If you don't know already, I am not a big college football fan. I follow USC fairly closely and watch all of their games but otherwise I am at most a casual fan. With USC getting close to a National Championship shot, I have been watching a few games the last several weeks. In watching these games, it has just become staggering to me how large the gap is between an NFL head coach and a college head coach.
I believe Pete Carroll is the best coach in college football. Perhaps Bob Stoops could be put side by side with Carroll but after that there is a significant drop off. Pete Carroll, as much as I love the guy, has already shown that he can't compete with NFL head coaches. I suspect that Stoops would suffer the same fate were he to try his hand on Sundays. Stoops is a dedicated family man and I just can't imagine him making the sacrifice in taking the time away from his family it would take to be a great NFL coach.
Other than Stoops and Carroll, NCAA football coaches are by and large poor. Many don't understand simple principles of going for two, playing conservative in high percentage defensive situations and controlling the ball on offense. It is amazing for me to watch this stuff the last several weeks after having watched almost exclusively NFL and USC games the last few years. I know that a lot of what I see is the cause of coaching 20 and 21 year olds rather than 23 to 33 year olds. But still, just in terms of general strategy the gap between NFL and NCAA coaches is amazing.
Obviously recent results of NCAA coaches jumping to the NFL support this. Butch Davis had a nice run to a 9-7 record and a playoff appearance last season but I think nobody would put his name among the top 20 NFL head coaches. Steve Spurrier has been an outright failure. He was handed a pretty darned good team that Marty Schottenheimer miraculously led to an 8-8 record and they have regressed ever since Spurrier took over. Dennis Erickson has similarly shown the ability to dominate the college ranks while looking like a rank amateur as a pro coach.
I am sure that most NFL owners and general managers are aware of how poor NCAA coaches are compared to NFL coaches, but as sure as the sun shines in beautiful Los Angeles, you can be sure that somebody will offer a college coach a job in the NFL some time in the next several years. That coach will probably generate strong initial interest, he may even have some middling success at some point, but in the end he will most likely be proven to be incompetent, just like all NCAA football head coaches.
I believe Pete Carroll is the best coach in college football. Perhaps Bob Stoops could be put side by side with Carroll but after that there is a significant drop off. Pete Carroll, as much as I love the guy, has already shown that he can't compete with NFL head coaches. I suspect that Stoops would suffer the same fate were he to try his hand on Sundays. Stoops is a dedicated family man and I just can't imagine him making the sacrifice in taking the time away from his family it would take to be a great NFL coach.
Other than Stoops and Carroll, NCAA football coaches are by and large poor. Many don't understand simple principles of going for two, playing conservative in high percentage defensive situations and controlling the ball on offense. It is amazing for me to watch this stuff the last several weeks after having watched almost exclusively NFL and USC games the last few years. I know that a lot of what I see is the cause of coaching 20 and 21 year olds rather than 23 to 33 year olds. But still, just in terms of general strategy the gap between NFL and NCAA coaches is amazing.
Obviously recent results of NCAA coaches jumping to the NFL support this. Butch Davis had a nice run to a 9-7 record and a playoff appearance last season but I think nobody would put his name among the top 20 NFL head coaches. Steve Spurrier has been an outright failure. He was handed a pretty darned good team that Marty Schottenheimer miraculously led to an 8-8 record and they have regressed ever since Spurrier took over. Dennis Erickson has similarly shown the ability to dominate the college ranks while looking like a rank amateur as a pro coach.
I am sure that most NFL owners and general managers are aware of how poor NCAA coaches are compared to NFL coaches, but as sure as the sun shines in beautiful Los Angeles, you can be sure that somebody will offer a college coach a job in the NFL some time in the next several years. That coach will probably generate strong initial interest, he may even have some middling success at some point, but in the end he will most likely be proven to be incompetent, just like all NCAA football head coaches.
. Most college players just don't understand basketball.
