Every boss needs a good consigliere, a trusted advisor who’s got the knowledge and experience to keep things running smoothly. As it pertains to the NFL, that means having an experienced former head coach on staff to be that trusted advisor for a young, less experienced head coach.
Mike Macdonald helped the Seattle Seahawks win Super Bowl LX in just his second season as a head coach, and he no doubt benefited from the presence of assistant head coach Leslie Frazier. A veteran and well-respected defensive coordinator, Frazier has four years of experience as a head coach with the Minnesota Vikings (2010-13) — not to mention a Super Bowl ring as a defensive back for the fabled 1985 Chicago Bears.
Frazier has been with the Seahawks since Macdonald took over in 2024. The value of having an experienced head coach on the staff of a first-time head coach is immeasurable.
Ten NFL teams have new head coaches in 2026, though four of them have previous head coaching experience (John Harbaugh, New York Giants; Mike McCarthy, Pittsburgh Steelers; Kevin Stefanski, Atlanta Falcons; Robert Saleh, Tennessee Titans). So as we look to the six teams with rookie head coaches, do they have a consigliere to guide them?
Here’s a look at those situations:
Arizona Cardinals
Maybe new Arizona Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur comes to the job with a little extra knowledge because he’s got a brother who is a head coach. Mike and Matt LaFleur join John and Jim Harbaugh as the second set of brothers who currently are NFL head coaches. As far as his Cardinals staff, the good news is that he’s got a former head coach in the building in offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. The bad news is that Hackett was such an incompetent head coach that he was fired by the Denver Broncos after just 15 games (going 4-11).
Baltimore Ravens
After working as Jim Harbaugh’s defensive coordinator with the Los Angeles Chargers, Jesse Minter replaces John Harbaugh with the Ravens. Minter has a relatively young staff with no former NFL head coaches. Senior offensive assistant Joe Lombardi and senior special teams assistant Ben Kotwica have a combined 40 years of coaching, though not in the top spot. But here’s an interesting note: Minter does have a football analyst on staff who was head coach at the University of Cincinnati for 10 years. That would be his father, Rick Minter.
Buffalo Bills
Former offensive coordinator Joe Brady is a first-year head coach, and he told ESPN in February about the idea of having a former head coach on staff.
"Full transparency, I'd love to have [someone on staff with head coaching experience]; it's not a must," Brady said. "If there's people that have had the experience that I can lean on will be great, but they're not sitting there saying that they have all the answers. More so someone that can help me, bounce ideas off of.”
Sure enough, Brady landed an excellent sounding board in senior assistant John Fox. In 16 years as a head coach with three different teams, Fox has a record of 141-130 (including playoffs), and he’s taken two teams to the Super Bowl (Carolina Panthers in 2003; Broncos in 2013).
Bob Donnan/USA TODAY Sports
Cleveland Browns
This is Todd Monken’s first NFL head coaching gig and, fortunately for him, he’s got a senior defensive assistant who knows a lot about coaching firsts. From 1995-98, Dom Capers was the first-ever head coach for the expansion Panthers. From 2002-05, he was the first-ever head coach of the expansion Houston Texans.
Las Vegas Raiders
Klint Kubiak — whose father Gary Kubiak won Super Bowl 50 as head coach of the Broncos — has five coaches on his staff who have at least 20 years of coaching experience. One of those is offensive coordinator Mike McCoy, who was head coach of the San Diego Chargers from 2013-16.
Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are in full rebuilding mode, and they’re doing it with a young and relatively inexperienced coaching staff. Rookie head coach Jeff Hafley has an offensive coordinator (Bobby Slowik) with two years in that role, and a first-time NFL defensive coordinator (Sean Duggan). There are no former NFL head coaches on the Miami staff.
