The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL One last ride on this year's coaching carousel
21 snips
Feb 12, 2026 A final roundup of the wild coaching carousel, from Klint Kubiak landing in Las Vegas to Mike LaFleur’s move to Arizona. They dig into staffing shifts, coordinator churn, and surprising firings. The conversation spotlights hiring trends, diversity shortfalls with zero Black head coaches, and which coordinator choices might reshape teams.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Thin Offensive Coaching Pool Shapes Hires
- The 2026 coaching cycle had a thinner offensive coach pool, forcing teams to compromise on resumes.
- Successful recent hires skew toward play-callers, raising hit-rate hopes despite imperfect backgrounds.
Pair A QB With A Play-Calling Head Coach
- Tie your new head coach closely to your incoming quarterback when drafting at No.1 to maximize upside.
- Accept imperfect candidates if the upside with a franchise QB justifies the risk.
Hiring Trend Deepens Racial Pipeline Problem
- Ten head-coach hires produced zero Black head coaches, exposing systemic pipeline problems.
- The offensive coach hiring trend disproportionately limits promotion chances for Black coaches in QB-facing roles.