Why do most college coaches fail in the NFL?

Question

Dennis Erickson, Butch Davis, Steve Spurrier, Mike Riley, now Nick Saban. Will Bobby Petrino be next?

Answer 1

Speed! In college as coach you are used to only a few players having pro-type quicknes atheletically and mentally. Once players are on a team they are most likely there for the duration of their college career. Also its rare that a freshman makes a great impact in his first year because they are still maturing physically, so its easier to coach against other teams because you know who is a real threat. In the pros, everyone is fast!!! Its the cream from all of the crops. College coaches develop a false sense of "greatness" that they expect to cross over into the pros.
Aint gonna happen! You have to be more complete as a coach in the pros. A coach's greatest atribute in professional football is his ability to keep his opponent guessing. Speed means nothing when you are running fast....the wrong way! No one learned this lesson more than Steve Spurrier. He had good atheletes, but everyone knew what was comming! So did Heath Shuler...I think its called...THE BLITZ....ouch!!!

Answer 2

Well, most college coaches who turn pro go to bad or re-building teams and the results that pro-ownwers are looking for is instantaneous. If coaches, like star players, could be given a 5 or 6 year window instead of the average 2 or 3 years, then I bet there would be more success stories. Joe Paterno has coached for Penn State for half a century and only has 2 National Championships 1982 and'86. If that were tha case in the NFL, he would have been canned ages ago.

Answer 3

Another factor that I don't think has been mentioned is that sometimes the general manager is having more problems with the team than just the Head Coach. Steve Mariucci lost his job in Detroit when Matt Millian should have been sacked. You can only do so much as a coach with a failing team. The Dolphins and Nick Saban / Dave Wannstedt are a great example.

Even Joe Paterno had a bad record as an NFL Head coach. It's a completely different game.

Answer 4

The reality is most coaches, regardless of where they come from, fail as NFL head coaches. Head coaches get fired a lot.

The list of longer tenure NFL head coaches (coach of the same team for a long time) is short. Belichek in New England, Dungy in Indy, Fisher in Tennessee, Holmgren in Seattle, Gruden in TB, and Shanahan in Denver, are the only ones that immediately come to mind (that's only 6, out of 32).

A coach is generally considered successful in college by getting to a bowl game ... given the number of bowls, it's not that hard .... it's a lot easier than getting to playoffs every year in the NFL.

Answer 5

It's a totally different game between the colleges and pros.

More complex offensive and defensive schemes.

And the college coaches have it easier, the best high school players want to go to a big name school like Miami, Florida, Florida St, Ohio State, etc thus they get all the best players while other colleges have to make due with what they can get. These coaches get the best of the best. When they make the jump to the NFL, they don't have that huge talent gap between their team and the other team.

Answer 6

don't forget Pete Carroll when he coached the in the NFL

i think they leap too far. most coaches in the NFL did coach in college. but they usually were assistant coaches, promoted to coordinators then up to head coach.

college coaches that jump into head coaches i think lack the knowledge to run under a salary cap, how to run and offense or defense against a NFL team. because in the nfl they usually are the best players from college, and usually a college ias a few of these players, but now they play a team with a bunch of these players now
it would be easier to run a position on the team, then just the offense or defense, before going to head coach

Answer 7

College football is a whole different world than pro football. Defensive ends are faster, players are more arrogant, and trick plays are hardly used. In college, coaches can be more liberal in their attack, while it seems in the pros its very systematic, Cover 2 zone or another defensive strategy vs. a West Coast Offense or a heavy running attack. A player will go to a school based on a coach, and along the lines of that, you get a new recruiting class each year, and if you're a good coach, you're going to get top-tier recruits, rather than having one person late in a round if you're a good coach.

Answer 8

I dont know about all the coaches you named but some of them went straight from college to head coach like supurrier, these coaches shouldnt go straight from college head coach to NFL coach because it wouldnt know as much about the NFL. They should start out for a succesful head coach before becoming one right away. Belicheck wasnt as succesful with the Browns when saban was defensive coordinator. Lots of coaches in the current NFL were under guys like Walsh and they are pretty darn succesful (Seahawks etc

Answer 9

The majority of college coaches do fail. There are exceptions like Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer. And to a lesser extent Dick Vermeil, Bill Walsh, John Robinson had fair success but they had NFL experience. John McKay, Chuck Fairbanks, Ron Meyer had marginal success. Guys like Lou Holtz, Bud Wilkinson, Dick McPherson, Rich Brooks and Butch Davis were clueless.

Answer 10

My quess would be the players believe they know more than the coaches especially as a rookie coach coming into the league. I am not sure that coaches fail or its more of going from players that are humble to an atmosphere where the players are very cocky. I am sure it a huge adjustment.
I believe Saban when he said he wanted to coach again and teaching kids that wanted to learn.
I am sure Pro Coaching is more like Pro baby sitting.