• Weeb Ewbank was born just over the Ohio border in Richmond, Indiana, and went to play at Miami University, where he’s a member of its Hall of Fame. After five years as an assistant coach with the Cleveland Browns, Ewbank won NFL titles in 1958-59 as the head coach of the Baltimore Colts, and then upset those same Colts with the AFL champion New York Jets in Super Bowl III.
  • Don McCafferty graduated from Rhodes High School in Cleveland before heading down to Columbus to play collegiately, helping the Buckeyes win a national title in 1942. McCafferty was an assistant at Kent State for 11 years, and then spent 11 more on the Colts staff (hired by Ewbank), before taking over as head coach in 1970. Baltimore was the Super Bowl V champion in his first season. McCafferty also coached the Detroit Lions for a season in 1973, passing away from a heart attack in the off-season the following year.
  • With 347 career victories, Don Shula is the all-time leader in NFL coaching wins. Born on Lake Erie, in Grand River, Shula moved to Painesville. After a college career at John Carroll, Shula spent two of his seven years as a player for the Cleveland Browns. He was hired as head coach of the Baltimore Colts in 1963, and then by the Miami Dolphins in 1970. Shula’s Fins won back-to-back Super Bowls (VII & VIII), which included the NFL’s only undefeated team of the Super Bowl era in 1972. Shula is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and had just two losing seasons in his 33 as head coach.
  • While more closely associated with Pittsburgh, Chuck Noll’s football education was mostly received in the state to the West of Pennsylvania. The Pro Football Hall of Fame coach went to Benedictine High School in Cleveland, before playing in college at the University of Dayton. Noll was drafted by the Browns in 1953, and spent seven seasons in uniform as a linebacker and offensive guard. His break as head coach came in 1969, when the Steelers hired him. At that point, Pittsburgh had only 7 winning seasons out of 36 in franchise history. Noll guided the Black & Gold to four Super Bowl championships (IX, X, XIII & XIV) in a six-year span in the 1970’s. His four Super Bowl titles trail only Bill Belichick (5) for most all-time.
  • Brian Billick lifted the Lombardi Trophy with the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XXXV. While Billick grew up in Redlands, California, he was born in the Dayton area (Fairborn), while his father was an Air Force test pilot, based at Wright Patterson. Billick’s mother, Mildred, was born in Monroe County, and met Don Billick at the base.
  • The second coach on this list to play at the University of Dayton is Jon Gruden. The current Raiders head coach was at the controls for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers victory in Super Bowl XXXVII. Jon’s brother, Jay, is the coach of the Washington Redskins. Their father, Jim, was also a football coach, including stints as an assistant at Dayton, Indiana and Notre Dame. Jon was born in Sandusky, and while he attended high school in Indiana, he played his first year in college at Muskingum before transferring to Dayton.
  • The first ever Super Bowl matchup featuring brothers as head coaches came in New Orleans in 2013. The Ravens’ John Harbaugh was the winning head coach in Super Bowl XLVII, besting brother, Jim, who was coaching the San Francisco 49ers at the time. Both siblings were born in Toledo, while their father Jack (who had 116 wins in college, including a I-AA title with Western Kentucky in 2002) was an assistant coach at Perrysburg High School. John went on to play at Miami University, and has been inducted into the school’s famed “Cradle of Coaches”.