| Can Anyone Coach Our Team? Bob Loblaw |
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With Bobby Petrino leaving the Atlanta Falcons this week to return to the college ranks at Arkansas, the
argument has once again surfaced about college coaches and the NFL. For the last few days the so called
experts have been berating college coaches for their lack of success at the pro level. Is this treatment fair? Is it
true? Does a coach’s success in the NFL have anything to do with whether or not he won in college? What is it
that makes it more difficult for these college coaches to succeed in the National Football League? Let’s take a
gander and see if we can’t dissect this further shall we?
Coaching in college and coaching in the pros are twp totally different things. In college a coach has control
over the entire program, in most cases, he has the final say in what players are recruited, who plays where and
when, and he can mold his system by recruiting players and assistant coaches that fit his style of offense,
defense, and football in general. Under Barry Switzer in the 70’s and 80’s Oklahoma enjoyed unprecedented
success running the option offense out of the wishbone and T formations. Switzer did not recruit passing
quarterbacks as his ideal quarterback was a runner who could fake and make quick decisions at the line. He was
able to mold this offense by finding and recruiting players that fit it and did very well (until they got busted for a
myriad of violations). This is usually not possible in the NFL. Players are under contract, paid and signed by the
GM, sometimes with or without the coach’s blessing. Jerry Jones went out and got Terrell Owens even though
anyone could tell later that Bill Parcells had no desire to deal with TO. Had Tony Dungy for example been a
running ball control coach when he arrived in Indianapolis, he would have had to change his ways to
accommodate the big money being paid to Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison to throw the ball. In college he
would have been able to let them graduate and go out and recruit his type of player. This is a major difference
between the 2 leagues and is often a major reason why coaches succeed less in the NFL then college.
Another reason is player respect and loyalty. In college the coach and his staff are the ones who recruited
you and gave you a scholarship. A player is more likely to stay loyal to them and try to learn from them as they
are still developing. In the NFL, players are paid and often move from team to team, and a new coach coming in,
especially from college, often does not gain the respect of his players as they are already developed and have
played in other systems and are doing “their job” rather than playing for the school. This can often lead to issues
between player and coach at the pro level that former college coaches are not familiar with. Also the NFL usually
gives a coach far less time to build and improve his team as franchises and fans want to win right now, especially
in today’s parity driven league where teams are able to go 3-13 one year and 10-6 the next. Coaches are often
given little time to infuse their system and style before they are let go so that the team can appease the media
and fans by firing and re hiring.
So it sounds like college coaches are just not able to work at the NFL level and they all suck and should never
be considered for the pro jobs because they just can’t hack it, right?
Not so fast. There are other variables in play that influence this opinion and lend credence to the idea that
the college coach coming into the league is not always the one at fault when a team continues to struggle.
Recently several prominent college coaches have been named as guys who were not able to win in the NFL:
Pete Carroll, Steve Spurrier, Lou Holtz, Rich Brooks, Dennis Erickson, Nick Saban, and the recently embattled
Bobby Petrino. Rather than stereotype them all into one box let’s look at each one individually and see if there is
a common thread for their lack of success.
Lou Holtz was hired away from the college ranks in 1976 by the New York Jets who were trying to rekindle the
magic if Joe Namath. It did not work. Holtz left near the end of the season with a 3-11 record for Arkansas
(ironic). The Jets were not good before he arrived, and were not after he left as it was 1981 before they would
make the playoffs again. Not sure if anyone could have done much better, but he recognized quickly that he was
not cut out for the Pro game and returned to college. Holts would return to college and have great success at
Arkansas and later Notre Dame and South Carolina.
Rich Brooks took Oregon to the Rose Bowl in 1994 and was hired by the St. Louis Rams from 1995-96. His
record was 13-19 (7-9/6-10) over 2 seasons. Did he have a great team? No. His quarterback was Tony Banks
who never won a lot anywhere he played. The Rams were 4-12 the year before Brooks got there and 5-11 the
year after he left. It would be 1999 when they made the playoffs again, by then having found Kurt Warner and
Marshall Faulk, and went on to win the Super Bowl. Was Brooks a bad coach or a guy with little to work with?
Brooks is currently coaching at Kentucky and has taken the perennial bottom feeder to 2 straight bowls, including
a win over #1 LSU this year.
Dennis Erickson was hired by the Seattle Seahawks in 1995 after winning 2 national titles at Miami. Over 4
years he was 31-33 (almost .500 for those lacking in math) and had 3 8-8 seasons. The Seahawks were 6-10
before he arrived and went 9-7 the next year after he was let go and lost in the first round of the playoffs under
Mike Holmgren. They did not make the playoffs again until 2003. Erickson’s teams were quarterbacked by Rick
Mirer, he of Notre Dame fame, who will never be mistaken for Joe Montana. .500 ball is not easy in the NFL and
many current coaches are below that number. To say Erickson was a failure is a bit much. He had average
seasons with an average to below average team. He had since returned to the college game and succeeded at
Oregon State and Arizona State currently.
Pete Carroll took over in New England in 1997 after Bill Parcells left following a Super Bowl loss to Green Bay.
Carroll won a division title his first year, went to the playoffs the next year, and then was let go after the 1999
season after failing to make the playoffs. His 3 year record was 33-31, far from poor. Of the listed coaches he
walked into the best team with players returning from an AFC title. Drew Bledsoe was his quarterback and after
he left the Pats went 5-11 before beginning their run of titles in 2001. Carroll was let go after one mediocre
season and has since returned to college and led USC back to the top of the college game with 2 national titles,
and 3 Heisman Trophy winners.
Steve Spurrier was a god at Florida. The former Heisman winner led the Gators to the top of the SEC and
college football in the 90’s and signed a huge contract with the Redskins in 2002. His 2 year run (lot of time to
build, huh?) had a 12-20 record (7-9/5-11) and he was ousted/quit after the 2003 season. His quarterbacks
during this time were Shane Matthews and Patrick Ramsey, neither of whom is headed to the Hall of Fame. The
Redskins went 8-8 in 2001 and were 6-10 the year after Spurrier was gone. He has since returned to college and
has led South Carolina to regular SEC contention. Interestingly Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs has taken over in
Washington and only has one playoff appearance since and only one winning season. Maybe it was the team
and not Spurrier?
Bobby Petrino followed John L Smith in leading Louisville to national prominence in college football. After
nearly taking several other jobs, Petrino left to coach Atlanta for the 2007 season and his open pass happy
offense was to the perfect match for superstar QB Michael Vick. But something happened on the way to the
Super Bowl as Vick was caught abusing animals and the player the Falcons and Petrino had pinned their hopes to
is now sitting in jail. The Falcons are 3-10 with Byron Leftwich, Joey Harrington, and Chris Redman sharing time
under center. They were 7-9 with Vick in 2006. Should Petrino have left before the season ended? Probably not,
but anyone viewing the situation from his eyes can see that the Falcons will have to rebuild, as their franchise
player that he was brought in to coach, is gone. With the quick hook trend in the NFL, Petrino surely saw that if
he did not win in a year or two, he would be gone, and the future does not look bright. To get a college job he
had to leave now as they are in hiring season. Only winning and staying at Arkansas for several years will lessen
the negative aura around him, though he surely cannot be blamed for the Falcons failures this year.
Another prominent coach would be Nick Saban who had 2 quick losing seasons in Miami before returning to
the SEC where he won a national title at LSU in 2003. Saban did not stay long enough to resurrect the Dolphins,
though it appears there were more issues with that team than his coaching skill, as they have yet to win ONE
game this year with a new staff. I guess the trend would be continued as Cam Cameron once coached in college
and now cannot win in the NFL, though he has not had the (or any?) collegiate success of the others.
So what is the pattern? Of all the coaches above only Carroll (who went to the playoffs 2 out of 3 years) had
a good Quarterback to work with during his tenure. Each coach above besides him was hired into a situation
where the team was not very good when he arrived, and the personnel was lacking. Maybe a great coach would
have turned it around, but this is a pretty slanted argument to use to say that college coaches cannot win in the
NFL. Jimmy Johnson won 1 game in Dallas his first year, but was given the time and the young talent to work
with and led them to 2 Super Bowl titles. Barry Switzer, a lifelong college head coach, then stepped in and won
another Super Bowl, was it coaching or talent? If a team does not have the players, the coach can only do so
much and to blame them for losing with inferior talent is unfair. Was Bill Belichick the mad genius he is now when
he was in Cleveland? Has Charlie Weis’s NFL brilliance dominated at Notre Dame? There are many reasons
teams lose and changing the coach lickety split is not always the first answer or the last solution. While the
college and NFL games will always be different, coaches do not lose their ability to coach from one level to the
next, but the style of coaching and communicating may not translate from one level to the next. We can cite
Weis, Chan Gailey, Al Groh (other than this year), Dave Wannstadt, as some who have entered college with NFL
creds and not won championships as of yet. Anyone think Bill Belichick would be a good sweet talking recruiter
and fund raiser in the college game? As long as bad NFL teams continue to hire college coaches to be miracle
workers, the stereotype will live on.
argument has once again surfaced about college coaches and the NFL. For the last few days the so called
experts have been berating college coaches for their lack of success at the pro level. Is this treatment fair? Is it
true? Does a coach’s success in the NFL have anything to do with whether or not he won in college? What is it
that makes it more difficult for these college coaches to succeed in the National Football League? Let’s take a
gander and see if we can’t dissect this further shall we?
Coaching in college and coaching in the pros are twp totally different things. In college a coach has control
over the entire program, in most cases, he has the final say in what players are recruited, who plays where and
when, and he can mold his system by recruiting players and assistant coaches that fit his style of offense,
defense, and football in general. Under Barry Switzer in the 70’s and 80’s Oklahoma enjoyed unprecedented
success running the option offense out of the wishbone and T formations. Switzer did not recruit passing
quarterbacks as his ideal quarterback was a runner who could fake and make quick decisions at the line. He was
able to mold this offense by finding and recruiting players that fit it and did very well (until they got busted for a
myriad of violations). This is usually not possible in the NFL. Players are under contract, paid and signed by the
GM, sometimes with or without the coach’s blessing. Jerry Jones went out and got Terrell Owens even though
anyone could tell later that Bill Parcells had no desire to deal with TO. Had Tony Dungy for example been a
running ball control coach when he arrived in Indianapolis, he would have had to change his ways to
accommodate the big money being paid to Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison to throw the ball. In college he
would have been able to let them graduate and go out and recruit his type of player. This is a major difference
between the 2 leagues and is often a major reason why coaches succeed less in the NFL then college.
Another reason is player respect and loyalty. In college the coach and his staff are the ones who recruited
you and gave you a scholarship. A player is more likely to stay loyal to them and try to learn from them as they
are still developing. In the NFL, players are paid and often move from team to team, and a new coach coming in,
especially from college, often does not gain the respect of his players as they are already developed and have
played in other systems and are doing “their job” rather than playing for the school. This can often lead to issues
between player and coach at the pro level that former college coaches are not familiar with. Also the NFL usually
gives a coach far less time to build and improve his team as franchises and fans want to win right now, especially
in today’s parity driven league where teams are able to go 3-13 one year and 10-6 the next. Coaches are often
given little time to infuse their system and style before they are let go so that the team can appease the media
and fans by firing and re hiring.
So it sounds like college coaches are just not able to work at the NFL level and they all suck and should never
be considered for the pro jobs because they just can’t hack it, right?
Not so fast. There are other variables in play that influence this opinion and lend credence to the idea that
the college coach coming into the league is not always the one at fault when a team continues to struggle.
Recently several prominent college coaches have been named as guys who were not able to win in the NFL:
Pete Carroll, Steve Spurrier, Lou Holtz, Rich Brooks, Dennis Erickson, Nick Saban, and the recently embattled
Bobby Petrino. Rather than stereotype them all into one box let’s look at each one individually and see if there is
a common thread for their lack of success.
Lou Holtz was hired away from the college ranks in 1976 by the New York Jets who were trying to rekindle the
magic if Joe Namath. It did not work. Holtz left near the end of the season with a 3-11 record for Arkansas
(ironic). The Jets were not good before he arrived, and were not after he left as it was 1981 before they would
make the playoffs again. Not sure if anyone could have done much better, but he recognized quickly that he was
not cut out for the Pro game and returned to college. Holts would return to college and have great success at
Arkansas and later Notre Dame and South Carolina.
Rich Brooks took Oregon to the Rose Bowl in 1994 and was hired by the St. Louis Rams from 1995-96. His
record was 13-19 (7-9/6-10) over 2 seasons. Did he have a great team? No. His quarterback was Tony Banks
who never won a lot anywhere he played. The Rams were 4-12 the year before Brooks got there and 5-11 the
year after he left. It would be 1999 when they made the playoffs again, by then having found Kurt Warner and
Marshall Faulk, and went on to win the Super Bowl. Was Brooks a bad coach or a guy with little to work with?
Brooks is currently coaching at Kentucky and has taken the perennial bottom feeder to 2 straight bowls, including
a win over #1 LSU this year.
Dennis Erickson was hired by the Seattle Seahawks in 1995 after winning 2 national titles at Miami. Over 4
years he was 31-33 (almost .500 for those lacking in math) and had 3 8-8 seasons. The Seahawks were 6-10
before he arrived and went 9-7 the next year after he was let go and lost in the first round of the playoffs under
Mike Holmgren. They did not make the playoffs again until 2003. Erickson’s teams were quarterbacked by Rick
Mirer, he of Notre Dame fame, who will never be mistaken for Joe Montana. .500 ball is not easy in the NFL and
many current coaches are below that number. To say Erickson was a failure is a bit much. He had average
seasons with an average to below average team. He had since returned to the college game and succeeded at
Oregon State and Arizona State currently.
Pete Carroll took over in New England in 1997 after Bill Parcells left following a Super Bowl loss to Green Bay.
Carroll won a division title his first year, went to the playoffs the next year, and then was let go after the 1999
season after failing to make the playoffs. His 3 year record was 33-31, far from poor. Of the listed coaches he
walked into the best team with players returning from an AFC title. Drew Bledsoe was his quarterback and after
he left the Pats went 5-11 before beginning their run of titles in 2001. Carroll was let go after one mediocre
season and has since returned to college and led USC back to the top of the college game with 2 national titles,
and 3 Heisman Trophy winners.
Steve Spurrier was a god at Florida. The former Heisman winner led the Gators to the top of the SEC and
college football in the 90’s and signed a huge contract with the Redskins in 2002. His 2 year run (lot of time to
build, huh?) had a 12-20 record (7-9/5-11) and he was ousted/quit after the 2003 season. His quarterbacks
during this time were Shane Matthews and Patrick Ramsey, neither of whom is headed to the Hall of Fame. The
Redskins went 8-8 in 2001 and were 6-10 the year after Spurrier was gone. He has since returned to college and
has led South Carolina to regular SEC contention. Interestingly Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs has taken over in
Washington and only has one playoff appearance since and only one winning season. Maybe it was the team
and not Spurrier?
Bobby Petrino followed John L Smith in leading Louisville to national prominence in college football. After
nearly taking several other jobs, Petrino left to coach Atlanta for the 2007 season and his open pass happy
offense was to the perfect match for superstar QB Michael Vick. But something happened on the way to the
Super Bowl as Vick was caught abusing animals and the player the Falcons and Petrino had pinned their hopes to
is now sitting in jail. The Falcons are 3-10 with Byron Leftwich, Joey Harrington, and Chris Redman sharing time
under center. They were 7-9 with Vick in 2006. Should Petrino have left before the season ended? Probably not,
but anyone viewing the situation from his eyes can see that the Falcons will have to rebuild, as their franchise
player that he was brought in to coach, is gone. With the quick hook trend in the NFL, Petrino surely saw that if
he did not win in a year or two, he would be gone, and the future does not look bright. To get a college job he
had to leave now as they are in hiring season. Only winning and staying at Arkansas for several years will lessen
the negative aura around him, though he surely cannot be blamed for the Falcons failures this year.
Another prominent coach would be Nick Saban who had 2 quick losing seasons in Miami before returning to
the SEC where he won a national title at LSU in 2003. Saban did not stay long enough to resurrect the Dolphins,
though it appears there were more issues with that team than his coaching skill, as they have yet to win ONE
game this year with a new staff. I guess the trend would be continued as Cam Cameron once coached in college
and now cannot win in the NFL, though he has not had the (or any?) collegiate success of the others.
So what is the pattern? Of all the coaches above only Carroll (who went to the playoffs 2 out of 3 years) had
a good Quarterback to work with during his tenure. Each coach above besides him was hired into a situation
where the team was not very good when he arrived, and the personnel was lacking. Maybe a great coach would
have turned it around, but this is a pretty slanted argument to use to say that college coaches cannot win in the
NFL. Jimmy Johnson won 1 game in Dallas his first year, but was given the time and the young talent to work
with and led them to 2 Super Bowl titles. Barry Switzer, a lifelong college head coach, then stepped in and won
another Super Bowl, was it coaching or talent? If a team does not have the players, the coach can only do so
much and to blame them for losing with inferior talent is unfair. Was Bill Belichick the mad genius he is now when
he was in Cleveland? Has Charlie Weis’s NFL brilliance dominated at Notre Dame? There are many reasons
teams lose and changing the coach lickety split is not always the first answer or the last solution. While the
college and NFL games will always be different, coaches do not lose their ability to coach from one level to the
next, but the style of coaching and communicating may not translate from one level to the next. We can cite
Weis, Chan Gailey, Al Groh (other than this year), Dave Wannstadt, as some who have entered college with NFL
creds and not won championships as of yet. Anyone think Bill Belichick would be a good sweet talking recruiter
and fund raiser in the college game? As long as bad NFL teams continue to hire college coaches to be miracle
workers, the stereotype will live on.
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