2013-01-22 07:15

Just a quick u p d a t e on the Underclassmen amount for the next draft: a record 75 Players did declare.
I think this is a concerning development.

But so far I did not read of any concerns from the NFL or the NCAA, so this will probably go on.
The consequences will probably be that the really good kids (or those who think they are) will more and more skip their senior year, hence a decline in playing quality on college level and more kids without a college degree.

As said before, I can understand that players do make that move, because it can cost you a fortune if you get injured in your last year or playing bad (as did Matt Barkley this season, will cost him at least a round) and THEN try to get into the NFL.
But for me that's only because the system went insane.

It's not that far in the past that a first round pick was set for life BEFORE EVER step on a NFL field.
Before that time the first round got good money and those in later rounds did earn enough to life, but they were not rich.
Some even took jobs in the offseason.
The huge amount of money, the NFL got from their last TV deals did change that, nothing else.
And so did change the gap between playing for a college team for education and for a professional team for money.
In the past the players had to weight in a college degree against the possible money.
That degree did not get an upgrade, the money did.

The funny thing is that some college do almost have an income of a NFL team.
But they do pay their players NOTHING.

THAT discussion does come up every now and then again.
But it does always dies down after some time.

The problem with that money income of college is: At the moment that money is spend on facilities, coaches and other stuff to comfort the players.
If a huge amount is spend on players, then the rich teams will get richer and better, the poor ones can only pay their regular bills and maybe offer some bucks for playing.
You probably would have to split the FBS again in some kind of FBS amateurs and FBS pros.

That’s also not a nice thought ...

Anyone with a solution?

OK, let's focus on another thing.

I will not go into this new Manti Te'o story, since it is still all a mystery and it might redraw the picture of that player (LB of Notre Dame, Heisman Finalist) completely.
Maybe over some time this will all be sorted out, at the moment the only thing which is fact: That heart-breaking story about his dying girlfriend in September was a lie.
Who lied and why is still open from my point of view. It looks like Te’o was not part of it, but until now, not all facts are on the table.

So let's focus on coaches.

Two college level coaches did get a "promotion" to the NFL this year so far.

One is better known, since he was all over the media, Chip Kelly, the former Headcoach of the Oregon Ducks became the new Headcoach of the Philadelphia Eagles.
The other one, not so well known, is Doug Marrone, the former Headcoach of the Syracuse Orange, became the new Headcoach of the Buffalo Bills.

Let's start with Marrone:
He did play in the NFL only for a view years at the end of the ‘80s and was basically working as Coach always on College level until 2002.
Then he became the OL coach of the Jets and 2006 he became the OC of the Saints but was not part of the Superbowl team 2009.
He became the Syracuse coach that year and did basically rebuild the Orange since then.
At the end his record was 25-25 over 4 years and last year he was 8-5 and he won a share of the conference title.

Now to Kelly:
He did never play in the NFL. He went directly into coaching after graduation and worked his ass up the ranks.
He became the OC of New Hampshire (where he once studied and played as college football player) 1999 and lead that offense to new record from year to year.
2007 he was hired by Oregon to become their OC and was in 2009 promoted to HC when the former Ducks coach did become (for 9 month) the Ducks Athletic Director and later an ESPN analyst.
Kelly took over a high octane ducks team and kept it on that level while he was with them.
In all of his 4 years as HC of the Ducks he was able to bring his team to a BCS-Bowl, playing for a National Championship in 2010 (but lost to the Cam Newton lead Auburn Tigers).

I'm not sure if this will be the solution for both NFL teams.
Not many college Football Coaches did very well transform to the pro level.

Let’s have a look for the last 30 years (I think going deeper is not worth the effort)
So we start around 1983.
Eligible is every Coach going from College HC (or worse position) directly to NFL HC FIRST TIME!
If a Coach did spend some time as coordinator or assistent in the NFL before becomming a NFL HC the next year, this is not counted.
Also not counted are HCs which already had a time as NFL HC and did return to College and THEN came back.

1983:
John Robinson came from USC to the L.A. Rams.
He stayed until 1991 and is believed to be one of the better Rams coaches.
Lead them to two NFC Championship game but lost twice to the then later Superbowl winners.
Record 79-74.

1984:
Sam Wyche came from Indiana to the Cincinnati Bengals.
He stayed there until 1991 and became later the HC of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 92-95.
He led the Bengels to one Superbowls 1988 (lost of cause) and was fired 3 years later.
Record was 61-66 there and 23-41 with the Buccs where he never had a successful season.

1985:
Darryl Rogers did come from Arizona State to the Detroit Lions.
He stayed until 1988 and did not have a single successful season.
Record 18–40

1986, 1987 and 1988:
none

1989:
Jimmy Johnson came from Miami to the Dallas Cowboys.
He stayed until 1993 and later became the HC of the Miami Dolphins from 96 to 99.
In this list here he is one of the most successful ones, if not the most successful, if you take his time in the calculation.
He won back to back Superbowls 1992 and 1993.
His record was 44-36 (including a 1-15 season in his first year. He took over a Dallas team as bad as it can be) and with the Dolphins 36-28.

1990:
none

1991:
Dick MacPherson came from Syracuse to the New England Patriots.
He stayed until 1992 and did try to rebuild a bad Patriots team, but failed.
His Record was 8-24.

1992:
Bobby Ross came from Georgia Tech to San Diego Chargers.
He stayed until 1996 and did lead San Diego 1994 to the Superbowl (but lost). Later he became the HC of the Detroit Lions, where he had limited success.
His Record was 50-36 with the Chargers and with the Lions 27-32.

Dennis Green came from Stanford to the Minnesota Vikings.
He stayed until 2001 and later became the HC of the Arizona Cardinals.
He did make the playoffs with the Vikings almost in every year, but failed to win any Championship game.
In Arizona he had no successful season at all.
His record with the Vikings was 97-62 and with the Cardinals 16-32.

1993:
none

1994:
Barry Switzer did get the Dallas Cowboys job after 5 years of no coaching at all. Before that he was a very long time the HC of Oklahoma.
He did stay until 1997 and did win the Superbowl 1995 and made the playoffs in the first 3 years.
His record was 40-24.

1995:
Rich Brooks did come from the Oregon Ducks to the St. Louis Rams.
He lasted only 2 years to 1996.
His record was 13-19.

Tom Coughlin did coach at Boston College when he was hired for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
He stayed until 2002 and later became (from 2004 on, and is still) the HC of the New York Giants.
At Jacksonville he had to build the Expension team from the ground and recorded in 8 seasons 4 playoffs runs and a 68-60 record.
His record with the Giants is 83-61 in 9 seasons and 5 playoffs runs with 2 Superbowl wins.
If you take long term success and success with two different teams into the mix, I think his is the best.

Dennis Erickson came from Miami to the Seattle Seahawks.
He lasted 4 seasons to 1998 and later had 2 years with the 49ers.
His record was 31-33 and with the 49ers 9-23.

1996:
none

1997:
Steve Mariucci did coach Cal for one season when he went to the San Francisco 49ers.
He had a fall out with the owner in 2002 and did coach the Detroit Lions from 2003 on until 2005.
With the 49ers he made the playoffs in 4 of the 6 seasons.
In Detroit he had basically now success at all.
His records were 57-39 with the 49ers and 15-28 with the Lions.

1998:
none

1999:
Mike Riley came from Oregon State (and later returned to them until today) to the San Diego Chargers.
He stayed until 2001 and had basically no success at all on pro level.
His record was 14-34.

2000:
none:

2001:
Butch Davis came from Miami to the Cleveland Browns.
He stayed until 2004 and did not do anything there.
He recorded a 24-34 record.

2002:
Steve Spurrier came from Florida to the Washington Redskins.
He stayed 2 seasons and had no success at all.
He recorded a 12-20 record.

2003 and 2004:
none:

2005:
Nick Saban come from LSU to the Miami Dolphins.
He stayed until 2006 and did not do anything there.
He recorded a 15-17 record.

2006:
none

2007:
Lane Kiffin came from USC as coordinator and took over the Oakland Raiders.
He stayed 2 seasons and could not turn that franchise around.
He recorded a 5-15 record.

Bobby Petrino come from Louisville to the Atlanta Falcons.
He stayed for less than one season and left.
His record was 3-10.

2008, 2009 and 2010:
none

2011:
Jim Harbaugh came from Stanford to the San Francisco 49ers.
He still is their HC and just guided them to the Superbowl.
Record so far is 27-8-1.

2012:
Greg Schiano came from Rutgers to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
He is still their HC and did record a 7-9 season.

So there are not that many coaches in general and even less which came from the college ranks and did basically WIN.
Many did not fare well on pro level and we will see how this will turn out for those two new ones and those two still on the job.
For me, this little researched did show clearly that it did serve a lot for coaches to go from NFL coordinator to NFL Head Coach than making the giant leap from College to NFL.
Don't get me wrong, I do respect a lot of those names above as good and very good coaches.
I just think that the environment is totally different in college and in the NFL and you have to adjust and have to be able to live with that if you want to be successful.
I think some of the later coaches did basically bail from the environment and were happy to be back in college where they were more successful and not questioned by so many different parties involved.

‘Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE

Tags: Block of Granite