George Seifert

On Seifert's 49th birthday, the 49ers won Super Bowl XXIII. Seifert was promoted to succeed Walsh as 49ers head coach the following season. He is one of only 13 NFL head coaches with more than one Super Bowl victory, winning in both the 1989 and 1994 seasons with the San Francisco 49ers. In Super Bowl XXIV he became the first rookie head coach to win the Super Bowl since Don McCafferty coached the Baltimore Colts to victory in Super Bowl V. In all, Seifert coached on five Super Bowl champion teams with the 49ers.

Despite owning the best winning percentage of any NFL head coach in the league's history, 49ers management did not offer an extension on Seifert's contract. 49ers team president Carmen Policy desired to hire Cal Bears head coach Steve Mariucci to the same position in the 49ers organization. Policy offered Seifert the opportunity to remain head coach for the final year of his contract, with Mariucci serving as offensive coordinator and head coach-in-waiting. Seifert then resigned.[3][8] His 98 wins are still the most in franchise history.

After two years out of the game, he was hired by the Carolina Panthers as head coach. He was also de facto general manager as well; the Panthers hadn't had a general manager since Bill Polian's departure in 1997.[9] During his first training camp with the Panthers, he told his players that they shouldn't act like wildebeests. He explained that wildebeests usually give up when caught by a lion. "Don't be that wildebeest," he said. "Don't give up."[10]

In his first season, Seifert led the Panthers to an 8–8 record, a four-game improvement from 1998. The most notable play of that year came when quarterback Steve Beuerlein scored a game-winning touchdown on a fourth-and-five quarterback draw with five seconds left in overtime to defeat the Green Bay Packers.[11] The Panthers went into the final day of the regular season in contention for a playoff berth; however, their victory margin over the New Orleans Saints needed to be 18 points greater than the Packers' margin over the Arizona Cardinals in order to make the playoffs. While the Panthers routed the Saints 45–13, the Packers beat the Cardinals 49–24, leaving the Packers ahead on point differential and eliminating the Panthers.

The Panthers were competitive for most of 2000 as well but needed to win their season finale against the Oakland Raiders to finish at .500. Instead, the Raiders won in a 52–9 rout, still one of the most lopsided losses in Carolina history. Seifert presided over the 2001 NFL Draft, which netted the Panthers Steve Smith and Kris Jenkins, two cornerstones of the franchise. Behind rookie quarterback Chris Weinke, they defeated the Minnesota Vikings, 24–13, in the 2001 season opener; however, they did not win another game all season and finished at 1–15, the worst record in franchise history.[12] The 15 consecutive losses was an NFL record for futility until the 2008 Detroit Lions went 0–16. The Panthers' final two games were played before what are still the two smallest crowds in franchise history (in terms of turnstile count), including a 38–6 loss to the New England Patriots that drew only 21,000 people. Following the game, Seifert announced that he was planning to return for the 2002 season, but was fired the next morning.[13]

Seifert is the first head coach since the implementation of the 16-game schedule to guide a team to 15 consecutive losses following a Week 1 victory. Seifert's dubious distinction would be matched by Doug Marrone of the 2020 Jacksonville Jaguars.

To date, Seifert is the only Panthers coach to have never had a winning season or coached a playoff game.