Caldwell enters his 43rd season coaching football, and his 19th in the NFL. He has 15 years as a head coach, including seven seasons leading the Indianapolis Colts (2009-11) and Detroit Lions (2014-17), where he compiled a 62-50 (.554) regular-season record, four playoff berths, two 11-win seasons, and one conference championship. He also won Super Bowls as an assistant coach with Indianapolis (Super Bowl XLI) and Baltimore (Super Bowl XLVII). Overall, teams on which he has been part of the coaching staff have qualified for the playoffs 13 times in 17 seasons.

In his most recent position, Caldwell served as the assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach for the Miami Dolphins (2019).

In his four seasons (2014-17) as Detroit's head coach, Caldwell went 36-28 (.563) with two playoff appearances for a team that made the postseason once in their previous 14 years, and became the first Lions head coach to have a winning record since 1972. The Lions accumulated a .667 winning percentage against the NFC North during his tenure, marking the team's best four-year divisional winning percentage since divisional play began in 1967.

With the Ravens for two seasons (2012-13), Caldwell started as the quarterbacks coach (2012) before he was promoted to offensive coordinator with three games left in the season. Baltimore responded by going on to win Super Bowl XLVII. In the team's final seven games, including four in the postseason, the Ravens averaged 400.6 yards per game and 27.3 points per game, including 410.3 yards per game and 31.0 points per game in the playoffs. 

The Ravens' 31.0 points per game in the postseason was the highest playoff scoring average in NFL history by a Super Bowl team who advanced from the Wild Card round and played four playoff games.

Caldwell spent 10 seasons (2002-11) with Indianapolis, ultimately serving as head coach for three seasons (2009-11). The Colts tied an NFL record with nine consecutive playoff appearances (2002-10), won six AFC South titles, two AFC championships, and Super Bowl XLI during his tenure. As the team's head coach, he compiled a 26-22 record (.542), winning the AFC South twice and earning an appearance in Super Bowl XLIV. He became just the fourth person in NFL history to win 24-plus games and earn a berth in the Super Bowl in their first two seasons as a head coach, and the second rookie head coach in NFL history to win 14 games as Indianapolis went 14-2 (2019).

Working with the quarterbacks (2002-05) at the start of his Colts tenure, Caldwell was promoted to assistant head coach/quarterbacks (2006-07), before being named associate head coach (2008) and then head coach (2009). He helped quarterback Peyton Manning and the team total eight top-10 finishes in total offense and six top-5 finishes in his 10 seasons.

Caldwell's NFL coaching career began in 2001 as quarterbacks coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Before that, he spent eight seasons (1993-2000) as head coach at Wake Forest. Caldwell had extensive experience as an NCAA assistant coach with stints at Penn State (1986-92), Louisville (1985), Colorado (1982-84), Northwestern (1981) and Southern Illinois (1978-80). He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Iowa, in 1977.

A four-year starter at defensive back for Iowa (1973-76), Caldwell and holds a bachelor's degree in liberal arts from the school.

Along his wife, Cheryl, the couple launched the Jim and Cheryl Caldwell Foundation in 2009. The foundation is committed to the educational empowerment of children through digital technology and "preparing young minds for advancement to the 21st Century." The Caldwells also support several other charities throughout the country.

In 2016, Caldwell's hometown of Beloit, Wis., dedicated the Jim Caldwell Gymnasium at the newly opened Fran Fruzen Intermediate School in his honor. He was inducted into Beloit High School's Hall of Fame (2011) and the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame (2013).

The couple has four adult children – Jimmy, Jermaine, Jared, and Natalie – and four grandsons, James III, Joshua, Larry III and Landon.

COACHING CAREER

1977 | University of Iowa | Graduate Assistant

1978-80 | Southern Illinois University | Defensive Backs/ Defensive Coordinator

1981 | Northwestern University | Defensive Backs

1982-84 | University of Colorado | Outside Linebackers/ Wide Receivers/ Quarterbacks

1985 | University of Louisville | Defensive Backs

1986-92 | Penn State University | Quarterbacks/ Passing Game Coordinator

1993-00 | Wake Forest University | Head Coach

2001 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Quarterbacks

2002-08 | Indianapolis Colts | Assistant Head Coach/Quarterbacks 

2009-11 | Indianapolis Colts | Head Coach

2012 | Baltimore Ravens | Quarterbacks/ Interim Offensive Coordinator

2013 | Baltimore Ravens | Offensive Coordinator

2014-17 | Detroit Lions | Head Coach

2019 | Miami Dolphins | Assistant Head Coach/Quarterbacks

2023-pres | Carolina Panthers | Senior Assistant