The Colts Pulled a High School Coach Off the Sideline at 44

Philip Rivers played 17 seasons in the NFL and made eight Pro Bowls at quarterback for the Chargers and the Colts. In December 2025, at age 44, he traded a high school practice field for an NFL sideline again. Three games later, he traded it back.

Coaching in Fairhope

Rivers retired from the NFL after the 2020 season. The following year he became head coach of a high school football team in Fairhope, Alabama, not far from where he had settled with his family.

He won his first game as a head coach that August. He went on to hold the job through the 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 seasons, running practices and calling plays for teenagers instead of professionals.

By the fall of 2025, Rivers was five years into life as a small-town high school coach. Few outside Alabama had reason to notice.

A Call in December

The Indianapolis Colts had a quarterback shortage late in the 2025 season. On December 10, they signed Rivers to their practice squad.

Three days later, on December 13, they activated him to the 53-man roster. He was eligible to play that Sunday, five years after his last NFL snap.

Rivers went on to start three games for the Colts that December, going 0-3. He was still, on paper, a high school head coach the entire time.

The Job He Walked Away From

In January 2026, the Buffalo Bills interviewed Rivers for their vacant head coaching position. The team had fired its previous coach after a playoff loss.

Rivers was one of several candidates considered for the job. He withdrew from consideration before a decision was made.

NFL Network reported that the timing was not right for him and his family. He went home to Alabama instead.

Back on the Sideline

Between the practice squad, the roster move, three NFL starts and a head coaching interview, Rivers spent much of the past year being pulled toward the league he left behind.

He is back coaching high-school football in Fairhope this fall.