After another successful season, the Baltimore Ravens saw their coaching staff raided by other NFL teams. Defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald got his first head coaching job in Seattle. Defensive backs coach (and former Maryland defensive back) Dennard Wilson went to Tennessee to become a defensive coordinator for the first time in his career. Defensive line coach and assistant head coach Anthony Weaver returned to the coordinator level with Miami.
This month we take a look at “The 15 Ravens Assistants Turned Head Coaches.”
A couple of quick notes. We did not include Ravens assistants who went on to become college head coaches, like Rick Neuheisel, Jedd Fisch, David Shaw, Kirk Ferentz and Thomas Hammock. We did not include John Fassel and Jerry Rosburg, as they became interim head coaches but never full-time coaches. We also did not include Gary Kubiak or Jim Caldwell because they had previously been head coaches in the NFL before becoming Ravens assistants. Kubiak, though, did go on to win a Super Bowl after leaving the Ravens.
Here’s the list in alphabetical order.
1. David Culley
It was a bit of a surprise when the Texans hired Culley following the 2020 season, which marked his first head coaching job after 27 years as an NFL assistant. He had most recently been the Ravens’ assistant head coach, wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator. Culley’s tenure in Houston did not last long, as he was fired following a 4-13 campaign.
2. Jack Del Rio
Del Rio served as linebackers coach for the Super Bowl XXXV champion Ravens team, working with future Hall of Famer Ray Lewis (which will prove to be a bit of a common theme on this list). He departed to become the defensive coordinator for the Panthers in 2002, then was hired as head coach of the Jaguars in 2003. He spent nine seasons in that role and later three more in the same capacity with the Raiders, making the playoffs three times but recording only one postseason victory.
3. Vic Fangio
Long before he berated John Harbaugh for a late run to keep a streak alive, the current Eagles defensive coordinator worked for the Ravens for four seasons, two under Brian Billick and two more under Harbaugh. After serving as linebackers coach in 2009, he spent the next nine seasons as the defensive coordinator with Stanford, the 49ers and the Bears. In his three years as Broncos head coach (2019-2021), he failed to record a winning season.
4. Hue Jackson
After offensive coordinator stints with Washington and Atlanta, Jackson spent two seasons working with Joe Flacco as the Ravens’ quarterbacks coach in 2008 and 2009. He got his first crack as a head coach with the Raiders in 2011, going 8-8. He then won three total games in three seasons as Browns head coach, including their historic 0-16 campaign in 2017.
5. Marvin Lewis
Lewis recorded the most head coaching wins of any coach on this list, winning 131 in 16 seasons with the Bengals. He served as the defensive coordinator in Baltimore for the first six years of the franchise’s history, leading an iconic unit during the Super Bowl XXXV championship season. Unfortunately for Lewis, he could never replicate the postseason success as a head coach. He went 0-7 in the playoffs with the Bengals.
6. Mike Macdonald
Time will tell how things work for the 36-year-old first-time head coach in Seattle. His ascent has been remarkable, starting with the Ravens in 2014 as a coaching intern.
7. Eric Mangini
While working as an offensive assistant for the Ravens in their inaugural 1996 campaign, Mangini once got stuck in a Memorial Stadium elevator for 25 minutes and missed part of the third quarter during a loss to the Jaguars. He led the Jets to the playoffs in 2006 in his first season as a head coach but did not return to the postseason during the next two years in New York or two more with the Browns.
8. Mike Nolan
Nolan is the son of Maryland alum Dick Nolan and a Baltimore native. (The family lived in Reisterstown while Dick played for the New York Giants.) The younger Nolan came home as wide receivers coach in 2001 and later defensive coordinator. He went 18-37 as the head coach of the 49ers from 2005-2008.
9. Chuck Pagano
When John Harbaugh needed a secondary coach for his first staff in Baltimore, it made sense to reach out to Pagano, who had a very close relationship with Ed Reed from their time together at Miami. Pagano rose to defensive coordinator in Baltimore in 2011 and then went on to spend six seasons as the head coach in Indianapolis. He went 53-43 during that time, including the infamous “2014 AFC Finalist” banner that hangs in the Colts’ rafters after their AFC championship game loss to the Patriots.
10. Mike Pettine
Pettine broke into the NFL as a coaching assistant in Baltimore in 2002 and rose to assistant defensive line coach and then outside linebackers coach before getting his first defensive coordinator job with the Jets in 2009. He then served as the head coach in Cleveland in 2014 and 2015. He won just 10 games in those two seasons, which by Browns standards was actually not that bad.
11. Rex Ryan
The current ESPN analyst came to Baltimore in 1999 as defensive line coach and was a beloved part of the staff for a decade, helping the Ravens to the Super Bowl XXXV title. He never hid from how bitterly disappointed he was to be passed over for the head coaching job after Brian Billick’s firing. After staying on Harbaugh’s staff for one season as defensive coordinator, he became the head coach of the Jets and guided them to back-to-back AFC championship games in his first two seasons, making some Ravens fans wonder if indeed the team hadn’t made the incorrect choice. But in his next six seasons with the Jets and Bills, Ryan didn’t post another winning record or playoff appearance.
12. Jim Schwartz
The Arbutus native and Mount Saint Joseph alum got his first coaching opportunity in the NFL as outside linebackers coach during the first three seasons of the Ravens’ existence, working with the likes of Cornell Brown and Peter Boulware. A little more than a decade later, he became the head coach in Detroit. In 2011, he guided the Lions to their first playoff berth since 1999 but it was the only winning season he recorded in his five years.
13. Mike Singletary
Singletary was already a Pro Football Hall of Famer when he arrived in Baltimore to start working with future Hall of Famer Ray Lewis in 2003. He spent two seasons as linebackers coach in Baltimore before heading out west to San Francisco, where he ascended to interim head coach in 2008 and full-time head coach in 2009. He went just 18-22 with the 49ers. His tenure is best known for his “Can’t Do It” rant after showing tough love to Maryland legend Vernon Davis during a game.
14. Mike Smith
Smith was a defensive assistant for the Super Bowl XXXV title team and later linebackers coach in Baltimore alongside his brother-in-law Brian Billick. In 2008, he got a head coaching opportunity with the Falcons and went 66-46 in seven seasons. He never advanced past the NFC championship game, going 1-4 in the playoffs during his stint in Atlanta. Thus concludes the “Mike” portion of our programming.
15. Ken Whisenhunt
After playing eight seasons in the NFL as a tight end, Whisenhunt got his first NFL coaching gig working with the likes of Eric Green as tight ends coach for the Ravens in 1997 and 1998. In 2007, he became the head coach in Arizona. He is the only coach on this list to lead a team to a conference title, ultimately falling to the Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII. He got another crack as a head coach in Tennessee in 2014 but went just 3-20 in 23 games before getting fired.
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox
Issue 285: February/March 2024
Originally published Feb. 21, 2024