Urban Meyer and other college-to-NFL coaches

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Bryan
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Urban Meyer and other college-to-NFL coaches

Post by Bryan »

While I have always found Urban Meyer to be reprehensible from a human being standpoint, I at least respected him for his football acumen in creating a prolific college offense. His time with Jacksonville was a disaster, even moreso off-the-field than on it. I was watching the Jags-Chargers game, and Trevor Lawrence is a completely different QB this year under Doug Pederson. Seeing the Jags winning and Lawrence playing well has brought about a discussion of Urban Meyer being the worst HC in NFL history. I'm all for hyperbole, but the extent of Meyer's failure and the immediate turnaround in the Jags' fortunes is kind of telling. It's always weird when established, big name college coaches go to the NFL and get hyped as saviors when history shows that the vast majority of these types of hires end in utter failure. Here is a subjective look at some of the college coaches I remember that had 'mixed success' in the NFL:

Meyer = terrible person, could not handle pro athletes

Steve Spurrier = Fun n Gun did not work due to lack of pass protection, spent more time on golf course than watching film

Chip Kelly = I thought he got a bad rap because his offense was difficult to deal with. I think the fact that he was such an odd person made him lose credibility with his players.

Bud Wilkinson = only lasted 1.5 years, but Jim Hart said Wilkinson was a great coach who was actually very progressive. Probably a bad situation to be with the Cards at that time.

Lou Holtz = too collegiate of an approach, did not have players' respect

John McKay = I guess he had some success with Tampa, but overall a very disappointing career. Offenses were very vanilla, and in the end even the defense was terrible.

Barry Switzer = inherited a SB team, won a SB himself, but his reputation still took a hit IMO. Came off as somewhat of an idiot that only won games because of outstanding talent.

Others?
ChrisBabcock
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Re: Urban Meyer and other college-to-NFL coaches

Post by ChrisBabcock »

Dennis Erickson actually came up in discussion last night while watching SNF with a fellow 49ers fan. I remember his teams being mediocre* and then just unraveling in his last year. (Which gave us Alex Smith).
* 8-8, 7-9, 8-8, 8-8 during his Seattle tenure.
racepug
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Re: Urban Meyer and other college-to-NFL coaches

Post by racepug »

Jimmy Johnson - one of very few I can think of off the top of my head who won (national and league) championships at both the college and pro levels. I'm not sure how much of a strategist or tactician he was ever considered to be, though.

Nick Saban - He was a flop in the N.F.L. My recollection is that he basically told MIA to pound sand before he made his way back to the college game.

Pete Carroll - another who (obviously) won at both the collegiate and N.F.L. level. But I think his "schtick" is losing effectiveness in Seattle.
Reaser
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Re: Urban Meyer and other college-to-NFL coaches

Post by Reaser »

racepug wrote:Nick Saban - He was a flop in the N.F.L. My recollection is that he basically told MIA to pound sand before he made his way back to the college game.
I don't put Saban in the "NFL was too big for him" category that applies to a lot of college-to-NFL coaches. Or put him leaving in the same category or as the same way as a Bobby Petrino or Lou Holtz. Those two you'll find a lot of "no respect for" from the players, don't see it as much with Saban leaving Miami. As for the NFL, when he was DC he eventually got the Browns defense to a really good place. In Miami, Jason Taylor has spoke highly of him before, gave him a lot of credit for his DPOY season which came with Saban as HC. Even the owner, Huizenga didn't do a lot of blaming or acting like he was stabbed in the back, and still was on good terms with Saban if I remember correctly -- I think for him it was just about being "sad" Saban didn't stay.

Saban is just a college guy, likes that level more. Plus, giving some fairness, it was Alabama calling.

I think he was eventually honest about it, too. That with Miami he felt him and the staff and FO were quickly building something and liked where the team was at/headed everywhere except at QB, and in the NFL you can't just go recruit a QB so the way he said it, going off memory here, it felt like he was saying that he knew he wasn't going to have a QB anytime soon and without a QB it didn't matter how good the coaching was, or how good the other players were, they'd have no chance of winning anything meaningful. And, obviously, at the college level he could just go find the players he wanted and coach them up.

All that said, he did himself NO favors with the infamous "not going to coach Alabama" press conference. Repeatedly asked over and over again and denied over and over again, gave the quote, then he left to coach Alabama. So there's a deserved perception there, but I think there was a lot more to it than that and more to his time in Miami than "NFL was too big for him and he bailed on his team."
Citizen
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Re: Urban Meyer and other college-to-NFL coaches

Post by Citizen »

Dan Devine was slow to learn that coaching and motivating grown men is a lot different from coaching and motivating college kids. Stories of his clumsy efforts in Green Bay (such as showing U of Missouri game film as the "right way" to play certain positions) are legion among his former players and assistants.
Lee Elder
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Re: Urban Meyer and other college-to-NFL coaches

Post by Lee Elder »

George Allen was the head coach at Morningside (Iowa) and Whittier (Calif) before his years as an assistant with the Rams and (a few years later) the Bears. Allen was a winner at both Morningside and Whittier, then won with both the Rams and in Washington. He was successful in the USFL and then went 6-5 in his only year at Long Beach State. His year at Long Beach might have been his best coaching performance, the program had a long way to go.

Don Coryell was very successful at Whittier and San Diego State before building winners in St. Louis and San Diego. Before his years in the NFL, Coryell was briefly an assistant at USC, teaching John McKay the I Formation.

Dick Vermiel was a winner at UCLA before his Hall of Fame pro career.

Tommy Prothro coached at Oregon State and UCLA and won at both schools. In the NFL, he had one winning season with the Rams, then lost with the next 5 seasons with the Rams and Chargers. He won in college, lost in the NFL.

John Robinson won with both USC and the Rams. He coached USC to the Rose Bowl and got the Rams to the NFC title game twice. He had a less successful stint at UNLV.
sheajets
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Re: Urban Meyer and other college-to-NFL coaches

Post by sheajets »

Greg Schiano. Went to the Bucs and took a 4-12 team to 7-9 the following year...but then sunk down to 4-12 and was canned. Bit sooner than I thought he would be, but I guess his tyrannical authoritarian style alienated a lot of pro's. Apparently he lost the team. That 2nd year he started 0-8, but then pulled out of the tailspin and stood at 4-9 before dropping their last 3. One exec said this about the squad under Schiano
"They seem like a team that's just beaten down," said a former NFL executive, speaking under the condition of anonymity. "Let's just say that place right now has a culture of mistrust on many different levels.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/991 ... -tampa-bay
JuggernautJ
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Re: Urban Meyer and other college-to-NFL coaches

Post by JuggernautJ »

I am a little surprised no one has yet mentioned Bill Walsh.
Walsh was the head coach at Stanford before he took the reins in San Francisco. He later returned to Stanford after his NFL career. In his first stint in Palo Alto he was 17-7 and won Bowl games both seasons.
In his second stint (post 49ers) he won the last Blockbuster Bowl coaching against... Joe Paterno.

Early in his career he was an assistant at Cal Berkley (under Marv Levy) and Stanford before going into the pro ranks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Wals ... ing_career
Jay Z
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Re: Urban Meyer and other college-to-NFL coaches

Post by Jay Z »

Citizen wrote:Dan Devine was slow to learn that coaching and motivating grown men is a lot different from coaching and motivating college kids. Stories of his clumsy efforts in Green Bay (such as showing U of Missouri game film as the "right way" to play certain positions) are legion among his former players and assistants.
Devine was hated for various reasons in Green Bay. That being said, he was still better than Bart Starr as a coach.

Devine knew how to recruit, delegate, and hire. Things that work on the college level. Less important on the pro level where you have less players involved and less turnover. Devine didn't have X's and O's command, that is for sure.

But Starr was below average at managing staff, didn't hire or delegate well, and didn't have a good eye for talent. Maybe he could have been a better coordinator, I don't know. He had an offensive coordinator, so that wasn't needed either. Overall Starr was pretty poor as a coach.

Chuck Fairbanks did well for a while. Don't know if he would have been better than Erhardt at transitioning from talent accumulation to win now mode.
7DnBrnc53
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Re: Urban Meyer and other college-to-NFL coaches

Post by 7DnBrnc53 »

Jay Z wrote:
Citizen wrote:Dan Devine was slow to learn that coaching and motivating grown men is a lot different from coaching and motivating college kids. Stories of his clumsy efforts in Green Bay (such as showing U of Missouri game film as the "right way" to play certain positions) are legion among his former players and assistants.
Devine was hated for various reasons in Green Bay. That being said, he was still better than Bart Starr as a coach.

Devine knew how to recruit, delegate, and hire. Things that work on the college level. Less important on the pro level where you have less players involved and less turnover. Devine didn't have X's and O's command, that is for sure.

But Starr was below average at managing staff, didn't hire or delegate well, and didn't have a good eye for talent. Maybe he could have been a better coordinator, I don't know. He had an offensive coordinator, so that wasn't needed either. Overall Starr was pretty poor as a coach.
I think that the 1978 season was the reason that Starr stayed at HC as long as he did. If that would have been another losing season like the others up to that point, I don't know if he makes it to 1980. They may have been the ones to bring Forrest Gregg in as HC (instead of the Bengals), and they probably draft Munoz instead (Gregg was one of the only ones to visit Anthony before that draft).
Nick Saban - He was a flop in the N.F.L. My recollection is that he basically told MIA to pound sand before he made his way back to the college game.
I heard that Saban wanted out ASAP after the Dolphin brain trust wouldn't let him sign Drew Brees.
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