Just weeks ago, the St. Michael Catholic Cardinals finished with a 13-1 record, losing in the state semifinals. It was yet another strong year for the Alabama high school football squad, as their head coach since 2021 helped bring sustained success to the program.
Then, in one of the most surprising NFL storylines of the 2025 season, St. Michael’s head football coach was a starting quarterback at 44 years old. When Philip Rivers took snaps under center for the Indianapolis Colts in Week 15, he became one of the oldest players in NFL history, out to prove he could still sling a football at the highest level.
The eight-time Pro Bowler, however, had spent the previous few years at a much different level of football. Coaching his son, Gunner, as a second-generation quarterback, Rivers had become a well-known Alabama high school coach.
Here’s everything to know about Philip Rivers’ time coaching high school football in Alabama.
MORE: Everything to know about Philip Rivers' 10 kids, family
Where does Philip Rivers coach high school football?
Philip Rivers coaches high school football at St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope, Alabama.
After retiring from the NFL following the 2020 season, Rivers became St. Michael's head football coach in 2021. The program was still in its earlier years, as the school first opened in 2016. He followed in the footsteps of his father, Steve, who retired from high school football coaching in 2006 as the winner of 188 games in 25 years, primarily in Alabama, according to AL.com.
When he made his coaching debut at St. Michael Catholic in 2021, Rivers told NBC15 that it was the start of something he always dreamed of doing.
"I’ve played a lot of football in the last 20 years and some of my favorite memories are Friday nights," Rivers said. "It's a little bit different that I'm not in uniform right now getting ready to play, that's for sure. But it feels like home. The people have been great."
Longtime NFL QB Philip Rivers talks about the pure joy of high school football following his first win as a head coach at St. Michael. Pic.twitter.com/uFKolVujrV
— Ben Thomas (@BenThomasPreps) August 27, 2021
In 2023, Rivers said that he'd had a desire to coach high school football since age 25, and found a chance to do so at St. Michael Catholic.
“I think I would have gone right into it had that been what I wanted to do,” Philip Rivers told AL.com. “But, really, I’ve longed to coach my boys and these other 15-18 year-old boys since I was 25. I’m good right here.”
Rivers made a commitment to the private school before his final NFL season in 2020, and he helped transform the team into an elite Alabama high school football squad. In 2023, the Cardinals made the playoffs for the first time in school history.
MORE: What happened to Anthony Richardson?
Philip Rivers high school coaching record
- 43-15 (.741)
Since Rivers joined the program in 2021, St. Michael Catholic High School has gone 43-15 overall in five seasons. The Cardinals made consecutive 4A state semifinal appearances in 2024 and 2025 under Rivers.
Just before his December 2025 return to the NFL, Rivers led St. Michael Catholic to a 13-1 record and loss in the Alabama state semifinals.
My weekly update on Philip Rivers and the St Michael Cardinals.
— Karen ⚡️👑 △⃒⃘ (@karenluvssports) October 11, 2025
Tonight Coach Rivers & the St Michael Cards are the Region 1 Camps for the 1st time in school history. They are 6-0 & play Pensacola on Th. #Phil pic.twitter.com/yspQrWUNpK
MORE: Philip Rivers' stats in his first NFL game since 2021
Why did Philip Rivers come back to NFL?
The Colts’ quarterback room was depleted by Week 15 of the 2025 season. Starter Daniel Jones had torn his Achilles and was out for the year, former first-round pick Anthony Richardson was on injured reserve with an orbital fracture, and rookie Riley Leonard was also dealing with an injury. Indianapolis, still in playoff contention, turned to outside options — and wound up finding a fit in a 44-year-old high school football coach who had last played for the Colts in 2020.
Fit-wise, it made some sense. Rivers had already played for Indianapolis, worked with head coach Shane Steichen when both were with the Chargers, used the Colts’ schemes as a coach and could still throw the football a bit. When they signed Rivers, ESPN reported the Colts “believe Rivers’ familiarity could give them a realistic chance to stay competitive.”
Still, just because the Colts’ interest was there didn’t mean Rivers had to come out of retirement. So why did Rivers, 44, want to return to the NFL after five years, with a potential Hall of Fame induction on the horizon?
The longtime quarterback said much of his decision was about showing his players at St. Michael Catholic that “coach wasn’t scared.”
"Hopefully, my sons and those ball players that I'm in charge of at the school, they'll say like, 'Crap, coach wasn't scared,'" Rivers said. "Sometimes, there is doubt, and it's real. But the guaranteed, safe bet, is to go home, to not go for it, and the other one is, 'Shoot, let's see what happens.' So, I hope in that sense, it can be a positive to some young boys, young people."
Philip Rivers on first game back from retirement:
— Underdog NFL (@UnderdogNFL) December 15, 2025
"Hopefully, my sons and those ball players that I'm in charge of at the school, they'll say like, 'Crap, coach wasn't scared.'"Pic.twitter.com/s125pO0ZaR
Rivers also said that the Colts had "a coach that I love" and "an organization that I enjoy," and the opportunity "excited" him. Overall, he expressed his competitiveness and wanted to take the opportunity to compete again while he still could.
"I know there's risk involved of what may or may not happen, but the only way to find out is going for it," Rivers said, also calling it "bonus time" in the NFL.
When Rivers made the decision to return to the NFL in December 2025, joining the Colts, he left will full support of the St. Michael community. The school released a statement following the news.
"Coach Rivers has brought exceptional leadership, passion, and dedication to the St. Michael football program. His presence has made a profound impact on our student-athletes—both on and off the field—and we are deeply grateful for the example he sets as a coach, mentor, and man of faith," St. Michael's statement said, per Fox 10. "St. Michael Catholic High School fully supports Coach Rivers and looks forward to cheering him on as he joins the Indianapolis Colts for the remainder of the NFL season.
We eagerly anticipate his return to campus after the season and are confident that the experience will only further enrich his impact on our players and school community. We wish Coach Rivers every success and cannot wait to watch him play again."
Simon Cortopassi, the co-athletic director and football defensive coordinator at St. Michael, told NFL.com that he was one of the first people at the school to know about Rivers' NFL decision, and Rivers texted him before he agreed to join the Colts.
"He just said, 'I'm going for it,'" Cortopassi told NFL.com. "He was like, 'There's only one way to find out if you can do it, and that's to try it.'"
Tucker Tomlinson, a senior receiver for the St. Michael Catholic Cardinals, told NFL.com that when there were rumors of Rivers' return to the NFL, students were "checking updates all day in school." Originally, players were joking about the possibility, per NFL.com, but when the news came that Philip Rivers was officially working out for the Colts, it shocked St. Michael Catholic players.
"When we finally saw it, we're like, 'Oh my God, this is real,'" Tomlinson told NFL.com. "That's something I would never expect. … Reports like that come out all the time, you know, it's just crap. You see it, you're just like, that's funny. Let me joke with (his son) Gunner about it. This time seemed different, and it really came into fruition."
Rivers is expected to return to coaching St. Michael Catholic after his 2025 NFL stint; when he returned to the gridiron for Colts vs. Seahawks, his Cardinals team had a watch party to celebrate his comeback.
Per WEAR News, Rivers' high school players "packed out a local restaurant" to watch their coach play in the NFL. One player told WEAR News that Rivers' decision showed "how much grit he has and how much love he has for the game," while another said "it's really a dream come true for our entire football team."
The HS football team that Philip Rivers coaches is having a watch party to watch the 44 year old Colts QB make his come back
— Paul Robertson 🇺🇸 (@ShadeSalvo) December 14, 2025
Kids pumped for a Rivers TD just as though one of their own scored a touchdown in a state championship game
Awesome to see💯 pic.twitter.com/D6Flb49lqT
MORE: Why Philip Rivers gets to share No. 17 with Daniel Jones
Philip Rivers runs Colts offense at St. Michael
The fact that Philip Rivers joined the Colts, of all NFL teams, may not have been a coincidence. He didn't just have plenty of connections to the franchise, namely head coach Shane Steichen, but as the play-caller at St. Michael, Rivers runs very similar schemes to the Colts.
Players have said that they have literally watched Colts games as tape for their own offense.
"We literally run the exact same scheme as the Colts," receiver Tucker Tomlinson t old NFL.com of St. Michael's offense. "We have these teach tapes -- how to run routes in specific ways -- and they're just from Colts games in previous years."
Per NFL.com, Steichen has consulted on the plays Rivers uses at St. Michael Catholic, also once visiting the school with Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson.
Practices for the Cardinals also reportedly heavily mirror how the Colts do things — and Philip Rivers often throws the ball during those sessions.
"We have individual drills to start practice and we really don't have many QBs on our roster except for Gunner," Tomlinson told NFL.com. "So you'll see [Rivers and his son] over there and they're both doing footwork drills and throwing back and forth. He was getting after it for sure. Obviously, he's got a field in his house with facilities, too."
Ahead of a Colts matchup, NFL legend and CBS analyst J.J. Watt also shared that Philip Rivers and Shane Steichen spoke weekly about St. Michael using the Colts' schemes, so it "should be no problem whatsoever."
MORE: Full Colts quarterback timeline since Andrew Luck's retirement
Who is Philip Rivers' son?
Philip Rivers has three sons, the oldest of which is 17-year-old Gunner Rivers — his first name is also Philip, like his dad, but he goes by Gunner.
"It's kind of crazy because we're wearing his jersey and sometimes people say 'Hi, Philip Rivers,' because I am wearing the jersey," Gunner said in 2019, per People. "But they don't actually know that I'm actually Philip Rivers! Gunner is my middle name."
Gunner Rivers, a member of the Class of 2027, has been the starting quarterback of the St. Michael Catholic football team since his freshman year with his father as the head coach. And like Philip, Gunner Rivers wears No. 17 for the Cardinals. He's already being scouted as a potential top-tier quarterback in his class.
Philip's wife and Gunner's mother, Tiffany, told People in 2019 that Gunner Rivers was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was five years old. Since then, he and his family have managed the condition.
“What we’ve learned through our experience is that these kids are warriors,” Philip Rivers told PEOPLE. “We have seen firsthand the tremendous responsibility it is for these children to have the discipline to manage the disease with the support of family, and their health providers to live their best lives.”
Philip Rivers son high school stats
Gunner Rivers is coming off his junior year at St. Michael Catholic in 2025-26. He's a member of the Class of 2027 recruiting cycle.
St. Michael’s ‘27 QB Gunner Rivers is more than the Legacy last name of his father, Philip Rivers. @StMichaelFB
— Larry Rudolph (@ScoutFball) November 20, 2025
This season, Rivers has led the Cardinals to a 12-0 record and region championship. He registered 2,813 pass yards and 44 touchdowns to only 5 interceptions.
He… pic.twitter.com/B2syABNbTL
Here are Gunner's high school numbers so far, according to Max Preps.
| Season | Games | Completions-Attempts | Comp. % | Passing Yards | AVG | Passing TDs | INTs | Rating | Rushing Yards | Rushing TDs |
| 2025-26 | 14 | 237-343 | 69.1% | 3,176 | 13.4 | 46 | 5 | 131.8 | 196 | 1 |
| 2024-25 | 14 | 267-424 | 63.0% | 3,947 | 14.8 | 36 | 6 | 115.8 | 30 | 2 |
| 2023-24 | 11 | 229-362 | 63.3% | 3,077 | 13.4 | 29 | 4 | 112.3 | 59 | 2 |
MORE: When will Philip Rivers now be eligible for the Hall of Fame?
Philip Rivers son recruiting
Gunner Rivers is likely to follow in his father's footsteps as a highly-touted college quarterback recruit. 247Sports has rated him as a four-star quarterback prospect in the class of 2027, already listing offers from Auburn, Miami, Boston College and more.
And naturally, 247Sports scouting director Andrew Ivins compared Gunner's play style to his father's.
"Modern pocket passer with elite pedigree that wins with touch, timing and sound decision-making. Owns more of a unique shot put-like release, but makes it work, much like dad did many moons ago," Ivins wrote of Gunner Rivers. "Projects at this stage as a high-end distributor with a rare set of intangibles that has a chance to be a difference-maker at the game’s highest level."
During the 2025 season, Gunner and his father visited Philip's alma mater, NC State, on a recruiting trip.
First look at 4⭐️ legacy recruit Gunner Rivers along with his dad and Wolfpack legend Phillip Rivers on their visit to NC State ahead of the matchup vs UNC.
— Charlie Gribble (@Charlie_Grib) November 30, 2025
📷: @s_t_editz pic.twitter.com/U3MtbSYtmG
Philip Rivers college
Philip Rivers went to NC State, playing football for the Wolfpack from 2000-2003. He was a four-year starter for the team, accumulating 13,484 career passing yards and 95 passing touchdowns.
Rivers finished seventh in Heisman Trophy voting for NC State in 2003, then was selected fourth overall in the 2004 NFL Draft, being traded to the Chargers. He won ACC Rookie of the Year in 2000, ACC Offensive Player of the Year in 2003, ACC Athlete of the Year in 2004 and later had his No. 17 retired by the Wolfpack.
Where is St. Michael in Alabama?
St. Michael Catholic High School is located in Fairhope, Alabama. It is on the eastern shoreline of Mobile Bay. It sits just 20 miles southeast of Moblie.
MORE: Where does Philip Rivers now rank among oldest players in NFL history?
Where is Philip Rivers living now?
While he's not playing for the Colts, Philip Rivers currently lives in Fairhope, Alabama, where he coaches high school football for St. Michael Catholic High School.