The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are a member of the South Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). In 1953, a Baltimore-based group led by Carroll Rosenbloom won the rights to a new Baltimore franchise. Rosenbloom was granted an NFL team, and was awarded the holdings of the defunct Dallas Texans organization. The team was known as the Baltimore Colts for 31 seasons before moving to Indianapolis in March 1984.[1]

There have been 19[a] head coaches for the Colts franchise. Keith Molesworth became the first coach of the Baltimore Colts in 1953, but he was reassigned to a different position with the team following the season.[2] In terms of tenure, Weeb Ewbank has led the team for more games (112) and more complete seasons (nine) than any other head coach. He led the team to two of their NFL championships. Four Colts head coaches; Ewbank, Don Shula (3), Ted Marchibroda, and Tony Dungy have been named coach of the year by at least one major news organization. Ewbank, Shula, and Dungy are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 1978, 1997, and 2016 respectively.[3][4]

Six times in Colts history there were interim head coaches. In 1972, Don McCafferty was fired five games into the season.[2] John Sandusky was named as the interim head coach for the rest of the season, during which he led the Colts to a 4–5 record, but he was not made the permanent coach the next year. In 1974, head coach Howard Schnellenberger started off the season 0–3 and was fired. Joe Thomas assumed the duties of head coach and finished the season at 2–12.[2] In 1991, the Colts started off 0–5 and Ron Meyer was fired as head coach. Rick Venturi was named as the interim for the final 11 games.[5] In 2005 Tony Dungy was forced to miss one game due to personal issues. Jim Caldwell was named as the one game interim.[6] In 2012 offensive coordinator Bruce Arians was named as the interim head coach indefinitely after Chuck Pagano was diagnosed with leukemia four weeks into the 2012 NFL season.[7] Arians led the Colts to a 9–3 record – the record being credited to Pagano – and made the playoffs. Following a 3–5–1 start, Frank Reich was fired and on November 7, 2022, the Indianapolis Colts named Jeff Saturday as the team's interim coach for the rest of the season, during which he led the Colts to a 1–7 record. He was not made the permanent coach the next year.

Key

# Number of coaches
GC Games coached
W Wins
L Losses
T Ties
Win% Winning percentage
00* Elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
00^ Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a player
00† Spent entire professional NFL head coaching career with the Colts

Coaches

Note: Statistics are accurate through the end of the 2025 NFL season.
# Image Name Term Regular season Playoffs Awards Reference
GC W L T Win% GC W L
Baltimore Colts
1 Keith Molesworth† 1953 12 3 9 0 .333 – – – [8]
2 Weeb Ewbank* 1954–1962 112 59 52 1 .527 2 2 0 AP NFL Coach of the Year (1958)[9]
UPI NFL Coach of the Year (1958)[9] 		[10]
3 Don Shula* 1963–1969 98 71 23 4 .725 5 2 3 AP NFL Coach of the Year (1964, 1967, 1968)[9]
Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year (1964, 1968)[9]
Pro Football Weekly NFL Coach of the Year (1968)[9] 		[11]
4 Don McCafferty 1970–1972 33 22 10 1 .667 5 4 1 [12]
5 John Sandusky† 1972[b] 9 4 5 0 .444 – – – [13]
6 Howard Schnellenberger† 1973–1974 17 4 13 0 .235 – – – [14]
7 Joe Thomas† 1974[c] 11 2 9 0 .182 – – – [15]
8 Ted Marchibroda 1975–1979 74 41 33 0 .554 3 0 3 AP NFL Coach of the Year (1975)[9]
Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year (1975)[9]
Pro Football Weekly NFL Coach of the Year (1975)[9]
UPI NFL Coach of the Year (1975)[9] 		[16]
9 Mike McCormack^ 1980–1981 32 9 23 0 .281 – – – [17]
10 Frank Kush† 1982–1983 25 7 17 1 .300 – – – [18]
Indianapolis Colts
– Frank Kush† 1984 15 4 11 0 .267 – – – [18]
11 Hal Hunter† 1984[d] 1 0 1 0 .000 – – – [19]
12 Rod Dowhower† 1985–1986 29 5 24 0 .172 – – – [20]
13 Ron Meyer 1986–1991[e] 71 36 35 0 .507 2 0 2 UPI NFL Coach of the Year (1987)[9] [21]
14 Rick Venturi 1991[f] 11 1 10 0 .100 – – – [22]
– Ted Marchibroda 1992–1995 64 30 34 0 .469 3 2 1 [16]
15 Lindy Infante 1996–1997 32 12 20 0 .375 1 0 1 [23]
16 Jim Mora 1998–2001 64 32 32 0 .500 2 0 2 [24]
17 Tony Dungy* 2002–2008 112 85 27 0 .759 13 7 6 Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year (2005)[9]
Maxwell Football Club NFL Coach of the Year (2005)[9] 		[25]
18 Jim Caldwell 2009–2011 48 26 22 0 .542 4 2 2 [26]
19 Chuck Pagano† 2012–2017[g] 96 53 43 0 .552 6 3 3 [27]
20 Frank Reich 2018–2022[h] 74 40 33 1 .547 3 1 2 [28]
21 Jeff Saturday† 2022[i] 8 1 7 0 .125 – – – [29]
22 Shane Steichen† 2023–present 51 25 26 0 .490 – – – [30]

Notes

  1. Although Bruce Arians was named as interim head coach during the 2012 season, he was not credited with the team's record while in charge.
  2. John Sandusky was the interim head coach for nine games during the 1972 season.
  3. Joe Thomas was the interim head coach for 11 games during the 1974 season.
  4. Hal Hunter was the interim head coach for the final game of the 1984 season.
  5. Ron Meyer was the interim head coach for three games during the 1986 season.
  6. Rick Venturi was the interim head coach for 11 games during the 1991 season.
  7. During the 2012 season, Chuck Pagano was diagnosed with leukemia. Bruce Arians was the interim head coach for 12 games, while Pagano underwent treatment. Arians led the team to a 9–3 record and won the AP NFL Coach of the Year for 2012. However, the record was credited to Pagano.
  8. Originally, Indianapolis intended to hire Josh McDaniels as their head coach for the 2018 season. Though the Colts and McDaniels had verbally agreed to terms for a contract, McDaniels backed out of the agreement a day before his official introduction as head coach to return to his position as offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots. As such, Frank Reich was hired instead.
  9. Jeff Saturday was the interim head coach for eight games during the 2022 season.

References

General
Specific
  1. "Indianapolis Colts". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on June 12, 2008.
  2. "Baltimore Colts: Historical Moments". Baltimore Colts. Archived from the original on February 10, 2007.
  3. "Coach Ewbank Laid To Rest". CBS News. November 18, 1998. Archived from the original on May 24, 2011.
  4. "Don Shula: NFL Coaching Legend". Nationwide. Archived from the original on May 17, 2008.
  5. "Indianapolis Colts: Historical Moments". Indianapolis Colts. Archived from the original on September 9, 2023.
  6. "Dungy's son, 18, found dead in Tampa suburb". ESPN. December 22, 2005. Archived from the original on May 22, 2008.
  7. "Chuck Pagano battling leukemia". ESPN. October 2012. Archived from the original on October 3, 2012.
  8. "Keith Molesworth". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2007.
  9. "NFL Coach of the Year Award". HickokSports.com.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  10. "Weeb Ewbank". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2007.
  11. "Don Shula". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007.
  12. "Don McCafferty". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2007.
  13. "John Sandusky". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2007.
  14. "Howard Schnellenberger". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2007.
  15. "Joe Thomas". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2007.
  16. "Ted Marchibroda". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2007.
  17. "Mike McCormack". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2007.
  18. "Frank Kush Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 4, 2011.
  19. "Hal Hunter Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on August 13, 2011.
  20. "Rod Dowhower". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on November 22, 2011.
  21. "Ron Meyer". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on February 8, 2007.
  22. "Rick Venturi". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on February 14, 2010.
  23. "Lindy Infante". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on February 5, 2007.
  24. "Jim Mora". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on January 18, 2008.
  25. "Tony Dungy". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on January 14, 2009.
  26. "Jim Caldwell Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on January 2, 2018.
  27. "Chuck Pagano Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on November 19, 2017.
  28. "Frank Reich Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on February 16, 2023.
  29. "Jeff Saturday Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
  30. "Shane Steichen Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC.