October 28, 2007

You Can Go Home Again

With the surprising play of Arizona State and, to a lesser extent, Hawaii, it's interesting to see how NFL coaches fare when they return to the college ranks. Off the top of my head, I can think of these former NFL head coaches at the helm of college programs.

1) Pete Carroll - Patriots then USC
2) June Jones - Falcons/Chargers then Hawaii
3) Dennis Erickson - Seahawks then Oregon State then Niners then Idaho and ASU
4) Al Groh - Jets then Virginia
5) Steve Spurrier - Redskins then South Carolina
6) Matt Riley - Chargers then Oregon State (again)
7) Bill Callahan - Raiders then Nebraska
8) Nick Saban - Dolphins then Alabama
9) Dave Wannstedt - Bears/Dolphins then Pitt
10) Butch Davis - Browns then North Carolina
11) Jerry Glanville - Falcons then Portland State (I-AA/FCS)

Add in coordinators (Ralph Friedgen, Charlie Weis are notable) and players (Jim Harbaugh for one), and it appears to be a solid strategy to bring in a head coach with NFL ties.

What former NFL head coaches currently serving as NCAA head coaches have I forgotten?

2 Responses:

"ben" said...

You forgot Bobby Petrino.

Oh wait, that's not until next year.

Regarding Spurrier, Saban and Butch Davis, you can't really attribute any success they have in college to their NFL ties.

Jeff Jag at BC came directly from the NFL somewhere, I think, like Green bay. Other than that, I've got nothing.

J-Red said...

Those three are the "jumpers", the guys who were arrogant enough to think that their scheme/motivational abilities would carry over to well-paid adults. Dennis Erickson is almost in that category, but not quite.

A guy like June Jones is ideal, because he just semi-retired in Hawaii. In that sense, Al Groh should have worked at Virginia, but he's an intolerable prick.

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