source: wikipedia.org

John Madden was hired as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders in 1969 after serving the team for two years as a linebackers coach. 

During his tenure of nine years as a head coach, Madden led the team to several playoff appearances and the franchise’s first Super Bowl victory in Super Bowl IX. The Super Bowl game was played between Oakland Raiders and Minnesota Vikings on January 9, 1977, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. 

Madden holds the record for having the highest winning percentage as a head coach who coached 100 games. After retirement from coaching, Madden joined CBS as a color commentator for NFL games and later began working with Fox sports.

Did you know?

Madden helped develop the Madden NFL video game series by offering his expertise and commentary. As a result, the game is the best-selling football video game series, with more than 130 million sales within the first thirty years. 

3. Jon Gruden (August 17, 1963 – Present) 

photo source: wikipedia.org

Jon Gruden is one of the three head coaches in NFL history who led their team to a Super Bowl title at an age younger than 40. Gruden had held the head coach’s position in the NFL for 15 seasons.

He was hired as a head coach by Oakland Raiders and served them from 1998 to 2001. The following year, he was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and he led the Buccaneers to a Super Bowl (XXXVII) victory the same season. The game was played on January 26, 2003, at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California, where Buccaneers defeated the Raiders and won their first-ever Super Bowl.

Gruden continued to serve as a head coach of the Buccaneers till 2008, after which he began working as an analyst for ESPN’s Monday Night Football broadcasts. In 2018, he returned to coaching with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Did you know?

Gruden had to step down as the coach of the Raiders in 2021 after publicly revealing that he casually used racist, homophobic, and misogynistic language in several emails between 2011 and 2018.      

2. Mike Tomlin (March 15, 1972 – Present) 

photo source: wikipedia.org

Mike Tomlin is currently serving as the head coach for Pittsburgh Steelers. He was hired as the team’s head coach at the age of 34, the youngest head coach in the NFL at the time. 

He led Steelers to a Super Bowl victory in February 2009 and became the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl. The game was held at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, where Steelers played against Arizona Cardinals.

Tomlin is regarded as one of the best coaches in the NFL and is respected for being a player’s coach.

Did you know?

Tomlin is one of the longest-tenured head coaches in NFL history, leading the team for 16 seasons.    

1. Sean McVay (January 24, 1986 – Present) 

photo source: wikipedia.org

Sean McVay is the youngest coach in NFL history to win a Super Bowl. In February 2022, he passed Tomlin and became the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl when the Rams defeated Cincinnati Bengals at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

McVay was hired as the head coach for Los Angeles Rams in 2017 when he was only 30, the youngest in history. When McVay took charge, the team had the league’s lowest-scoring offense in the previous season. McVay’s intervention worked like magic, and within a year Rams became the top scorer. 

Did you know?

After McVay led the Rams to unimaginable success, many other teams started hiring young offensive coaches. This trend of employing young coaches is unofficially called the Sean McVay effect.