Joe Brady is the third man to take the reins of the Buffalo Bills who was in his 30s at the time of his hiring.
The Buffalo Bills have hired 36-year-old Joe Brady as the 19th full-time head coach in team history, and the 21st head coach when accounting for interim head coaches Perry Fewell and Anthony Lynn. Brady is one of the youngest head coaches in the club’s history, as he is just the third person to be hired for the job while in his thirties.
Brady is the team’s youngest head coach since Kay Stephenson, who was 39 years old when he was hired as head coach in 1983 following Chuck Knox’s departure. Stephenson, who had been the team’s quarterbacks coach prior to his hiring as head coach, had no prior experience as a head coach or a coordinator, and while his first year brought promise with an 8-8 record, the team went just 2-18 over his next 20 games. He was fired four games into the 1985 season.
The youngest head coach in Bills history is actually Joe Collier, who was 34 years old when he became the team’s head coach in 1966. Collier was the defensive coordinator for head coach Lou Saban when Buffalo won back-to-back AFL Championships in 1964 and 1965, but after Saban resigned, Collier took over as head coach. He led the team to a 9-4-1 record in his first season, as well as a third consecutive AFL Championship Game berth. However, the Bills lost to the Kansas City Chiefs, who represented the AFL in Super Bowl I. Collier’s first season was his high-water mark with Buffalo, as the Bills went 4-12 over his next sixteen games, which led to his firing after an 0-2 start to the 1968 season.
While Stephenson never coached in the NFL again following his firing, Collier went on to a long, successful career as a defensive coordinator. After reuniting with Lou Saban as defensive backs coach with the Denver Broncos in 1969, he was promoted to defensive coordinator after three seasons, a position he held with the team from 1972 to 1988. Collier led the “Orange Crush” defense that helped the Broncos to three Super Bowls during his tenure. He was fired by Dan Reeves following the 1988 season, and finished his career with a two-year stint as defensive coordinator of the New England Patriots in 1991 and 1992.
Brady, who has been with Buffalo’s staff since joining as quarterbacks coach for the 2022 season, has been the team’s offensive coordinator since midway through the 2023 season. Brady is currently the NFL’s youngest head coach, though the Las Vegas Raiders, Cleveland Browns, and Arizona Cardinals have yet to fill their head coaching vacancies. Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike McDonald (38 years old) and New Orleans Saints head coach Kellen Moore (37 years old) are the closest in age to Brady.
Category: General Sports
