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In the NFL, outside the quarterback, the most important position for a franchise is the head coach. Their role is integral to success as they have the most impact on a team. It is their job to piece together every part of the puzzle in order for a franchise to succeed, with Super Bowl glory being the ultimate reflection of this.
This varies from team to team, but the head coach must assemble his coaching staff to help the players on a daily basis, create game plans each week to help overcome the team standing opposite and, most importantly, set the tone on the practice field that then transpires on to the pitch every single Sunday.
Head coaches must be personable, too. Apart from having a great football brain, they must listen, communicate and connect with each individual player on the roster in order to get the best out of the individual for the betterment of the team.
Several NFL head coaching jobs are up for grabs this off-season, and with the recent news regarding the New Orleans Saints' head coach Sean Payton stepping down, it got us thinking: what head coaches returned to the league after years away?
Three NFL head coaches who returned after being out of the league
#3 - Bill Parcells
Bill Parcells served as a head coach in the NFL for 19 seasons with the New York Giants, the New England Patriots, the New York Jets and the Dallas Cowboys. Taking over the Giants' head coaching role in 1983, this is where Parcells had his most successful stint. During his tenure, he won two Super Bowls at the end of the 1987 and 1990 seasons.
Parcells retired following the 1990 Super Bowl success and worked for NBC Sports, but he eventually returned to the NFL in 1993 with the Patriots. In 1996, he took the Patriots to the Super Bowl, but they lost to the Green Bay Packers, and Parcells moved on to the Jets.
After three years with the Jets, he retired for a second time before returning as head coach for the Cowboys in 2003. In 2007, he announced his retirement for a third and final time and would not return as head coach again in the NFL.
#2 - Jon Gruden
After various coaching jobs in the NFL, Gruden became head coach of the Oakland Raiders in 1998, winning two divisional titles and appearing in one AFC Championship Game. In 2002, he was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where, in his first season, he won the Super Bowl. Often referred to as the 'Gruden Bowl', the Bucs defeated Gruden's former team, the Raiders, 48-21.
He was fired by the Bucs in 2008 and took a nine-year hiatus from being a head coach. In 2018, he returned as head coach for the Raiders in a 10-year $100 million deal. In the 2021 season, he resigned after it was publicly revealed that he wrote racist, misogynistic and homophobic emails between 2011 and 2018.
#1 - Pete Carroll
This selection is not completely accurate as Pete Carroll didn't technically retire, but he did spend a big chunk of time outside of the NFL when he left to coach the USC Trojans in 2000. After completely revitalizing a struggling program that saw Carroll lead the Trojans to a BCS National Championship in 2005, he returned to the NFL as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks in 2010.
In the 2013 and 2014 seasons, Carroll enjoyed his best stint as the Seahawks' head coach. In 2013, he led the team to the Super Bowl where they crushed the Denver Broncos 43-8 in an electrifying performance, and he became the third-oldest coach to win the Super Bowl at age 62.
In 2014 he would repeat the feat of getting to back-to-back Super Bowls, where they faced the Tom Brady-led Patriots. With 25 seconds to go, the Seahawks were on the Patriots' one-yard line and down by four points. Despite having one of the most dominant running backs in the NFL in Marshawn Lynch, Carroll selected a passing play. The pass was intercepted by Malcolm Butler and the Seahawks lost. Many have called it the worst play-call in NFL history.
In 2022, Carroll will return for his 13th year as head coach of the Seahawks.
