Former NFL coaches who did NOT succeed in college

[rocky top buzz]

There is a lot of discussion about whether Gruden’s lackluster finish in Tampa is an indicator of how good/bad of a college coach he would be. My question, name me a coach who came from the NFL to college and did NOT have success? The names that come to mind (Saban, Pete Carroll) did poorly in the NFL but won championships with college teams. I’m not coming up with many names of coaches who came from the NFL to college and did poorly.

The closest name I can come up with is Al Groh who was the head coach for 1 year with the New York Jets. He left to become head coach at Virginia and his best season was one year of 9-4. But he was only an NFL head coach for one season, and really, it was with the Jets. Other than that, name me a head coach who went from NFL to college and failed?

 

[wU-Tang Vol]

No

 

[bignewt]

Im not sure but other than Bill Walsh going to Stanford is there any other coach that has a Super Bowl ring gone to college to coach?

 

[PowerSweep]

Uhh...let's see...groh, wannstedt, sherman, dowhower, gailey, henning, callahan...heck, that's off the top of my head...

Now why don't you give us all the big time successes...oh yeah, that's a shirt list of exactly one...carroll.

The track record of nfl to first college job is so bad it is unbelievable

 

[PowerSweep]

Pretty soon you can add kiffin to that list

 

[Boston Vol]

Uhh...let's see...groh, wannstedt, sherman, dowhower, gailey, henning, callahan...heck, that's off the top of my head...

Now why don't you give us all the big time successes...oh yeah, that's a shirt list of exactly one...carroll.

The track record of nfl to first college job is so bad it is unbelievable

How many of those coaches won the Super Bowl?

 

[PowerSweep]

Really? That's your best? That since no super bowl winning coaches have failed it's irrelevant? How many Super Bowl winning coaches have been fired?

 

[Boston Vol]

Really? That's your best? That since no super bowl winning coaches have failed it's irrelevant? How many Super Bowl winning coaches have been fired?

Do you realize how good of a coach you have to be to win a Super Bowl? Average coaches don't win titles.

 

[bignewt]

PowerTroll

 

[PowerSweep]

NFL and college are completely different...we can add weiss and others to the list if we are talking assistants but doing that is gonna make this a LONG list...I mean, do you REALLY think the almost complete lack of success of college people going to the nfl f the first time or vice versa is just a coincidence?

 

[PowerSweep]

PowerTroll

Great argument! You should post such wisdom more often

 

[tvolsfan]

There are quite a few coaches who came from the NFL to college then failed. But none of those guys were successful NFL coaches. The best example I can think of is Bill Walsh, who I believe was in his 60's when he returned to Stanford.

 

[tvolsfan]

NFL and college are completely different...we can add weiss and others to the list if we are talking assistants but doing that is gonna make this a LONG list...I mean, do you REALLY think the almost complete lack of success of college people going to the nfl f the first time or vice versa is just a coincidence?

It's not just different. It's harder to win in the NFL.

 

[PowerSweep]

Yeah...that's sorta because successful coaches don't get fired

There are quite a few coaches who came from the NFL to college then failed. But none of those guys were successful NFL coaches. The best example I can think of is Bill Walsh, who I believe was in his 60's when he returned to Stanford.

 

[DC Vol]

I guess Gruden wasn't a good enough HFC to compensate for his atrocious front office giving away his first 2 1st Round Draft picks and 2 2nd Rounders in his first 3 years.

Then limiting the money pool he had access to as it was tied up into that aging defense.

Yeah.

Read up on the TB job. Nobody wanted it. Parcells looked at it and turned it down both as HFC and GM. It was a sinkhole of a job and everyone saw it. Gruden was just too brash to admit it to himself and the problems associated with no Free Agency and no quality draft picks from his first 2 years showed when those 4 picks would have been 4th/5th year guys.

So.

Try harder.

 

[VolsDeep]

Uhh...let's see...groh, wannstedt, sherman, dowhower, gailey, henning, callahan...heck, that's off the top of my head...

Now why don't you give us all the big time successes...oh yeah, that's a shirt list of exactly one...carroll.

The track record of nfl to first college job is so bad it is unbelievable

You make a good point. My counter-argument would be that very few of those coaches were very good NFL Head Coaches either. You can claim that Gruden wasn't a good NFL coach, but that would be silly. Brushing past his Super Bowl win, having a career .500 record in the NFL isn't too shabby. Hell, Belichick's record is 64% and he is arguably one of the best in the modern era.

Another thing to consider is how many of the coaches mentioned above were in demand to be a HC in the NFL after they were fired from their first team? The fact that Gruden could be an NFL Head Coach again for another team is one othing thing that makes Gruden a bit different from the coaches you listed.

That being said, nothing is guaranteed. College is a lot different than the NFL. Ask Monte Kiffin. Time will tell.

 

[oregonvol]

There are a ton of NFL coaches who have failed in college. But, very few with Gruden's relative youth, energy, fame, and Super Bowl level success.

Is Gruden a risk? Sure.

But let's look at the other options:

Tubberville, Butch Davis, Bobby Petrino?
How many coaches who have been fired from one big school have gone to other big schools and had a high level of success? Hardly any.

Chris Petersen? Look at what Dan Hawkins did at Colorado. Basically destroyed their program.

Butch Jones, Sonny Dykes, Gus Malzahn? How many mid-major guys have been hired by big time programs and failed?

Gary Patterson? Inherited a great situation from Franchione. Has only had success there. Hasn't consistently won against top competition.

Charlie Strong? Look at John L Smith's post-Louisville career.

 

[PowerSweep]

Try harder? Really? Let's think about that since your argument is that he took mediocre players and made them mediocre.. It's almost like you're not trying at all

 

[PowerSweep]

Who said we should hire a guy who was recently fired? You mentioned Patterson. He inherited a perfect situation like few inherited monson at gonzaga...he took a program w a best finish of 13th under franchione and has clearly exceeded that long after his departure.He is exactly who we should be hiring though my personal choice to be able to win without top 3 talent in sec in paul johnson

There are a ton of NFL coaches who have failed in college. But, very few with Gruden's relative youth, energy, fame, and Super Bowl level success.

Is Gruden a risk? Sure.

But let's look at the other options:

Tubberville, Butch Davis, Bobby Petrino?
How many coaches who have been fired from one big school have gone to other big schools and had a high level of success? Hardly any.

Chris Petersen? Look at what Dan Hawkins did at Colorado. Basically destroyed their program.

Butch Jones, Sonny Dykes, Gus Malzahn? How many mid-major guys have been hired by big time programs and failed?

Gary Patterson? Inherited a great situation from Franchione. Has only had success there. Hasn't consistently won against top competition.

Charlie Strong? Look at John L Smith's post-Louisville career.

 

[Volumnus 2011]

Uhh...let's see...groh, wannstedt, sherman, dowhower, gailey, henning, callahan...heck, that's off the top of my head...

Now why don't you give us all the big time successes...oh yeah, that's a shirt list of exactly one...carroll.

The track record of nfl to first college job is so bad it is unbelievable

The problem with your argument is that none of those coaches were rockstars. None of those guys had their own segment on ESPN or co-hosted Monday Night Football. The college game is more about recruiting than coaching. Gruden is a celebrity. And young athletes have actually even seen him break down film already because of his QB Camp.

So, since he's a rockstar and would get the recruits, all he would need is a good staff. Bam. Instant success.

 

[PowerSweep]

He's a rockstar? Maybe to fanboys like you...to most people he's an engaging and charming mnf analyst...that's all...when he won a super bowl these kids were what, 5-6 yrs old? He is a rockstar to them? Please...

 

[Spawn]

He's a rockstar? Maybe to fanboys like you...to most people he's an engaging and charming mnf analyst...that's all...when he won a super bowl these kids were what, 5-6 yrs old? He is a rockstar to them? Please...

Dude, just leave.

Gruden will be a rockstar in college. He has name recognition, Superbowl win, and will bring a top staff.

If you don't want Gruden, then you can follow Dooleys ass out the door.

These kids see him each week on MNF and each draft breaking down all QB's. They know who he is.

 

[bam15]

Only a few went the other way and honestly it isn't much to work with. Walsh was at the end of his career, and still did decently in Palo Alto. Denny Green did the good majority of his coaching after college, as did Caldwell. But both were terrible in CFB. June Jones, Glanville wouldn't exactly be the best judged because 1% of the game runs the R&S, but nevertheless, Glanville was pretty terrible in his limited CFB experience. Sherman is probably the most successful NFL coach of late who did average in college. All in all, I don't think you can compare the two. College is about recruiting and getting the ball into the hands of what talent you may have. You have 1/2 the time the NFL has to work with players so everything you install has to be concise and efficient. Not only are you building a team, you're building young men. You see different offenses and defenses every week that you have to prepare for. In the NFL, many work in their office, get one day a week to spend time with their family, and where many days begin at 4:30 and end at 11:30. In the majority of the ways the NFL is harder, but you're also finding 100 ways to run Inside Zone or Power a certain way and finding match ups through motion or double moves - etcetera. It is very homogeneous and recycled with the same coaches. While it is the same game, it really isn't, and you just can't compare the two. Obviously the winning percentage in the NFL will be much lower than CFB, and within that, you really can't judge the transition. There just isn't enough data there. If anything many more successful college coaches have failed in the NFL than vice versa.

 

[rocky top buzz]

The problem with your argument is that none of those coaches were rockstars. None of those guys had their own segment on ESPN or co-hosted Monday Night Football. The college game is more about recruiting than coaching. Gruden is a celebrity. And young athletes have actually even seen him break down film already because of his QB Camp.

So, since he's a rockstar and would get the recruits, all he would need is a good staff. Bam. Instant success.

I don't know that just being a rockstar makes gruden an instant success. Sure it helps, but if that's the main requirement lets go hire the black eyed peas to coach!

 

[sanddune50]

Uhh...let's see...groh, wannstedt, sherman, dowhower, gailey, henning, callahan...heck, that's off the top of my head...

Now why don't you give us all the big time successes...oh yeah, that's a shirt list of exactly one...carroll.

The track record of nfl to first college job is so bad it is unbelievable

What about this guy?

Gene Stallings - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia