Many college footballers leave school hoping to get drafted into the NFL, but Jim Caldwell is one of the few who coached instead. His coaching career spanned over four decades and during that time Caldwell coached NFL teams like the Indianapolis Colts, Baltimore Ravens, and Detroit Lions.
He won two Super Bowl titles (Super Bowl XLI and XLVII) as a coach. Here’s a look at Caldwell’s career over the years and more.
Jim Caldwell Bio
Coach Jim was born James Caldwell on January 16, 1955, in Beloit, Wisconsin, a small town that shares borders with Illinois. He attended Beloit (WI) Memorial High School where he started playing football. After graduating from high school, Caldwell enrolled at the University of Iowa in 1973. He would spend his next four years in school playing as a defensive back for the college Iowa Hawkeyes.
Jim graduated from Iowa in 1976 and the following year, in 1977, he began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Iowa. Caldwell would spend the next 15 years honing his coaching skills as a graduate assistant at various colleges including; Southern Illinois University, where he coached wide receivers, Northwestern University as an offensive assistant, University of Colorado at Boulder and University of Louisville as a wide receivers coach, and Pennsylvania State University as a quarterbacks coach.
And then came 1993 and Caldwell offered his first head coaching job at the independent private university, Wake Forest University. Caldwell made history when he landed the job by becoming the first black American coach to coach a team in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
With a wealth of attacking experience, Caldwell immediately created an impact at Wake Forest and became well known. Many started referring to him as the offensive guru.
In 1999, his penultimate year at Wake Forest, Caldwell led the Demon Deacons to win the Aloha Bowl title. He may have only had one successful year with the Deacons, but Caldwell’s skills on offense caught the eye of Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Tony Dungy, who will offer him his first coaching job in the NFL as quarterbacks coach for the Buccaneers.
When Dungy moved to the Indianapolis Colts in 2002, he brought along Caldwell. And together they won Super Bowl XLI. After the great Dungy retired in 2008, Caldwell was named as his immediate successor. In his freshman season in 2009, Caldwell finished with a 14-2 record that still ranks among the best for an NFL coach’s rookie season.
Caldwell led the Colts to Super Bowl XLIV but lost to the New Orleans Saints. Since then, no other rookie coach has reached the Super Bowl, at least Super Bowl LII.
Caldwell’s performance began to dip in the third season which was partly due to the absence of their star quarterback, the now retired Peyton Manning. He was fired in 2011, after which he spent a year (2012 – 2013) with the Baltimore Ravens as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator. Caldwell’s offensive skill was useful in helping the Ravens win Super Bowl XLVII against the San Francisco 49ers.
In January 2014, Caldwell again broke a record by becoming the first black American coach to become the head coach of the Detroit Lions. Caldwell was fired after three seasons with the Lions on New Year’s Day in 2018.
Why was he fired?
Jim Caldwell’s job at the Lions was first under threat in 2015 after the team badly underperformed going 1-7, but Caldwell managed to save his job after a historic win over the Green Bay Packers .
Caldwell has been credited with bringing a revolution in the way the Lions play, however, the team’s new general manager, Bob Quinn, was unhappy that the Lions could not win in top competitions . The final straw was when the Lions were knocked out of the playoffs, losing to the Cincinnati Bengals. A day after the season ended, news of Calwell’s firing hit the airwaves.
Despite his relatively unsuccessful seasons at the Lions, Caldwell was the team’s most successful coach since Buddy Parker. He walked away with a winning percentage of (.563).
Following his dismissal, Caldwell said he was open to a job but would not go hunting
His contract, salary and net worth
As Caldwell’s career has progressed over the years, so has his salary which is often hidden from the public. According to unconfirmed sources, Caldwell earned a salary of $4 million during his first years with the Detroit Lions.
Caldwell was signed by the Lions to a contract extension around August 2017, ESPN revealed in early December of that year. However, while the extension was initially seen as job security for Caldwell who had been placed in the hot seat since 2015, an ESPN source explained that the contract actually offered less job security as it meant that if should the team decide to fire Caldwell, he would only be guaranteed payment for the 2018 season.
Jim Caldwell’s net worth is estimated at $12 million.
Jim Caldwell wife
Jim Caldwell has been married to his wife, Cheryl, for over 4 decades. They met when they were teenagers (15 to be precise) and have been together ever since.
Caldwell and her family have maintained a relatively low profile over the years. In a 2014 interview with the Oakland Press, Cheryl revealed that her husband, throughout his years as a coach, never came home frustrated at losing a game.
Together, the couple founded the Caldwell Foundation in 2009. The organization aims to help children access digital education.
Caldwell and Cheryl share four children together; including sons Jimmy, Jermaine, Jared and daughter, Natalie. Jimmy and Natalie both played varsity sports; the former playing football and the latter basketball. Jimmy has at least two children with his wife, making Jim Caldwell a grandfather.