There has been a lot of talk regarding Ken Whisenhunt as the next head coach for Georgia Tech football. In that regard, I wanted to take a look back at NFL coaches who were primarily involved in the pro game that came to college to try their hand. I am focusing solely on those who spent the majority of their careers in the NFL, so I will not be focusing on coaches like Nick Saban, Jim Harbaugh, or Steve Spurrier who tried their hand at the pro game before coming back to their collegiate roots. My time frame will be the last 20 years:
- Al Groh (Virginia 2001-2009: 59-54) - Prior experience as a head coach at Wake Forest (26-40 record), where he averaged a 4-7 record over 6 years and only had 1 winning season. Spent 1 year as the head coach of the Jets where he went 9-7 after a decade of being an NFL assistant and coordinator. Came back to Virginia where he averaged a 7-6 record in 9 years, going to 5 bowl games (won 3) with 5 winning records over that span. He went 8-16 over his last 2 years and was fired after a 3-9 record in 2009
- Chan Gailey (Georgia Tech 2002-2007: 44-32) - We all know how this went, but I'll summarize here again. Spent his first few coaching seasons in the collegiate ranks, becoming the head coach for 2 years at Troy State (19-5) and 1 year at Samford (5-6), but spent the next several decades as an NFL assistant and head coach. He spent 2 seasons as the head coach for the Cowboys where he went 18-14, and went 16-32 in 3 seasons as the head coach for the Bills (which was after his stint as HC at GT). Despite that, he had been a head coach in college before, so he was at least more experienced than most that make the NFL to CFB transition. He averaged a 7-5 record in 6 seasons at Georgia Tech, going to 6 bowl games (winning 2). He went 16-10 in his last 2 seasons at Tech before being fired in 2007
- Bill Callahan (Nebraska 2004-2007: 27-22) - Started as a collegiate assistant but spent a decade in the NFL shortly thereafter, becoming the head coach of the Raiders and leading them to a 15-17 record over a span of 2 years before being hired to succeed Frank Solich at Nebraska. He averaged a 7-6 record in 4 years at a program that had averaged 10 wins under his predecessor. He went 14-12 over his last 2 years and was fired along with the athletic director after a 5-7 record in 2007
- Dave Wannestedt (Pittsburgh 2005-2010: 42-31) - Spent several decades as an NFL assistant and head coach, leading the Bears to a 40-56 record over 6 years and the Dolphins to a 42-31 record in 5 years. Was hired by Pittsburgh where he averaged a 7-5 record in 6 years, going to 3 bowl games after a slight adjustment period. He went 17-8 over his last 2 years and resigned after a 7-5 record in 2010
- Charlie Weis (Notre Dame 2005-2009: 35-27, Kansas 2012-2014: 6-22) Came to Notre Dame with a claim that his superior offensive mind would provide Notre Dame with a "decided schematic advantage" over the rest of college football. His first two seasons started well as he compiled a 19-6 record with 2 straight BCS bowl appearances. In 2007, however, his record fell to 3-9. He was fired after going 13-12 in his final two seasons. He was hired by Will Muschamp to be the OC at Florida and directed the nation's 102nd ranked offense. He was hired to replace Turner Gill at Kansas but was fired after going 3-9 in his third year.
- Jim Mora (UCLA 2012-2017: 46-30) - Spent just about his entire coaching career in the NFL including 2 stints as head coach, leading the Falcons to a 26-22 record in 3 years and the Seahawks to a 5-11 record in 1 year. Was hired by UCLA where he averaged an 8-5 record over 6 years, after going to 4 bowl games (winning 2 of them). After starting out hot, he went 9-14 over his last 2 years and was fired after a 5-6 record in 2017
- Lovie Smith (Illinois 2016-present: 9-27) - Spent the first few years of his career as a college assistant before spending 2 decades as an NFL coach, including 2 stints as the head coach. He lead the Bears to an 81-63 record in 9 years and the Buccaneers to an 8-24 record in 2 years. He was hired as the head coach for Illinois in 2016, and has averaged a 3-9 record over 3 years. He was publicly retained after this year, where he posted his best record at 4-8
- Herm Edwards (Arizona State: 2018-present: 7-5) - Spent several decades as an assistant or head coach in the NFL, and the last decade as an analyst for ESPN. As an NFL head coach, he led the Jets to a 39-41 record over 5 years and the Chiefs to a 15-33 record in 3 years. He was hired by Arizona State after a decade away from coaching in what was unveiled as a "CEO model", which was publicly ridiculed at the time. He has gone 7-5 in his first year and will play in a bowl game
The coach I find the single most interesting in terms of his similarity and tenure is Jim Mora. I believe Ken Whisenhunt models after him the most of any of the above. Mora was only a graduate assistant in college before embarking on an NFL coaching career, very much like Whisenhunt. Jim was reasonably successful in his first stint as a head coach but dropped off soon thereafter, much like Ken. The only difference in their careers really being the locations and the fact that Mora spent his time on the defensive side of the ball rather than the offensive
What intrigues me the most about Mora were his final few years at UCLA. He started off hot, going 9-5, 10-3, 10-3, and 8-5 in his first few years. But he wasted a premier quarterback talent in Josh Rosen, and left a depleted roster that Chip Kelly has to overhaul due to poor recruiting. Mora went 4-8 and 5-6 in his last 2 seasons at UCLA, and it wasn't looking like it was going to get any better. I fear this too could happen with Ken Whisenhunt at the reigns
There is plenty of data that shows that good college head coaches have a tough time adjusting to the NFL (Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier, Greg Schiano, and plenty of others), but there is also substantial data that supports the reverse transition. NFL head coaches have trouble figuring out the recruiting landscape of college football (Herm Edwards said that was the single biggest hurdle that he didn't expect when he took the Arizona State job), and have difficulty implementing certain schemes that work in the pros but do not work in the college game. Most former NFL coaches also lack innovation in their schemes and do poorly against teams that have better talent (whereas some coaches are far more competitive in those games than their peers that worked in the professional game)
The data leads me to a conclusion that Ken Whisenhunt would unfortunately be unsuccessful in his tenure at Georgia Tech were he to be hired. Nevertheless, I would continue to support Georgia Tech regardless of results, and I urge everyone to do the same, regardless of who is hired as the head coach. I apologize for the lengthy post, but please post your thoughts below - I would love to hear and discuss them
(Edited to include excerpt on Charlie Weis from
@flounder)
