2013 College Football coaching carousel

I've come to believe that most of this is guesswork on the part of the writers. Just like the regulars who post here (self included).

 

I can't understand why everyone seems so bent on an NFL job. Maybe they pay more, but I'm not sure all of them do.

For the most part, college coaches have a rough ride in the NFL. Hell, everyone struggles in the NFL. A couple of injuries can take a team from 11-5 to 5-11. Even less job security in the NFL than the colleges, it seems. That's why I have a hard time seeing some of these top college coaches (Nick Saban, Mack Brown, Chip Kelly, etc.) leaving for an NFL job.

 

Did I miss something?

O'Brien's deal is guaranteed for eight more years. He'd be nuts to leave for any other job, considering how much money he'd leave on the table.

 

All of them do. That's not to say every NFL coach makes more than Nick Saban but that a coach in demand, such as Nick Saban or Jim Harbaugh or Pete Carroll, is paid much more in the NFL.

Also, it's the top of their field. The New York Times isn't for every journalist, but no one would fault a journalist for having those ambitions.

 

Oregon's OC, whose name escapes me, has Colorado ties and there has been some talk he might be a candidate. Might be a dilemma for him as he's also mentioned as Kelly's choice to be his successor when he leaves for the NFL and the Buffs will probably make a hire long before Kelly bolts for Philadelphia or the Jets or wherever he's going.

I'd think the Kent State coach might be a hot commodity at this point for some FBS job, seeing what he's done with that program.

 

But by the same token, it's easier to go from 5-11 to 11-5 in the NFL than it is to take over a program like Colorado or NC State or Purdue and make them relevant and win enough to keep the boosters happy.

Plus in the NFL, you aren't putting your fate in the hands of 18-22 year old kids who (theoretically) have to go to class and pass classes, are hamstrung by NCAA rules regarding practice and meeting time, and have to chase recruits around 12 months a year. You can do everything right at the college level and fail because State U. decides to buy players, or because the players you have get high and gang-rape a co-ed one night.

If these college coaches who have any kind of an itch to try the NFL look at a guy like Greg Schiano and see the job he is doing in Tampa after toiling in virtual anonymity at Rutgers, I can see the appeal.

 

That's just a bunch of coach speak. And a really, really, really buried lede.

 

Whipple is a very good coach and did an exceptional job at Brown and UMass. I'm surprised he never moved further up the NFL coaching pyramid. UMass should consider bringing him back (not that he'd go back under those circumstances).

 

Art Briles to Arkansas would make a lot of sense.