Do you think that's important for a college head coach? I seem to recall a article but can't find something written by the Sports Guy where he argued that a college HC with NFL experience as a advantage. He pointed out how horrible Carroll was as a NFL HC, and yet Carroll was a dominating college coach. I think he made the argument that the NFL game, in terms of schemes and all that, was so much harder that the college game that it would be child's play for a NFL HC to come into college.
Well, there you have it. PC and CW. Two coaches with NFL experience and two different outcomes. Scheming is one thing but it doesn't seem to do much in terms of motivation. Are you related to bitter?
NFL experience is not essential for a college coach, but it damn sure helps. Nick and Les and Bill Arnsparger, our three most successful coaches since McClendon, all had significant NFL experience.
The only thing I don't like about getting a HC with NFL experience is that he is usually dying to get back to the NFL as a HC. College is only a stepping stone. It's best to get a former NFL HC who decided it was not for him, and wants to return to college.
NFL experience is important in recruiting because recruits like it when coaches know what it takes to make it in the NFL. Their success or position in the NFL is not necessarily very important - just the fact that they were a coach there for some period of time. Many college coaches have NFL experience & have no intention of going back to the NFL.
I don't know how it plays out with any other coach, but IMO, NFL experience is THE biggest problem for Weis at Notre Dame. First of all, he bought into the whole "scheme" advantage that the media spewed. I don't doubt for a minute that he is an offensive "genius" w/ all sorts of formations, plays based upon reads, schemes, etc. The problem is there are only 4-6 players on a team, 10-12 on a great team, that will ever be playing in the NFL and capable of handling all of the complicated schemes. He's getting pounded by inferior talent that is being coached to run the same simple plans over and over, but EXECUTING them and playing w/ emotion. Second, and probably my biggest gripe, is the approach that the game should be played w/ no emotions. College football is all about emotions. How else does Tulane play better than LSU for even a half game? How else does ND play w/ a superior USC team until the final second? Sorry, I think I just hijacked the thread to vent. I'll crawl back into my hole until next year.
Bayou, you've always been fair with your posts here, no need to crawl into a hole. You're a better fan than most, you're not only honest but you haven't abandoned your team. As far as the media buying into the CW hype though, wasn't he the one "Spewing" that it "Scheme" advantage would be to him?
Yes he made the comments, but I guess I just chalked it up to "rah-rah" talk as a new hire. For the record, I believe he does have more plays/formations/schemes at his disposal than just about any other college coach. Any offensive coach from the NFL has to have tons of that information to be able to compete. My argument is that it's useless in college football where the majority of the players on your team will never be able to absorb it all.
NFL experience isn't Weis's problem, per se. Weis' problem is a lack of experience outside of the NFL. He never played college ball & didn't understand what makes it different from the NFL. If it's any consolation, I think he sees it now.
