The Indianapolis Colts are one of the gold-star franchises in the history of the NFL, as their history of winning goes all the way back to their time in Baltimore with Johnny Unitas and continued into the present day after Peyton Manning came to town.
Alongside many of those great quarterbacks are head coaches that have their own history of legendary performance. Indianapolis and Baltimore have sent multiple names to the Hall of Fame, winning some silverware for both their ring finger and mantlepiece along the way.
The Colts have a few coaches that managed to rise above the rest. These five names are already way out in front of their colleagues, establishing themselves without question as the five best coaches to pick up a whistle in Colts history.
Criteria for selection
These coaches were chosen based on a combination of:
- Win-Loss record
- Postseason Success
- Longevity
- Memorable Moments
Top 5 head coaches in the history of the Indianapolis Colts
5. Ted Marchibroda
Marchibroda had two different stints coaching the Colts, one in Baltimore and one in Indianapolis. While it took him until 1995 to win a playoff game with the Colts, he is still regarded as one of the better coaches who ever led this franchise due to his relative consistency.
Marchibroda, who is still second in wins in Colts history with 71, began his career with three straight double digit-win seasons behind MVP quarterback Bert Jones. After his downturn, Marchibroda returned after the Indianapolis move in the 1990s and had the longest string of success the franchise had seen after the move.
Marchibroda is the epitome of a floor-raising coach with a ceiling. He was never going to win a Super Bowl, but he knew just enough offensive tricks of the trade to take a motley crew of players and instantly make them a team that could end up in the postseason.
4. Don McCafferty
Think about how good the Colts' coaching history is. McCafferty is one of just a few dozen coaches who can claim a Super Bowl victory, and he is only No. 4. McCafferty was only the coach for three seasons, beginning his tenure with an amazing 11-2-1 record and a win over the Cowboys in the notoriously chaotic Super Bowl V.
Fired after a 1-4 start in 1972, McCafferty became head coach of the Lions soon thereafter. A heart attack tragically ended his life at 53 years old, though his championship season is good enough to make him one of the more important names in Colts history.
McCafferty finished his career 22-10-1 with the Colts, with four of those losses coming at the end and none of them coming in a Super Bowl. His early passing brought an end to a coaching career that assuredly would have put him among the best of his era.
3. Don Shula
Shula was 71-23-4 in his time coaching the Colts, and he couldn't even crack the top three. Many of the same traits that made Shula legendary in Miami were present in Baltimore, as he built an elite defensive team with the meticulous attention to detail needed to be a winner consistently.
Shula's teams never had a losing record, and they won double-digit contests in a 14-game season four times in five years. The fact Shula was doing this while coming into the head coaching job at just 33 years old speaks to his football mind.
Shula's Dolphins tenure overshadows his Colts accomplishments, as his inability to break through and win a championship with Baltimore is what many remember. Those who dig into the numbers will look on Shula's Colts time with even more reverence.
2. Weeb Ewbank
Ewbank has a case to be made as the greatest coach in the history of two franchises, as he led the Jets to a ring against his former team in Super Bowl III. Before that time with the Jets, Ewbank and Johnny Unitas helped the Colts win consecutive NFL championships in 1958 and 1959.
Ewbank didn't win more than seven games until his fifth season with the Colts, but the results were more than worth the wait. Along the way, Ewbank drafted, signed, and developed multiple Hall of Fame players on both sides of the ball.
Ewbank was a polarizing personality who certainly was not for everyone's taste, but no one can argue with the results. The Colts of the late 1950s were one of the biggest factors behind football overtaking baseball in the American lexicon, and Ewbank is to thank for that.
1. Tony Dungy
Dungy may have left meat on the bone by only getting to and winning one championship during the best years of Peyton Manning, but what he did manage to gnaw off is a resume that is equaled by a select few across the annals of NFL history. Dungy's Colts teams were among the most consistently excellent leaders in NFL history,
Dungy won at least 12 games in all but one of his seven seasons with the Colts, giving him an insane 85-27 record. Dungy let Manning do his thing, but he also created a high-end ground game led by Edgerrin James and a defense led by dominant defensive linemen Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis.
Dungy could have had a job for life, as it seemed like Indianapolis was considered to be the best or among the best in the league every single year. With the jewelry to back it up, Dungy's resume is unequaled in Colts history.