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Why is it so hard for college coaches to succeed in the NFL?

doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

In your opinion, what makes it so difficult for successful college coaches to succeed in the NFL?

Comments

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Bobby Petrino, that went well!

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

    And of course Steve Spurrier.

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Nick Saban couldn't cut it either.

  • thisistheshowthisistheshow Posts: 9,386 ✭✭✭✭✭

    So many reasons. Completely different cultures, environments, schedules, rules, labor issues, one has a union, one is college kids the other is millionaires. The list is endless.

  • BillJonesBillJones Posts: 33,981 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 16, 2021 12:39PM

    The successful franchises in the NFL hire the best coaching staffs, and it starts with the head coach. College coaches need some smarts, but they don't always come up against the best.

    One person who comes to mind is Chip Kelly. He was a big deal in college with his hurry-up offense. He brought to the Philadelphia Eagles, and it worked for a while. The problems were that the other coaches figured out had to beat it, and Kelly was slow to change. Like a one trip pony, he kept running game after game and kept losing.

    The standard pattern was that the offense would go three and out time after time. The defense, which was not Kelly's strong suit, played heroically, but after they were on the field for an extended time, they got worn down. The floodgates opened and the Eagles lost game after game. Kelly finally got canned and went to San Francisco where he failed again.

    Kelly had some imagination, but not enough to be successful in the NFL.

    Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
  • JustacommemanJustacommeman Posts: 22,847 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 16, 2021 4:23PM

    Jim Harbaugh is one of the rare exceptions. He was 44-19-1 and one play away from winning a Super Bowl. Most suck

    m

    Walker Proof Digital Album
    Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
  • bobbybakerivbobbybakeriv Posts: 2,186 ✭✭✭✭

    Jimmy Johnson fared well.

  • JustacommemanJustacommeman Posts: 22,847 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @bobbybakeriv said:
    Jimmy Johnson fared well.

    True dat

    m

    Walker Proof Digital Album
    Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
  • TabeTabe Posts: 6,061 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @doubledragon said:
    Nick Saban couldn't cut it either.

    He'd have been fine if he'd gotten Drew Brees instead of Culpepper.

  • TabeTabe Posts: 6,061 ✭✭✭✭✭

    It's a couple of things:

    1) college guys pick players
    2) The really successful ones are operating at a big talent advantage in nearly every game. That NEVER happens in the NFL. So it comes down to schemes and adjustments that they're not good at.

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Pete Carroll was an exception as well.

  • keetskeets Posts: 25,351 ✭✭✭✭✭

    many, if not all, Head Coaches do start in College, they just don't make the leap from HC to HC. I believe that the NFL is vastly superior and more complicated than the NCAA on every level, though Colleges now mimic the NFL in many ways

  • grote15grote15 Posts: 29,693 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Lou Holtz

    I think its far more difficult to coach in the NFL in just about every aspect. College is like AAA compared to the NFL.



    Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
  • bobbybakerivbobbybakeriv Posts: 2,186 ✭✭✭✭

    @doubledragon said:
    Pete Carroll was an exception as well.

    Not his first time around :)

  • bobbybakerivbobbybakeriv Posts: 2,186 ✭✭✭✭

    S> > Jimmy Johnson fared well.

    True dat

    m

    Heck, Jimmy won two Super Bowls and spoon fed another to Barry Switzer. LOL

  • TabeTabe Posts: 6,061 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Jimmy didn't exactly dominate in Miami where he didn't have a Minnesota Vikings waiting to be fleeced.

  • bobbybakerivbobbybakeriv Posts: 2,186 ✭✭✭✭

    @Tabe said:
    Jimmy didn't exactly dominate in Miami where he didn't have a Minnesota Vikings waiting to be fleeced.

    Are you actually trying to refute a claim that Johnson was a success in the NFL? LOL 4 points:

    1. Johnson made the Vikings trade happen.
    2. His teams won two Super Bowls.
    3. He is in the NFL Hall of Fame.
    4. His Dolphin teams never had a losing record.

    Look, I can’t stand Jimmy Johnson but I will give credit where credit is due. I grew up 20 minutes from Norman and we all hate him. But, to allude that he was not a success in the NFL is a loser’s argument. I love Barry Switzer but I know his greatest accomplishment in the NFL was to not eff things up.

  • coolstanleycoolstanley Posts: 2,875 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Justacommeman said:
    Jim Harbaugh is one of the rare exceptions. He was 44-19-1 and one play away from winning a Super Bowl. Most suck

    m

    This thread doesn't apply to Harbaugh because he isn't a successful college coach.

    Terry Bradshaw was AMAZING!!

    Ignore list -Basebal21

  • BillJonesBillJones Posts: 33,981 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @doubledragon said:
    Pete Carroll was an exception as well.

    Pete Carroll failed in New England, and we could not wait to push him out. After Bill Parsells build up the team, it only got worse under Carroll. Carroll did well on the college level before he came back in Seattle.

    Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
  • TabeTabe Posts: 6,061 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 17, 2021 11:48PM

    @coolstanley said:

    @Justacommeman said:
    Jim Harbaugh is one of the rare exceptions. He was 44-19-1 and one play away from winning a Super Bowl. Most suck

    m

    This thread doesn't apply to Harbaugh because he isn't a successful college coach.

    11-win seasons with three different schools.

  • TabeTabe Posts: 6,061 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @bobbybakeriv said:

    @Tabe said:
    Jimmy didn't exactly dominate in Miami where he didn't have a Minnesota Vikings waiting to be fleeced.

    Are you actually trying to refute a claim that Johnson was a success in the NFL? LOL 4 points:

    1. Johnson made the Vikings trade happen.
    2. His teams won two Super Bowls.
    3. He is in the NFL Hall of Fame.
    4. His Dolphin teams never had a losing record.

    Look, I can’t stand Jimmy Johnson but I will give credit where credit is due. I grew up 20 minutes from Norman and we all hate him. But, to allude that he was not a success in the NFL is a loser’s argument. I love Barry Switzer but I know his greatest accomplishment in the NFL was to not eff things up.

    No, I'm not.

    Just trying to tamp down the hype just a bit. He went to Miami, did nothing even close to what he did in Dallas and won fewer games in his four years there than the guy before him (Shula, who many thought was "past it") or after him (Wannstedt) did in their four years. And his tenure ended with the worst playoff loss in modern NFL history.

    Jimmy Johnson was a great coach - in Dallas. He was not great in Miami.

  • coolstanleycoolstanley Posts: 2,875 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 18, 2021 8:27AM

    @Tabe said:

    @coolstanley said:

    @Justacommeman said:
    Jim Harbaugh is one of the rare exceptions. He was 44-19-1 and one play away from winning a Super Bowl. Most suck

    m

    This thread doesn't apply to Harbaugh because he isn't a successful college coach.

    11-win seasons with three different schools.

    zero national championships. 1-5 vs Ohio state. Losing record against Mich State. Losing bowl record.

    Not successful.

    Terry Bradshaw was AMAZING!!

    Ignore list -Basebal21

  • BrickBrick Posts: 4,981 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I would have made a donation to the U. of M. if it was used to retain any of their previous coaches. Harbaugh worries me. OSU had better be prepared every year.

    Collecting 1960 Topps Baseball in PSA 8
    http://www.unisquare.com/store/brick/

    Ralph

  • TabeTabe Posts: 6,061 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 18, 2021 7:14PM

    @coolstanley said:

    @Tabe said:

    @coolstanley said:

    @Justacommeman said:
    Jim Harbaugh is one of the rare exceptions. He was 44-19-1 and one play away from winning a Super Bowl. Most suck

    m

    This thread doesn't apply to Harbaugh because he isn't a successful college coach.

    11-win seasons with three different schools.

    zero national championships. 1-5 vs Ohio state. Losing record against Mich State. Losing bowl record.

    Not successful.

    It's silly to say a guy with an Orange Bowl win and 7 10-win seasons is "not successful".

  • coolstanleycoolstanley Posts: 2,875 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 19, 2021 1:24AM

    @Tabe said:

    @coolstanley said:

    @Tabe said:

    @coolstanley said:

    @Justacommeman said:
    Jim Harbaugh is one of the rare exceptions. He was 44-19-1 and one play away from winning a Super Bowl. Most suck

    m

    This thread doesn't apply to Harbaugh because he isn't a successful college coach.

    11-win seasons with three different schools.

    zero national championships. 1-5 vs Ohio state. Losing record against Mich State. Losing bowl record.

    Not successful.

    It's silly to say a guy with an Orange Bowl win and 7 10-win seasons is "not successful".

    Even after this year, many UM fans still want him fired. Look at how many 10 win seasons John Cooper had, yet most OSU fans wanted him gone. Cooper had a better record than Harbaugh.

    Terry Bradshaw was AMAZING!!

    Ignore list -Basebal21

  • JustacommemanJustacommeman Posts: 22,847 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 19, 2021 8:32AM

    @Tabe said:

    @coolstanley said:

    @Tabe said:

    @coolstanley said:

    @Justacommeman said:
    Jim Harbaugh is one of the rare exceptions. He was 44-19-1 and one play away from winning a Super Bowl. Most suck

    m

    This thread doesn't apply to Harbaugh because he isn't a successful college coach.

    11-win seasons with three different schools.

    zero national championships. 1-5 vs Ohio state. Losing record against Mich State. Losing bowl record.

    Not successful.

    It's silly to say a guy with an Orange Bowl win and 7 10-win seasons is "not successful".

    You are of course correct. He was a successful college at San Diego and Stanford where he rebuilt those programs. That's how he got the 49ers job down the street. Stanford has a enrollment of 17.000 and has one of the strictest admission standards. You don't get all the best athletes. Folks that root for football factory institutions seem to forget that. From there he had a 44-19-1 record in the NFL. Michigan obviously that came after. Happy Holiday's Tabe

    m

    Walker Proof Digital Album
    Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
  • JustacommemanJustacommeman Posts: 22,847 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 19, 2021 10:16AM

    @coolstanley said:

    @Tabe said:

    @coolstanley said:

    @Tabe said:

    @coolstanley said:

    @Justacommeman said:
    Jim Harbaugh is one of the rare exceptions. He was 44-19-1 and one play away from winning a Super Bowl. Most suck

    m

    This thread doesn't apply to Harbaugh because he isn't a successful college coach.

    11-win seasons with three different schools.

    zero national championships. 1-5 vs Ohio state. Losing record against Mich State. Losing bowl record.

    Not successful.

    It's silly to say a guy with an Orange Bowl win and 7 10-win seasons is "not successful".

    Even after this year, many UM fans still want him fired. Look at how many 10 win seasons John Cooper had, yet most OSU fans wanted him gone. Cooper had a better record than Harbaugh.

    Proving only that OSU doesn't have a monopoly of fools for fans. Regardless, universities don't answer to fans or try to appease them. They answer to the alumni if anything. The one thing Cooper didn't do is beat Michigan on field. Harbaugh has beat Ohio on the field as a player and as a coach. That makes him golden legacy wise.

    m

    Walker Proof Digital Album
    Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
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