If I was a college coach who had any aspirations of moving upstairs to the NFL, I'd track down a few of these guys and gut them with a fishing knife. Saban? You're dead to me. Petrino? Let's go fishing on the lake with little brother Mikey.

What NFL owner can take a successful college coach seriously at this point? So when Mark Mangino (my son's namesake who weighs about eight times what my 7 year-old does) makes the jump, will Vegas officially open a betting line on how soon he returns to the college ranks? It has become laughable. No?

lyin sack. not that i expect any better.

i guess it's too hard to coach in the nfl when you don't have a qb ... dude will never get another job in the nfl again IMO.

Hey, remember way back when Atlanta's coach talked about quitting to go coach a college team, so they fired him and swore they'd never let that happen again? That was awesome.

Really, I give Petrino credit for recognizing where he was best off, and doing what's probably the best thing for all involved. He'll be happier in college (even with the lower salary), and the Falcons are going to be better off getting an NFL-style coach. Given the enormous pile of dung this Atlanta season has dumped on his head, I don't blame him for leaving one bit.

any college to pro coach ever do good?

petrino: no
saban: no
spurrier: no

all i can think of now

Re: #4--Jimmy Johnson & Don Coryell

Re: #6--when Hell freezes over!

There are basically four types of NFL coaching candidates:

1) Celebrity ex-coaches who are out of work voluntarily or due to personality issues (i.e. Marty, Parcells, Cowher, Jimmy Johnson)

2) Former head coaches who have been fired/resigned/not re-signed due to lack of success

3) Star college coaches.

4) Young, successful NFL offensive/defensive coordinators.

If you can get a guy from the first group, that's a no-brainer.

The second group is generally a train wreck, although there's always a few Bill Belichicks on the scrapheap.

The third group is littered with failures, with the notable exceptions Staubach12 noted above.

The fourth group is the obvious group to draw from. There are plenty of failures there, but most of the success stories come from there as well.

I've CTRL+F5'd the home page a billion times, just waiting for DVOA to come out...it's taking so long, and man am I so addicted.....

#4 - couple more not so good: Lou Holtz, Dennis Erickson.

Denny Green had a few good years with MIN. Bill Walsh head coached at Stanford, but had previously worked at the pro level as an assistant.

Dont' forget about the Mike Riley failure

#9-
You said it brother.

I think the problem is college head coaches going straight for a NFL head coaching job.

They really need to be a coordinator first.

this falcons fan is DELIGHTED. i hope they make a run at schottenheimer now.

btw, i was listening to local sports radio in Atlanta when this was announced, and ovie mughelli (Falcons starting fullback) happened to be on the air at the time. he was completely stunned.

If I were the NFL I might look at what makes college coaching jobs so much more attractive to people like Saban and Petrino and see if the NFL can do anything to improve the current NFL head coaching situation. To me there is something alarming when guys like Saban and Petrino opt out and other coaches like Hawaii's and USC's won't even consider leaving their colleges.

i hope they make a run at schottenheimer now.

btw, i was listening to local sports radio in Atlanta when this was announced, and ovie mughelli (Falcons starting fullback) happened to be on the air at the time. he was completely stunned.

Bill Walsh, Marv Levy.

14 - Interesting point, I've wondered that too. I don't follow colege at all. Can't afford to give more than one sport the kind of attention I give the NFL, so can someone else answer that question? What is the draw there, that the NFL doesn't have?

14, 17,

NCAA coaches enjoy dramatically shorter work weeks, much less criticism, much smaller chance of being fired. And if you are a good recruiter and/or work at a historic program, you will have more talent than the majority of your opponents.

The NFL can't really "fix" any of these "problems". NFL coaches do generally make more money, though.

17 - At a good program, you only have about 4-5 tough games a year. No salary cap, recruiting is easier than drafting, generally less of a grind.

I’ve CTRL+F5′d the home page a billion times, just waiting for DVOA to come out…it’s taking so long, and man am I so addicted…..

stats...need stats...

#14. For once, Easterbrook has it right. In college, you can build a program that wins year in and year out. That's impossible in the NFL. So unless you can win a Super Bowl you'll always face less job security and more scrutiny.

I don't think the NFL should imitate the college arrangement.

I'd imagine the draw is control. If this is college, there's no way DeAngelo Hall even dares to say anything about Petrino in public.

It does seem like the skill set of a successful NCAA coach isn't necessarily what will make you succeed at the pro level. College football starts at recruiting, and since most of your players will only be there a few seasons, personality issues are pretty temporary. You are expected to demonstrate some growth with your players, but they really aren't expected to be polished, just fast and strong. Actual game generalship seems at best secondary, and outside of the SEC and a handful of other jobs, you aren't treated as a celebrity. And while the pay may not be NFL pay, it's still pretty good.

NFL coaches have to manage star players that define franchises, deal with game-day issues, adjustments, developing young players, integrating free agents, and the ever-present media. Playbooks are huge, egos are huge, expectations are huge and failure is always lurking. Some people thrive on that, but it seems like maybe those aren't the people that thrive at the college level. Just like an option QB can dominate college play but have zero chance at the pros, lots of very successful college coaches have no chance either, and for similar reasons. It's just square pegs and round holes.

That being said, that Atlanta can compete with an 0-13 team in the trainwreck sweepstakes is pretty amazing.

Mr. Brohm, meet Mr. several-million-dollar paycut.

- Alaska Jack

Re:9 Redrum, redrum... ejem!! i mean stats, stats, stats!!

Coughlin may have insane rules, but he went from Boston College to Jacksonville and the Giants winning at each stop.

Does Dirk Koetter get any credit as the current Jacksonville OC after getting fired from Arizona State?

Anyone care to break down the reverse - NFL Coaches with no prior college experience going "straight" to college?

I can think of Weiss at ND.

Others?

Dick Vermeil ? UCLA to the Eagles

While there are successful coaches with college experience, they were rarely top college coaches. Levy was HC at Cal and William and Mary, but went from there to being a special teams coach in Philly, LA (rams) and Washington.

He may be the only successful head coach whose job immediately prior to being an NFL HC was as a CFL head coach. As a side note, he was also an HC for the Chicago Blitz of the United States Football League.

Chan Gailey went from Dallas to Georgia Tech and had some success before getting canned this year. Al Groh went from the Jets to Virginia and has also had some success. Wasn't Dennis Green considered a good college coach before jumping to the NFL?

Man, Joey Harrington has got to have the most snakebitten career path of any highly drafted QB in recent memory.
First the fun-filled Mariucci Lions, then the Saban-Culpepper Miami debacle, now the Petrino-Vick Falcons. Not just teams that suck, but ones in complete disarray. I don't think he'll ever be a successful starter, but the guy deserves to land on a reasonably stable team as a backup someday...

Rumors of a coach coming to an agreement don't mean much when Arkansas is involved. Jim Grobe (Wake Forest) supposedly reached an agreement to coach there last week, but he backed out when boosters tried to force him to hire Gus Malzahn (Tulsa offensive coordinator) as his offensive coordinator.

Hell, the Hogs held a press conference to introduce Dana Altman as head basketball coach last spring before he backed out.

Still, if this happens, it is a major coup for that program. He is a huge upgrade over Nutt.

Maybe Bellicheck will dump Brady and bring in Harrington just to prove once and for all that it IS the coaching and not the talent.

Speaking of Mariucci, does anyone have an idea why his name does not come up for HC openings? His record in Detroit was awful but he was successful in SF and he seems relatively young (i.e. worth a second chance).

I think the leverage college coaches have over their players is also a big factor. Players at the college level have to get on the field to get noticed by pro scouts and hopefully end up with an NFL contract. A college coach at a big-time program can usually threaten to bench anyone who doesn't buy into his program, or doesn't think he's getting the ball enough. Another blue-chip recruit is usually waiting in the wings. If a player wants to transfer to another D-1 school, he has to sit out a year, and worry if "attitude problems" will hurt his draft stock. Motivating and relating to pro athletes who already make 7 figures and can demand a trade or leave as a free agent is a much different job.

Re: 28

Ray Perkins left the Giants after the 1982 season to become the Alabama job with despite one year of college coaching experience (assistant at Mississippi State, 1973).

Weis assisted at South Carolina from 1985 to 1988.

35 - Mariucci was pretty solid at Cal as well - I would think he would be an attractive college candidate. Is he too off the radar for Michigan?

#30 - I believe Bud Grant went from CFL to the Vikings.

Is he too off the radar for Michigan?

He's best friends with MSU's BB coach, I don't know if that would complicate things.

#9, 12, 21, 26:
I hearya. The numbers that are out so far look kinda funky, and I sure want to see how they break down.

We are not going to see a big-time college coach get a job in the pros for a very long time now.

I'd like to give my vote to hiring more second-time coaches and fewer college coaches or coordinators. 8 of the last 10 Super Bowls have been won by coaches on their second head coaching stint in the league and 5 of them (2 for Broncos & 3 for the Patriots) were undisputedly won by re-tread coaches.

#41 et al, do you think Aaron is still sick? This seems very late.

Jumping from college HC to NFL HC is like jumping from middle management to CEO. The more appropriate "promotion" would be from college HC to an NFL coordinator or position coach. Most college head coaches are simply unprepared for the hours and expertise required for NFL jobs.

Let's face it, coaching at a major college is ridiculously easy compared to the NFL. A school like Michigan or LSU has major top-notch athletes coming in every year, which are magnitudes better than the ones your opponents have in at least half of your games every year, and you only really have 3-4 "tough" games every year in which you have a chance to lose. Even if you lose all those games, you are still 8-4, big deal, that's usually not enough to lose your job.

Compare that to the NFL, where, even if you have a good team, if you don't wake up at 3AM every day preparing for your next opponent, you can lose to the Dolphins.

Chuck Fairbanks! Left Oklahoma to coach the Pats in 1973, took over a doormat, built a very good team (including the 1976 squad widely regarded as the best in team history before New England started winning Super Bowls) before leaving under bizarre circumstances in '78 to return to the college game.

Interesting that the most successful college coach of this decade jumped to college after 15 years in the NFL, four as a heavily criticized head coach, without any mention in this thread so far. He did spend a few years previous to that as a college assistant, but seems like the most successful recent crossover.

OT, but where's this week's DVOA? Shouldn't it have been out hours ago?

For those of you who have followed Art Blank throughout his Home Depot and now Falcons career this outcome is not staggering.

I worked for the guy for over 15 years and his list of good qualities is endless. Great man and even better business person.

His fatal flaw. Hiring.

Seriously, the list of train wreck disaster employees at Home Depot that Art "had to hire" is miles and miles long.

He just flat out can't see talent at any level and one of the biggest reasons he left HD was the fact that the HD BOD told him that his opinion was no longer valuable when it came to executive hiring decisions.

Bob Nardelli, the ex-GE CEO who left HD much, much worse than how he found it and with $210MM bucks.

Blank had been courting him for YEARS...you can see how that ended.

Vick, Nardelli, Petrino...and the worst part of it...Art is a VERY hands-on leader. You won't be able to pry hiring away from him with any size crowbar.

My guess is that he has to interview anybody who gets hired into the Falcons organization.

It's official. Petrino just quit with 3 games left on the schedule.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7553354?MSNHPHMA

Nardelli was never CEO of General Electric. He was passed over by Welch in favor of Jeffrey Immelt, in what can only be described as a wise decision.

44:

As a college coach myself, I can promise you that they spend all sorts of hours in the office as well. It's a 7 day, 80/90/100 hours per week job during the season.

#46

Great point. It is a little odd to get this far in the thread with no mention of Pete Carroll. I don't think Carroll is coming back to the NFL but I think he might be the only college guy who could get hired at this point if only because he would be a re-tread coach with previous NFL experience.

Regarding Bud Grant's move from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to the Vikings, one of the anecdotes from his hiring gives some perspective regarding how media treatment of the NFL and technology has changed in forty years. When Grant was hired, he was flying in from Winnipeg to Minneapolis, and the Vikings' GM, Jim Finks merely sent one of his assistants to pick Grant up at the airport, but there was one problem. Finks was the only guy in the organization who knew what Grant looked like. When the assistant was told to go pick up the new head coach for the Vikings at the airport, he asked Finks how he would recognize Grant. Finks told him to wait at the gate as the passengers deplaned, and when a guy appeared who looked like the town marshal in a Hollywood western, the assistant would be looking at Bud Grant. So started a Hall of Fame career.

Wow. What epic disarray.

This is fantastic news ... for the Bucs, Saints, Panthers, and whichever AFC division is in line to play the Falcons next year. (And maybe the year after that as well.)

DoubleB, I've heard Jimmy Johnson say that the work load for an NFL head coach is considerably greater than for a college coach, and that the college coach in the off season can have a much easier time of having some sort of family life, whereas the NFL head coach typically has no chance for nearly the entire year.

A guy who would prefer to coach the Atlanta Falcons over Arkansas is either a fool, or has a nuclear-powered jones for competition.

Paul Brown, OSU to Browns. Its gone pretty much downhill since then.

In response to the earlier comments that college coaches should get some pro coordinating experience first, Petrino was QB coach 2 years and OC 1 year for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Not much, but had I been Arthur Blank, I think my first question would have been, "So why'd you leave the pros in the first place?"

Also might have been wary of a guy who had been in 8 different stints with 6 different teams in the space of 11 years once and had never held down with a specific school/franchise longer than four years. He won't be at Arkansas long either.

There have been numerous articles on the work habits of NFL coaches, from John Gruden to Tony Dungy. At the other end of the spectrum you have the Ole Ball Coach who needs to squeeze in a quick 18 holes in every afternoon. I don't think you read to many articles about NFL coaches hitting the links during the week.

Would you rather work 18-20 hours/day for 4M or 8-10 for 2M, plus cars and a house.

Dear Bobby,

You're a man after my own heart.

Sincerely,
Lou (3-10) Holtz

P.S. Did I ever tell you my one regret?

I think coaching in college and the NFL require different skillsets. The football side is pretty similar, but the management side is totally different. College coaches are more of a father figure and need to relate to players that way in order to recruit them. Pro coaches need to relate to players on a man-to-man level.

Also, if you were a recruit, or a parent of a recruit, why would you want to play for, or want your son to play for a coach who resigned less than 24 hours after a Week 14 loss with three games to go in the season, while not even through year one of a five year contract? That really sets a bad example for the young ones.

#42 8 of the last 10 Super Bowls have been won by coaches on their second head coaching stint in the league and 5 of them (2 for Broncos & 3 for the Patriots) were undisputedly won by re-tread coaches.

I'm not sure what you mean by "re-tread". If you mean a coach who had significant head coaching experience at a previous job or jobs, than Shanahan coaching the Raiders for all of 20 games doesn't seem to qualify. He did have a losing record, but he didn't really get a fair shot either.

Well, I am thoroughly flabbergasted. You'd have to be pretty desperate for a NFL head coaching job to interview in Atlanta now. We might as well bring in Jim Hanifan and his grenades for next year.

A guy who would prefer to coach the Atlanta Falcons over Arkansas is either a fool, or has a nuclear-powered jones for competition.

Uh, or prefers the money? Petrino was making ~$5M/year for the Falcons. He'll be making $3M/year for Arkansas.

No way he would've been fired after this year (Vick wasn't his fault), so honestly - coaching in the NFL must suck to turn down $2M/year.

But I have to agree, Petrino and Saban are utter jerks, and I really don't get it. I can't imagine it'd be so bad that I wouldn't give something oh, say, two years to find out if it got any easier.

Hey HD Exec - that was interesting, thx.

Hey Will Allen -

Nardelli was never CEO of General Electric.

Reread the post you're attempting to correct, and you'll see that you're misreading it. Maybe he could have written it a little more clearly, like "ex-GE, ex-CEO" but for an internet comment, it's good enough.

Unless you're a hammer, in which case everything looks like a nail.

So the starting QB for Arkanas next year is .......

Chris Redman!

Bobby Ross was reasonably successful in San Diego after coming up from Georgia Tech.

The idiot Charlotte Observer wants to fire John Fox. Is there any worse home town paper? I do believe that the Charlotte media is worse than the Philadelphia media but with only one tenth the knowledge of football.

'and you only really have 3-4 “tough” games every year in which you have a chance to lose. '

...unless you schedule App State

Callahan went from the raiders to the huskers to be fired this year...
I think Norm Chow should receive consideration, ex-OC from USC, now OC for the Titans, he could accustomed to the pro game.
And how Kiffin isn't named in this thread. He was an ASSISTANT OC for USC last year !!!!

One guy that hasn't been mentioned, who failed to make the transition, is Butch Davis.

Then you have some guys, like Wannstedt and Callahan, who seem to suck at every level. Oh well, there's always high school...

Just a thought,

anyone from here thought about maybe sending an email to the Falcons and seeing if we could get the HC job ala invincible. I thought I might try to be funny and make a joke about the fact that maybe I could do it because I'm from Winnipeg, but then I thought about the fact that, hey, maybe after reading TMQ, not having anything to lose, and the fact that maybe some of us either a) have coaching experience or b) do nothing but play Madden in our Parents Basements. Maybe, just maybe Art would hire us.

Just a thought.

I'm not sure what's more ludicrous, that this joke seems somewhat plausible or the story lines that come from the Falcons. (Or Miami for that matter, maybe you want to apply there first)

- it's late, why can't I get to sleep?

Sorry, I don't think he's leaving this time. He won't leave the South, and we know the NFL won't touch him. Where would he go? Ok, I can think of one scenario: Miles leaves LSU in a couple years for Michigan after whoever they hire turns out to be the inevitable total bust we're expecting, then LSU hires Petrino from Arkansas. But would LSU be that dumb, to take a guy who never stays anywhere more than 3 years, and sometimes not even 1 whole year? Forget LSU, would anyone? Petrino is indeed a weasel, and toxic, and the whole world knows it--which means he's going to be serving out that contract in Arkansas, or retiring young.

If Petrino is successful at Arkansas (and I imagine he will be), there won't be a shortage of college opportunities for him. Even if they recognize he'll likely not linger for more than a few years, the question for them will be "Will the program be in better shape when he leaves than it is now?". For a struggling program the answer is yes.

Now, he may decide he likes it better at Arkansas and stay there anyway, but there will be other opportunities.

"For a struggling program the answer is yes."

Petrino isn't going to leave Ark and go to a worse situation. Of course there will be openings, but Petrino has never left a job for the sake of leaving, it's always been an upward movement (except this time, but I can buy just hating coaching in the pros). Anyway the point is there are only a dozen or so schools that would be a better job all things consdiered than the Arkansas job. So unless USC, Texas, Florida, Ohio State, etc. come calling (and they aren't stupid so they won't), why would Petrino leave?

Hey I know, maybe he'll get sick of having to recruit against the rest of the SEC as well as Texas, realize SEC championships are a little tougher to come by than Big East championships were, and decide to go coach UCLA. Or something.

55:

The D-I college coach does have some "downtime" so to speak after LOI day in early February. At my level, that's not the case. Recruiting won't slow down for me till early April.

The college job does have some definite downtime during the course of the year (summer in particular), while the pro job really doesn't. That being said, some on this board seem to think you show up at 9 AM, leave at the end of practice, and call it a day. I can tell you that's far from the truth at every program I've worked at.

Re: 73

Not sure Louisville would do anything differently. Petrino took their program higher than it had ever been. The recruiting, exposure, and alumni donations that he's responsible for were a terrific boon for the football program. They were in a great position to hire a top coaching candidate when he left and continue at/near the same level. Now it's possible they chose the wrong guy (really too early to tell after just one year) but that's not really Petrino's fault.

A program like Louisville, that doesn't have an elite historical/traditional football program understands that any coach they get that achieves success may not be around forever.

#82
Then that good team was gutted because of the salary cap, had a down season or two and back in the playoffs again.

Dick McPherson!

Richard McPherson!

@DoubleB

I don't doubt the hours one bit, it's how you spend those hours that differs. All that time you spend recruiting is instead spent in the film room or holding meetings with players.

"If I were the NFL I might look at what makes college coaching jobs so much more attractive to people like Saban and Petrino and see if the NFL can do anything to improve the current NFL head coaching situation. To me there is something alarming when guys like Saban and Petrino opt out and other coaches like Hawaii’s and USC’s won’t even consider leaving their colleges."

Its pretty obvious: When you coach a football factory school, you have an alarming amount more talent than your opposition. That doesn't happen in the NFL.

College coaching jobs at football factories are cushy jobs.

Carlos, it's no big deal, but I'm curious as to what "ex GE CEO" means, other than someone who was once CEO of GE. But perhaps it has something to do with nails or hammers or something.

Pat, a job which you are very unlikely to be fired from in the next ten years sounds more profitable than one in which getting fired is quite likely within the next couple of years, even if the second job starts out at million or a million and a half less per year. Factor in a lower cost of living at Arkansas, the greater potential for outside income, if for reasons of greater time constraints in the NFL, if nothing else, and the economic rewards for coaching the Falcons really don't outstrip the economic rewards for coaching the Razorbacks by much, it seems to me.

Chuck Noll used to leave work at 5PM each day, just like a regular job, and did quite well in the the NFL. I happen to think the insane work hours demanded these days in the NFL are harming the league, as innovative thinkers these days are almost all on the college level. Seriously, if it takes this much preparation time to still suck, what's the point? Most businesses, if they were working their employees this hard, would be losing people left and right. The thing I don't get is, why don't teams just hire more coaches to divide the work load more evenly, so their main guys (HC, OC, DC) will have fresh minds on game day? Games are what matters - the HC shouldn't have to sleep on a couch just to watch film over and over and over. That's nuts. Given the choice, I'd take a college job 7 days a week and twice on Sundays - it ain't even a close call. Do you really have to work 120 hour weeks to finish 7-9?

Petrino has NFL coaching experience-he was an assistant in the NFL, he knew what it takes. He had to hate the Falcons job though.

The SEC West is loaded in coaching talent, I am not sure some conferences have 6 coaches as good as the SEC West does as a whole...and that is not even talking about the SEC as a whole.

I will say this much about Saban. The man loves to recruit, absolutely loves it. And as a fan of his current team, I love the fact that he loves it.

Anyway the point is there are only a dozen or so schools that would be a better job all things consdiered than the Arkansas job.

I think you're off by a factor of 4 or so. Arkansas a top-12 coaching position? No way.

#35 - Mooch inherited a good team in SF from George Seifert...can't really give him too much credit, can we?

79:

Dysfunctional administration, dysfunctional locker room, boneheaded GM, starting QB in prison, players who don't respect you... what's not to love?

Seriously, I don't think this move signifies that the college is a better gig than the NFL. It says Petrino was miserable as the HC of the Falcons and DESPITE his history, I don't think anybody can really blame him for quitting this one. Even with a good head coach the falcons are looking at years of rebuilding and there's no guarantee that ownership and front office are willing to be patient. Why not find some place where you're wanted?

HOWEVER, the way Petrino reportedly handled this with his staff and players is inexcusable.

#44: Jumping from college HC to NFL HC is like jumping from middle management to CEO

I dunno. In keeping with the "different skill sets" line of thinking, I think the jump is more about being CEO to COO; in the grand scale of things, the college head coach has far more power and is higher on the hierarchy chart than his pro counterpart, who has to deal with a GM (who, unlike a college AD, is intimately involved in the building of the team). But with that added power come a bunch of CEO, salesman-type responsibilities the NFL coach can safely ignore. The college coach has to be regularly glad-handing boosters (investors) and influential alumni (board of directors), concern himself with NCAA (Securities & Exchange Commission) compliance, and always, always, always be recruiting (purely a sales job), all the while being the sole face of the program.

By comparison, the NFL coach, as his team's details-oriented COO, can instead focus more on whether the third wide receiver knows his routes, and whether his linebacker's balky ankle will be okay for this week's game.

Even the media demands for the NFL coach are different, since he for the most part shares them with the players. Also remember that most NFL cities have other sports teams; even the New York media can't zero in totally on Mangini when Isiah Thomas is there to kick around. In the college game -- especially in the South -- college football is the only sport that is paid attention to. The region's eyes are firmly on the college HC (this goes back to what I said earlier about being the face of the program).

This is not to say that the college coach's job is harder, only that it's very, very different and there is very little overlap between the two worlds. Can't it be said that much of Pete Carroll's success at Southern California is due to attributes that got him fired in the NFL?

To overly simplify it: Coaching in the NFL is about coaching football. Coaching a BCS power is about doing a whole lot of administrative and sales stuff, with a wee bit of coaching football sprinkled in.

If Petrino's contract allowed him an out, Blank has no reason to question Petrino's integrity. On the other hand, if Petrino makes a habit of spewing a lot of happy horseshit to his players and staff about loyalty or commitment, he really is about as scummy as anyone this side of a politician.

A couple of people mentioned Bobby Ross and Callahan as examples of between-level switches. However, Ross was a head coach in college, spent 4 years with Kansas City as an asst., went back to college as a HC, then went to SD.

Callahan actually spent most of his career in college, and I believe was OL/OC for Barry Alverez prior to going to Oakland to coach the OL.

If Petrino's contract allowed him an out, then I don't blame him in the slightest for taking it.

The Atlanta job today is nothing like the Atlanta job that he accepted a little under a year ago - it's a whooooole lot crappier.

Will Allen - what college coach doesn't do that?

I tend to believe most college coaches do, Booker. The point was that if you do employ that rhetoric, and then behave like Petrino, then you are a first class jackass, and everyone should recognize you as such.

I'd also note that the management skills of someone who can work effectively with people who have already received a large percentage of their compensation up front, and are thus also difficult to fire, are a lot more impressive than someone who is able to intimidate modestly compensated eighteen and nineteen year olds, who desperately need playing time in order to market their skills to the NFL.

It is even more impressive when an NBA or MLB coach or manager can effectively work with guys who have 100% guaranteed multi-year contracts.

Petrino's a d*ck. Plenty of people get rewarded while either EXCELLING at being a d*ck or DESPITE being a d*ck.

If it's the former expect Petrino to continue to land well paying gigs with nobody complaining. If it's the latter his time will come. See it all the time. Douchebags like this scramble to the top but eventually someone with a clue and clout goes all Keith Jackson saying, "Whooaaa Nellie" and that person's facade is unmasked for what it is.

Might take longer than some would like. But if he REALLY CAN'T deliver the goods his train will fly off the tracks at some point.

But if DOES win, well, he's golden. Some chump will keep writing a check.

It's an industry all about the W's. Lou Holtz was a carpetbagger of the highest order and now that sleaze is like the national face of college football. Go figure.....

Re: 91

I don't really have anything to add, but I just wanted to say that I really like your CEO/COO analogy.

35: Mooch was heavily rumored to be up for the Michigan State job, but this was just fans blowing smoke. He was never considered, apparently, and if he'd wanted to have been, he would have.

I wonder if the guy is just loving the easy life.

Or, the Lions' job is just cursed.

It sucked for Petrino that the Falcons weren't what he signed on for, for reasons other than injury, but it was ridiculous to watch his news conference last night and think, this guy was coaching on the joke that is MNF not even 24 hours ago. I hope more Falcons are open in their responses about Petrino like DeAngelo Hall.

and for non-SEC or college football fans, here is the storylines of the SEC West:

Alabama-LSU: Saban coached at LSU, left them for Miami...back at Alabama

Alabama-Mississippi State: Croom was an Alabama player under Bear Bryant, had an award named after him, passed over for Mike Shula, went to Mississippi State as the first black coach ever in the SEC the next season.

Arkansas-Ole Miss: Houston Nutt, Arkansas alum, coached them to a couple of SEC championships, had off the field problems, left this season and went to Ole Miss

Auburn-Ole Miss: Tommy Tuberville coached at Ole Miss, told them the only way he was leaving Oxford was in a "pine box" left a couple weeks later for Auburn

Auburn-Arkansas: Petrino was the OC for Tuberville at Auburn, part of "Jetgate" where Auburn adminstrators tried to hire Petrino before Tuberville was even fired.

Should be fun.

Will Allen- "ex GE CEO Bob Nardelli" is just a descriptive phrase. Like if he said "bald CEO bob Nardelli". Nardelli's main qualification for the HD job was his GE experience, so calling him an ex-GE guy fits. It was a good post, from a different perspective, and I enjoyed it.

I have no problem with Petrino jumping ship. In the middle of the season is a bit skeevy, but honestly- the job right now is materially different than the one he signed up for. So he quit. It's ok by me.

Disco, I didn't say it wasn't a good post. I have some interest in GE, so I merely corrected the statement that Nardelli had been selected to be CEO of GE. Really, I'm not trying to beat ths into the ground, but now I'm curious. Can the statement
"ex NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue" be reasonably interpreted as saying that Tagilabue once worked for the NFL in another capacity, but was commissioner of another sports league?

See "ex-NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue" is a poor example, cuz Tags is indeed the ex-NFL commissioner, so it causes you to read it wrong. "ex-GE CEO Bob Nardelli" is meant to be parsed along the same lines as "ex-Nittany Lion RB Michael Robinson"- where he's both a RB and an ex-Nittany Lion.

Parsing further, that would be a poor description of Michael Robinson, because " ex Nittany Lion" is reasonably interpreted by an uninfomed person as a modifier of "running back". The point about Tags is that using the same method of reading that is applied to Nardelli, if "ex GE CEO" is proper, an uninformed person would conclude that it is possible that Tagliabue was employed by the NFL in another capacity, and was at one time the commissioner of another sports league.

Commas are important, as has been said in contract law classes, I would guess. None of this is meant as severe criticism of the original post, of course.

Re: 88

Note I said "all things considered." I realize Ark is not a top 12 job, but when you factor in that he wants to be in the South and is being paid 3 million a year, I think there are only about 12 schools who could better that. In other words, it'd have to be a southern school who puts up an equivalent salary, or a non-southern school who gives him a significant raise or some other benefit (less insane fanbase?). So basically the list is a few SEC schools, maybe a couple ACC schools (Miami if they're not dead already), and the national powers like USC etc.

88: You've never been to northwest Arkansas, have you? Arkansas has absolutely top notch facilities, no in-state competition, a strong sports tradition, a dedicated fan base, and is a member of the SEC.

#76 has it right. 19 wins over the last two years, with sub-par recruiting and a suspect coach. Petrino will do far better.

Check out this as well:

http://www.coacheshotseat.com/CoachingChangesAnalysis.htm

I think that the problem for college coaches who jump to the NFL is that the key to success in college (paying players) doesn't work in the NFL because everyone pays their players.

Re: Marv Levy, he hadn't coached in college for almost 20 years by the time he got to Buffalo. His head coaching job immediately preceding the Bills was with the Chiefs from 1977-82, where he was not very successful. I remember someone downplaying Levy's success with Buffalo by ridiculing his attempt to run the single wing with KC.

Told you all before season start that Falcons new laughingstock of league.

88: You’ve never been to northwest Arkansas, have you? Arkansas has absolutely top notch facilities, no in-state competition, a strong sports tradition, a dedicated fan base, and is a member of the SEC.

The SEC ain't all that, and tradition? How many national championships and Heisman winners?

I'd put 10 of the Big 12 jobs over Arkansas (all but Iowa State and Baylor), 9 of the Big 12 (all but Indiana, Mich State, Northwestern; Purdue is about even), 7 or 8 of the Pac-10, etc.

And sure, he says he wants to stay in the South, but if enough money came calling, he'd leave.

You do realize Arkansas played for a SEC Championship last season? Arkansas is not tradition loaded, but it is not a freaking Kansas.

No one was watching ESPN at something like 1 am EST last night? It was just about the most hilarious press conference I've seen. I have no idea who was in the audience (Arkansas backers?) but they were going crazy... I think his speech to them went something like... "We are going to be aggressive, on offense, on defense. On offense if you can run when you want to run you are successful, if you can pass when you want to pass you can be successful. We are going to run and pass when we want to. On defense, first we'll stop the run, next we'll hit the quarterback. On special teams we will make big plays with speed..." just cliche after cliche... priceless live TV. He mentioned one of his son's is at Louisville, and another daughter at a college that went unnamed (Auburn maybe?).

Then they brought the cheerleaders up and did a live pig-sooey.... man I was laughing at how silly this was for a man who was an NFL coach and on the sideline the previous night. It sounds like his family convinced him that he was much happier as a college coach than a professional coach.

10 minutes later this was followed by DeAngelo Hall giving an interview. He ripped Petrino, and was talking about how he would not respect him if he saw him on the street, the whole team was blindsided, this was a man asking them to buy into his system and then he just ups and quits on the team... awesome, awesome, awesome, trainwreck television lastnight...

Surprised no one else here was able to see it, but I'm out here in the west and man....

Arkansas is not tradition loaded, but it is not a freaking Kansas.

I would argue that it is a freaking Kansas, just one with "AR" on the front.

"I’d put 10 of the Big 12 jobs over Arkansas (all but Iowa State and Baylor), 9 of the Big 12 (all but Indiana, Mich State, Northwestern; Purdue is about even), 7 or 8 of the Pac-10, etc."

That's just plain silly.

What I loved about Petrino's appearance was that he didn't know the name of the largest figure in Arkansas football, while professing to how much he looked forward to becoming his friend. Like I said, if Petrino's contract had an escape clause, Blank has little reason to complain, but if Petrino is one of those guys prone to making speeches about commitment and loyalty to his players, he is a jackass, and any high school athlete or parent of such an athlete should factor that reality when making decisions.

Will, Nardelli was the CEO of GE Power Systems when he left GE.

At GE, Immelt is "the" CEO, but the BU leaders like Rice, Rodgers (I'm dating myself with that name), Hogan, etc. are also formally titled CEOs.

Which is why at GE and in the business world, they are referred to as "ex-GE CEOs". See Nardelli, McNerney, etc.).

RE #114:

The press conference was frickin hysterical, and I'd say Petrino got everything he deserved.

I can't blame Petrino for leaving the NFL -- NFL Head Coaching is tough and more to the point, can destroy your family life. I applaud someone for realizing that and deciding to walk away. I CAN rip Petrino for leaving before the season ends. You can't convince me that there won't be college head coaching jobs out there in 3 weeks.

I don't know anyone who went to Arkansas -- if I did, I'd just have to laugh at them.

112: Like I said, you've apparently never been there. It's not even a bottom tier SEC program, much less a bottom tier Pac 10 or Big 12 school. 116 has it right.

Yeah, HD, so in my pursuit of clear language, I will also rip GE for giving titles which can leave the impression, when parts of the title are lopped off, that the company has multiple people at the highest point in the organizational chart. Stop it, I say!

What is it about sports that reduces men to boys?

Grown men, we are. So why cry about Petrino?

Let's get two things out of the way- I hate Arkansas, and while I think Petrino is a hell of a coach, aside from that I don't care about him one way or the other.

Petrino as the Falcons coach was a disaster. Him leaving was a good move for each side.

Petrino was great for Louisville. Can anyone deny that?

Stop being a ninny- Petrino wasn't married to Louisville. He was an employee there. When he got to big for Louisville, he left. If he didn't win, he would have been shown the door Ron Cooper-style.

I'm sorry. I love this board. But intellectually I cannot FATHOM why such anger is being thrown Petrino's way. The jump from Louisville to the NFL made sense....but he hated the situation he landed in. For whatever reason it wasn't right for him.

So why stay?

COWARD

He was an employee there.

Well, yeah, but it's not like he was a basic cube-dweller. More than most managers, coaches spend a great deal of time preaching the virtues of sublimating one's individual goals to those of the group. When Petrino says "This is a business, I need to do what's best for me", he's going against a large part of what most coaches teach.

Classy move by Petrino leaving a letter in the players' lockers. No sense telling them to their face like a man would. Still debatable though whether this move was less classy than him trying to get the LSU job 15 minutes after Louisville signed him to a huge extension. Arkansas better be ready for him to jump ship, because if they don't see that coming they're even dumber than I think they are.

Hiring a college coach is basically bringing a rookie into the league, no matter how much experience.

Here's what bugs me about Petrino (from a UofL AND Falcons fan). You hear the story all the time of players who when they were rookies in training camp got all depressed. They miss home. They find themselves not the star for the first time in ages. Competition's a bitch.

Usually you hear the story from someone who's a star now, but they talk about how they were ready to call it quits but Daddy or Uncle Freddy talked them into sticking it out.

Petrino wouldn't stick it out. When times got tough, he ran for home.

That's what bugs me about Petrino. Yeah, he had a crappy season. But if you listen to the owner, he acknowledges that and makes it clear that Petrino wasn't being blamed.

If he'd have stuck it out till next year, things would have looked very different. He'd start to establish himself as the coach, and the players who didn't like the way he did things could be gone.

And whoever coach's next year gets to have one heck of a winter shopping season! How much cap money to the Falcons have to go spend with Vick off the books? Lots I'm sure.

Just a thought on coaches.

You can split NFL coaches up like this.

--There's the ones that have proven they can win Super Bowls. A short list. If you got one, keep him.

--There's the ones who seem to have proven they can coach in the league, but haven't won a title. A longer list.

Sometimes none of the above are available to coach your NFL team. Or, maybe if one of the latter is available, you have doubts if he can ever win it all. So, sometimes you have to look outside the club.

Then you got two choices.
--Hire an NFL Assitant.
--Hire a college Head Coach.

Both have risks. Being an assistant is a very different job from being a head coach. Some guys can't make that jump.

And a college coach has a lot to learn about the NFL. Both the football and the way the players and organizations act.

So, which risk do you take if you are the one hiring? I can see why sometimes you take a chance on the college guys.

But everyone, including the college coach, seems to forget you are still bringing a rookie into the league. I think the big problem the college coaches have is that they act like they already know everything. To be successful, they are going to instead have to learn an awful lot about the NFL.

I guess I'd look for someone who's done both. Been an NFL assistant and been a college head coach. That's assuming someone like Cowher just laughed when you called him first.