With Mike Tomlin stepping down from coaching the Pittsburgh Steelers after 19 seasons, it leaves Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, in his 18th season, as the longest-tenured coach in major North American sports.
However, it’s not a sentiment Spoelstra is particularly proud of.
“Some people could look at that as a badge of honor,” Spoelstra told reporters Tuesday. “I look at that as really a disappointment to this profession, that there’s not more coaches that are given an opportunity to work through things.”
He’s not wrong. Of 167 total professional major North American sport franchises (NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, MLS, WNBA), only 13 coaches have maintained their jobs since before 2019.
With the Baltimore Ravens recently firing longtime coach John Harbaugh after 18 seasons, it leaves Spoelstra and Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve as the only ones who have held their jobs since 2010.
Both Tomlin and Harbaugh won Super Bowls for their franchises, but neither has had a championship appearance in the last decade.
In a world of instant gratification, a lack of immediate results has bred rapid change. Here’s an updated list of the survivors — the top three longest-tenured coaches in each league across professional North American sports.
NFL
Andy Reid, Kansas City Chiefs: 13 seasons (since 2013)
Overall record: 149–64
Championships: three Super Bowl titles (Won in 2019, 2022, 2023, lost in 2020, 2024)
Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams: nine seasons (since 2017)
Overall record: 92–57
Championships: one Super Bowl title (Won in 2021, lost in 2018)
Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers: nine seasons (since 2017)
Overall record: 82–67
Championships: no Super Bowl titles (lost in 2019 and 2023)
Sean McDermott, Buffalo Bills: nine seasons (since 2017)
Overall record: 98–50
Championships: no Super Bowl titles (no appearances)
Reid was hired after a 2-14 Kansas City season in 2012 under Romeo Crennel and immediately elevated the franchise to an 11-5 record in 2013 and a playoff berth. His Chiefs have posted 12 consecutive winning seasons in his tenure, including nine straight AFC West division titles, seven straight AFC championship appearances, five Super Bowl berths and three titles.
Meanwhile, McVay inherited a 4-12 Rams team as the youngest-ever (30 years old) head coach hired. He ushered in a new star-studded era in Los Angeles, as his team was in the Super Bowl just two years after he was hired and then won it in 2020.
Unlike Reid and McVay, Shanahan hasn’t lifted a Super Bowl trophy for his franchise, but he has remained at the San Francisco helm since 2017 because of the team’s consistency in the playoffs. After two losing seasons in his first two years, Shanahan’s 49ers started a trend in 2019 of either making it to at least the conference championship (four total and three consecutive between 2021-23) or not making the playoffs at all (2020 & 2024).
McDermott is the only one of the top four tenured coaches to have never led his team to a Super Bowl appearance. He remains because in the same nine seasons as McVay and Shanahan, he’s produced the most total regular season wins and has the fewest amount of seasons (one) missing the playoffs.
The problem is he’s consistently run into Andy Reid and the Chiefs (four times, losing all four), and he’s yet to exorcise those demons.
Will this finally be the year Sean McDermott reaches the Super Bowl? (Jason Miller / Getty Images)
NBA
Erik Spoelstra, Miami Heat: 18 seasons (since 2008)
Overall record: 808–591
Championships: two NBA titles (Won in 2012, 2013, lost in 2011, 2014, 2020, 2022)
Steve Kerr, Golden State Warriors: 12 seasons (since 2014)
Overall record: 589–327
Championships: four NBA titles (Won in 2015, 2017, 2018, 2022, lost in 2016, 2019)
Billy Donovan, Chicago Bulls: six seasons (since 2020)
Overall record: 213-226 (With Bulls)
Championships: no championships as Bulls head coach
When Spoelstra took over in 2008, he was lucky enough to inherit Miami’s greatest ever player in the prime of his career — Dwyane Wade. Then Lebron James and Chris Bosh joined the project, and Spoelstra guided “The Big Three” to four consecutive finals appearances, winning two.
While Spoelstra inherited Wade and the rest of the superteam soon followed, Kerr inherited a burgeoning Golden State dynasty already built, but gave them the freedom to unleash an imperious reign over the NBA. Fresh off a conference semifinals loss in 2014, Kerr arrived in 2014-15 and gave Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and the rest of the Warriors the green light to run the free-flowing, shoot-from-anywhere offense that would reshape the way basketball is played.
The Warriors made five consecutive Finals, winning three, taking a hiatus, then coming back and winning another in 2022. Kerr was the man at the helm of the NBA’s last great dynasty, as not a single team has repeated Finals appearances since Golden State, much less won consecutive crowns.
Donovan was once revered as a perennial winner as a college coach, winning two consecutive NCAA championships, leading the Florida Gators in 2006 and 2007. In Chicago, he’s managed only one playoff appearance in six seasons, and just a single season above .500.
NHL
Jon Cooper, Tampa Bay Lightning: 14 seasons (since 2012-13)
Overall record: 601–319–86
Championships: two Stanley Cups (won in 2020, 2021, lost in 2015, 2022)
Jared Bednar, Colorado Avalanche: nine seasons (since 2016-17)
Overall record: 423-250-72
Championships: one Stanley Cup (2022)
Rod Brind’Amour, Carolina Hurricanes: seven seasons (since 2018-19)
Overall record: 353-175-53
Championships: no Stanley Cups as coach (has deep playoff runs and division titles)
In 2012-13, Cooper took over a Lightning franchise that had one playoff appearance in six years. He’s missed the playoffs only once in the 12 seasons since, making four Stanley Cup finals and winning two.
Meanwhile, the winningest coach in Avalanche history took over in 2016 for a franchise with just two playoff appearances in the previous nine years. The Avalanche struggled in Bednar’s first year, but they made the playoffs in his second in 2017‑18. They have yet to miss the playoffs since and won the Stanley Cup in 2022.
In 2014, Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon won the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year before Bednar got to the Rockies. Since then, he’s been Bednar’s crown jewel, winning multiple accolades, including both the Hart Memorial and Ted Lindsay MVP awards.
Brind’Amour took over a perennial bottom-dweller in Carolina that had missed nine consecutive postseasons, and unlike Bednar and Cooper, who both took a year to start their playoff streaks, his impact was immediate. Since taking over in 2018, the Hurricanes have played a part in every postseason. Although they have yet to win a Stanley Cup, Brind’Amour’s team has made the conference finals three times.
MLB
Dave Roberts, Los Angeles Dodgers: nine seasons (Since 2016)
Overall record: 944-575 (With Dodgers)
Championships: three World Series titles with the Dodgers (Won in 2020, 2024, 2025, lost in 2017, 2018)
Brian Snitker, Atlanta Braves: nine seasons (Since 2016)
Overall record: 811–668
Championships: one World Series title (2021)
Oliver Marmol, St. Louis Cardinals: three seasons (since 2022)
Overall record: 325–323
Championships: no World Series titles
Roberts has been a winner. Whether as a key base stealer in the 2004 World Series for the winning Boston Red Sox, breaking the Curse of the Bambino, or as the head of the modern dynasty that is the Los Angeles Dodgers. In nine seasons at the helm in the City of Angels, he’s led the Dodgers to five World Series, winning three, including the last two.
Snitker hasn’t collected as many pennants as Roberts and the Dodgers, but has kept his Atlanta Braves near the top of baseball for almost a decade. In nine seasons, the Braves have had only three losing seasons, and in 2021, Snitker, with superstar Ronald Acuna Jr. leading the way, brought a World Series trophy to Atlanta for the first time since 1995.
Contrary to the elder statesmen, Marmol hasn’t found nearly as much postseason success. Initially, he hit the ground running in St. Louis, with the Cardinals winning the NL Central in 2022 but losing in the wild card to the Philadelphia Phillies. He’s yet to get back to the playoffs.
MLS
Brian Schmetzer, Seattle Sounders FC: nine seasons (since 2016)
Overall record: 180-95-113 (MLS regular season)
Championships: two MLS Cups (Won in 2016, 2019, lost in 2017 and 2020)
Óscar Pareja, Orlando City: six seasons (since 2019)
Overall Record: 97-52-58
Championships: no MLS Cup.
Greg Vanney, LA Galaxy: four seasons (since 2021)
Overall Record: 78-48-73 (With LA Galaxy)
Championships: one MLS Cup (Won in 2024)
Schmetzer is built from the Reid, Roberts and Kerr cloth in inheriting struggling teams and coaching them to dynastic levels. He was hired as an interim halfway through the 2016 season, and by that season’s end, Seattle was the MLS Cup champion. By the end of 2020, the Sounders had made it to four championship matches in five years, winning two.
Vanney has captured one MLS Cup in Los Angeles while leading the Galaxy, but neither he nor Pareja has seen as much consistent championship-winning success as Schmetzer in the Pacific Northwest. However, both Pareja and Vanney have won Coach of the Year accolades in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
WNBA
Cheryl Reeve, Minnesota Lynx: 15 seasons (since 2009)
Overall record: 364-190
Championships: four WNBA titles (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, lost in 2012, 2016, 2024)
Becky Hammon, Las Vegas Aces: four seasons (since 2021)
Overall record: 117-43
Championships: three WNBA titles (2022, 2023, 2025)
Nate Tibbetts, Phoenix Mercury: two seasons (since 2023)
Overall record: 46-38
Championships: no WNBA titles (Lost in 2025)
Reeve is the torchbearer for the WNBA, its most successful coach and a dominant force. No other coach has been with one team since before 2020, and Reeve has been winning championships since early in her tenure, which began in the 2010 season. The Lynx were a WNBA doormat, but the arrival of Maya Moore from UConn changed everything. Between 2011 and 2017, the Lynx played in the WNBA Finals in six of those seven seasons, winning four titles.
When Moore stepped away in 2019, she was replaced by another UConn stalwart in Napheesa Collier. Since then, the winning has only continued, with the Lynx making the WNBA Finals in 2024.
However, Reeve hasn’t won a Finals since 2017, and one of the figures who has stood in her way has been Becky Hammon and the Las Vegas Aces. The former WNBA player and first-ever full-time women’s assistant NBA coach with the San Antonio Spurs hit the ground running in Sin City. Like Reeve with Moore, Hammon took the reins of a team with superstar A’ja Wilson, and the Aces laid waste to the league in the first half of this decade, winning three championships in four years.
In 2023, Tibbetts was hired in Phoenix and quickly led the Mercury to success as the franchise transitioned away from longtime stalwarts Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi and into a new era. In 2025, Tibbetts got the Mercury to the WNBA Finals, where they lost to Las Vegas.