Interesting argument that it is a mistake for a NCAA football program to hire a coach from the NFL, if that coach has had no previous NCAA head coaching experience. Of the BCS-conference schools that have done that over the last 10 years, the author points out that it was largely unsuccessful, but that "Carroll and Miles were the obvious success stories (Miles'...inclusion is a bit deceiving -- prior to his three-year NFL stint, he spent 18 seasons as a college assistant...)" Carroll spent 6 seasons as a college assistant prior to his stint in the NFL. The author also pointed out that a great NFL Xs and Os guy doesn't mean he's going to be good at all the other duties of a NCAA football coach dealing with 18-23 year old kids ("[Charlie Weis'] Xs and Os acumen couldn't compensate for his shortcomings as a teacher and motivator, and he never seemed comfortable with the numerous non-football obligations of a college CEO.") Another good example of the unique duties of a NCAA coach was how the author quoted Steve Sarkisian as saying: "The hardest part, until you deal with it, is that you're managing 110 kids, and they all have their problems and their issues, whether it's their classes or their girlfriend or not playing enough," said Sarkisian. "Not every kid's going to come in and rush for 1,000 yards. They all think they will, but for the most part it's not going to happen. How do you keep them motivated? A lot of stuff goes into that." Finally, he points out the list of the 15 most successful overall NCAA coaches, and Saban is #13, Les Miles is #14 (both have better win pcts as NCAA coaches than Frank Beamer, Mack Brown, Dennis Erickson, Butch Davis, Mike Leach, Tommy Tuberville, Rich Rodriguez, Mike Riley, Jim Grobe, Greg Schiano, Kirk Ferentz, Jim Harbaugh, Jeff Tedford, Gary Pinkel, Skip Holtz, Bill Snyder, or any other active NCAA coach you can think of that didn't make the Top 15). As for the 12 coaches with better overall win percetages than both Saban and Les, they might be good candidates should we ever lose Les. It's interesting to note that of the 15 most winningest active FBS coaches (min 5 years coaching), only 3 of them had previous experience in the NFL (Saban, Petrino, and Les Miles), and only one of them had other previous coaching experience at the pro level (Steve Spurrier as a USFL coach). USC won't find another Pete Carroll in NFL coaching ranks - Stewart Mandel - SI.com Also, note that: Since Les Miles had been head coach at LSU (2005-2009)... LSU has the #10 win pct of the 120 NCAA teams... better than what these coaches did over the same time period: Bronco Mendenhall (#11), Bob Stoops (#12), Mark Richt (#14), Kyle Whittingham (#16) and Steve Spurrier (#52)... and those guys rank the #2, #3, #4, #10 and #11 overall most winningest active FBS coaches (min 5 years coaching).
I think a corollary to that is not all college coaches who are good at motivating 18-23 year old kids can pick up and leave for the NFL and find that same strategy will work on a bunch of overpaid prima donnas. Case in point: Nick Saban. His authoritarian, micromanaging style works great with college kids who haven't earned a dime of NFL money yet and an AD that gives him total control. That doesn't fly well when you have to share that control with owners and general managers. Tony Dungy said it best in a recent post-game show: "It's easy to coach a poor 20-year old, it's hard to coach a rich 25-year-old."
JohnLSU and Dolemite- Great posts from you both. I think alot of people fail to realize a winner unless you post stats. Miles is a winner. However, Saban obviously is too although I feel he has less of a moral character. I've got a strong feeling that Saban wouldn't do as well on the other side of the Mason-Dixon line. Why do I feel that way? Saban takes no sh*t from his players. Being raised in the south still shows up in your character more often than not. Many southern boys are still brought up to respect their elders. This equates to a coach being able to direct a player in the direction of the coaches choosing. I don't think Saban would enjoy this luxury as much in northern communities or colleges.
