Carolina Panthers senior assistant Jim Caldwell done seeking head-coaching jobs in NFL
Former Indianapolis Colts and Detroit Lions head coach Jim Caldwell told reporters Tuesday that he doesn't plan to pursue another head-coaching opportunity in the NFL.
The 68-year-old Caldwell, who accepted a position with the Carolina Panthers as a senior assistant, said he doesn't "plan on being a head coach from this point forward" in his career.
"Right now, the only job that I'm concerned about is the job I do here, right here and now,'' Caldwell said Tuesday. "I'm not worried about the future or anything else."
Caldwell took the Colts to a Super Bowl in his first season at the helm in 2009. He won a title as the Colts' assistant coach in 2006. Caldwell also won a Super Bowl in 2012 with the Baltimore Ravens, where he served as offensive coordinator.
Caldwell has had just one NFL job since being fired by the Lions in 2017; he spent the 2019 season as an assistant with the Miami Dolphins. Caldwell said he interviewed for multiple openings in the last few years before new Panthers head coach Frank Reich, with whom Caldwell worked in Indianapolis, brought him aboard in Carolina.
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"When I didn't get a head-coaching job," Caldwell said, "I immediately sort of changed the plan in terms of what I was looking for next. I knew I was at the stage where I wanted to be back in the building somewhere.
"I did have some opportunities to kind of look at, and I was happy when Frank called.''
Caldwell, who is Black, also addressed the lack of coaching diversity across the NFL.
"When you look at the numbers, they speak for themselves,'' Caldwell said of the league's record for hiring coaches of color. "There's been volumes and volumes of articles written and reporting on television about the lack of diversity in terms of the head-coaching position."
However, Caldwell did acknowledge the NFL has done "a lot of things in the background to try to improve that.'' The Panthers also have Thomas Brown, who is also Black, on staff as offensive coordinator.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jim Caldwell done pursuing head coach jobs in NFL
