Sports Metric of the Week: Wave of NFL Coaching Changes Expected

Being a head coach in professional sports is associated with extreme pressure from fans and ownership.

Typically, a coach has a maximum of two or three years to show significant improvement in order to keep their job. No sport reflects this burden more than football, where coach turnover is rampant among mediocre teams.

Over the past decade, only three coaches in the NFL have kept their job for a 10-year time period. The average tenure for an NFL coach is approximately just 3.2 years.

Just one day removed from the final game of the professional football season, five coaches have already lost their jobs, with at least a few more firings expected this week. This should bring us to or beyond the 7-8 coaching changes we’ve seen following the last few NFL seasons.

From 2012-2015, 22.9% of NFL teams made coaching changes during or just following the football season.

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