A coach for all occasions

As the 2012 football season winds to a close, there are the customary rumors involving coaches changing jobs. Many of these rumored moves involve coaches from the college ranks trying their luck in professional football or pro coaches moving down to the college level. For instance, there are some who believe that Nick Saban will abandon the University of Alabama after the national championship game and try his hand in the NFL again. One might excuse Saban for getting bored with his current gig; if the Crimson Tide defeats Notre Dame next month, it will mark Alabama’s third national title in four years, and Saban’s fourth title as a college coach. Of course, the only success Saban hasn’t experienced during his illustrious coaching career is winning at the pro level; his previous foray into the pros ended with a 15-17 record during a two-year stint with the Miami Dolphins.

Over the years there have been many successful college coaches who have tried to make the leap to the NFL, only to find the pro game too difficult a challenge to overcome. The latest marquee example was probably Steve Spurrier. Spurrier won a conference title at Duke University, which remains the Devils’ only football title since the Kennedy administration, before decamping to the University of Florida, where he pretty much created from nothing a football dynasty at a school that had only experienced middling success before his arrival. Spurrier then took on the challenge of coaching the NFL’s Washington Redskins, but flamed out with an unspectacular 12-20 record. Spurrier has since returned to college ball, where he is up to his old tricks at the University of South Carolina, another football basket case that he has transformed into a national power.

The coaching moves run in the opposite direction as well, usually in the form of NFL washouts who take over college teams. Take Jim Mora, currently completing his first year at UCLA. Before turning around the UCLA program, Mora was last seen leading the Seattle Seahawks to a dismal 5-11 record in 2009.

Needless to say, success on one level does not portend success on the other. In fact, by my count, there have only been nine coaches – ever – who have won at least 50 games in the pros and in college ball while maintaining a winning record.

Some very excellent coaches did not make the list, often due to circumstances beyond their control. For instance, John McKay was as successful a college coach as you could imagine. During his 16 years at the University of Southern California, he compiled a 127-40-8 record, which included two unbeaten, untied teams and eight Rose Bowl appearances. But when McKay surprised the world by taking over the NFL expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he probably had no idea what was waiting for him. The Bucs put together one of the worst streaks of pro football futility ever, losing 26 of their first 28 games. But McKay persisted, and just two years removed from that, he had the Bucs within one game of the Super Bowl. Undoubtedly, the man could coach football, but his 44-88-1 NFL record keeps him off our list.

Much the same goes for Denny Green. Green enjoyed a very successful run with the Minnesota Vikings during the 1990s, including a 15-1 season in 1998 that ended a game short of the Super Bowl. He compiled a respectable 113-94 record as an NFL head coach; his college coaching career, however, was a large dose of heartache. That’s what coaching stops during the 1980s at Northwestern and Stanford could do to you. But, by the end of Green’s stay on the Farm, he had transformed the Cardinal into a winner, posting an 8-4 record, and that was good enough to punch his ticket to the pros, where his fortunes improved.

There are many really good coaches who had success on the college level but faltered in the NFL, often for reasons they couldn’t fully control. A short list would include Tommy Prothro, June Jones, Sam Rutigliano, Rich Brooks, and Mike Riley, to name a few.

The most obvious reason for successful college coaches failing at the pro level, at least in my reckoning, is the division of labor that characterizes the pro game. Whereas a college coach is responsible for all facets of the game – recruiting, player development, on-field schemes and strategy, and even scheduling in some cases – pro coaches often don’t control anything beyond x’s and o’s.

Another trouble spot for college coaches looking to move up is the fairly consistent level of excellence of NFL players. Coaching is about finding strategic mismatches, and these mismatches are less apparent and less numerous in the NFL. There is not a great deal of difference in the talent level of winning teams and losing teams.

Last but not least, handling NFL players is a far more complex exercise than managing collegians. The college football player’s environment is highly structured and controlled; there are assistant coaches, professors, and administrative staff who act in loco parentis, supplying a kind of oversight. When these players reach the NFL, many are instant millionaires who are richer and more visible than their team’s coaches and executives. It takes something of an armchair psychologist to command their respect and enforce team discipline.

Despite the rapidly escalating salaries paid to college coaches, I suspect the NFL will be an eternal temptation, but the reasons above should be enough to give aspiring pro coaches reason to pause…maybe the grass is not always greener.

BTW, here are the nine coaches who have won at least 50 games both in college and in the pros while maintaining a winning record: Pete Carroll, Don Coryell, Sid Gillman, Jimmy Johnson, Ron Meyer, Greasy Neale, John Robinson, Bobby Ross, and Buck Shaw.