James Caldwell (born January 16, 1955) is an American football coach who is a senior assistant for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts from 2009 to 2011 and Detroit Lions from 2014 to 2017. Caldwell has been a part of two Super Bowl-winning teams in his career; as the assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach of the Colts team that won Super Bowl XLI and as offensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens team that won Super Bowl XLVII.
College career
Caldwell attended the University of Iowa, where he was a four-year starter at defensive back for the Iowa Hawkeyes football team from 1973 to 1976.
Coaching career
College
Caldwell served as an assistant coach at the University of Iowa, Southern Illinois University, Northwestern University, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Louisville, and Pennsylvania State University before being named head coach at Wake Forest University in 1993. He was the first African-American head football coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Caldwell was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa - The National Leadership Honor Society at Wake Forest in 1996.
In eight years, Caldwell had a record of 26–63. He installed a powerful passing attack that set numerous school records, many of which have since been broken under his successor, Jim Grobe. However, his teams rarely ran well; in one year the Demon Deacons' leading rusher only notched 300 yards for the entire season. He only had one winning season, in 1999, when the Deacons won the Aloha Bowl.
Indianapolis Colts
Caldwell joined Tony Dungy's staff with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2001 as quarterbacks coach. He followed Dungy to Indianapolis in 2002 and remained with him for his entire tenure, helping lead the Colts to a win in Super Bowl XLI.
On January 13, 2008, Caldwell was formally announced as Dungy's successor-in-waiting. On January 12, 2009, Dungy announced his retirement, putting Caldwell in the head coaching position. He was formally introduced at a press conference the following day.
Caldwell had one of the best debut seasons for a head coach in NFL history, finishing with a 14–2 record. The Colts rushed out to a 14–0 start. With the AFC South title and the top seed in the AFC playoffs secured, Caldwell opted (on orders from then GM, Bill Polian) to sit out his starting players the last two games of the season (both losses), drawing controversy to him and the team. He later won his first playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens on January 16, 2010. On January 24, 2010, Caldwell became the fifth rookie head coach to lead his team to the Super Bowl after securing a 30–17 win against the New York Jets in the AFC Championship Game. On February 7, 2010, Caldwell's rookie season ended with a 31–17 loss in Super Bowl XLIV to the New Orleans Saints.
Caldwell shares the NFL record for the best start by a rookie head coach, starting his career with 14 wins. George Seifert led the San Francisco 49ers to 14 wins as a rookie head coach in 1989. The 14 wins also tied a Colts franchise record. As of Super Bowl LV, Caldwell is the last rookie head coach to reach the Super Bowl.
In his second season the Colts posted a 10–6 record but maintained the division title in the AFC South. They lost their first game in the playoffs to the New York Jets, 17–16, on January 8, 2011, marking the end of the Peyton Manning era in Indianapolis.
The 2011 season, however, saw the Colts sink to 2–14. Starting quarterback Peyton Manning missed the entire season due to undergoing neck surgeries, and without him the Colts appeared to be a rudderless team. Caldwell was fired after the season. The league-worst record however, gave the Colts the No. 1 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, which they would end up using to draft Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck.
Baltimore Ravens
Thirteen days after his dismissal from the Indianapolis Colts, Caldwell was named quarterbacks coach by the Baltimore Ravens on January 30, 2012. On December 10, 2012, the Ravens dismissed Cam Cameron and named Caldwell the offensive coordinator. On the day after defeating the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game, head coach John Harbaugh announced on January 22, 2013, that Caldwell would be the team's permanent offensive coordinator going into the 2013 season. On February 3, 2013, Caldwell helped lead the Ravens to a 34–31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
Detroit Lions
On January 14, 2014, the Detroit Lions announced Caldwell as their new head coach. He was the first African American to hold the position for the Lions.