Nearly 10 year difference in age. First F/A-18 flight in November of '78. Hornets achieved fleet IOC with VMFA-314 in 1983. F-14 first flew in December of '70. Tomcat fleet IOC in '73.
Shows to go ya that the Navy is in great need of a new carrier based warplane. Both are long in the tooth...
That and the 18E/F is a major upgrade. A lot of airframe changes. The 14 never got an update as big as that.
It is kinda too bad really. Even with a big update though I doubt it could match the maintainability times of the 18. Some things just have to be designed in from the ground up.