The Golden Road to becoming a NFL Head Coach

It’s been a while since I published a comprehensive entry. I thought tonight was just the night to get this blog back on the right foot. What I wanted to discuss tonight is the growing direct correlation between being a head coach in NCAA division 1 football ultimately leading to promotion to a National Football League coach and whether this natural progression has permanently started to exceed the notion that football people had for years, that being that the best way to become a head coach in the NFL was to serve time as a coordinator.

In America, College Football has never been bigger and according to many bloggers and experts out there, it’s popularity in the deep south has exceeded that of professional football. Why is that you ask? Is  it because of the offensive schemes that are employed compared to the everly dull schemes that professional coordinators seem to tackle opposing defences with? You watch a Saturday afternoon college game and you’ll more often than not be witness to a 45-42 score unless of course Alabama is on the tube, which in that case you’ll expect to see a 42-0 game in Bama’s favor because Alabama always possesses as close to a NFL defence as humanly possible without actually being one. Sporting fans like to see points racked up, and as I mentioned earlier when patrons consistently see close to one hundred points a game tallied up, it’ll reel  more viewers in because high scores and offensive creativity go hand in hand with higher ratings.  I raise these points to make a case for why you’re seeing more and more coaches hired on straight from the NCAA.

The NFL is ultimately a business. The objective from team owners and management aside from winning football games is to create high revenue. Over the years what team owners have begun to realize is that although winning 6-3 accomplishes a main goal, nine point games aren’t going to pack their barn. By bringing offensive minded, creative coaching staffs what has happened is that it has captivated there fan bases and sparked more attention across there market. There’s no doubt that such hirings as Rutgers Greg Schiano going to Tampa Bay prior to the 2012 season, or Marrone from Syracuse being flocked up to the city that American hockey prospect Emerson Etem once dubbed America’s most boring city, that being Buffalo and the most recent hire the Eagles made, bringing in Chip Kelly have offence written all over it. Kelly for example was the recipient of employing the most prolific offence in college ball with the Oregon Ducks. What do all of these coaches have in common? It’s sure not having a defensive wizard moniker, it’s offensive students of the game who owners have brought in to sell tickets.  Do you honestly believe the Buffalo Bills have a shot to make the playoffs under Marrone? Frankly the Jamaicans have a better shot of winning Ice hockey Olympic gold then that happening. 

To you use an example of where a coach may have taken the backwards approach in the evolutionary coaching tree is close to home in our Country, Kent Austin now with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Prior to being named General Manager and Head Coach in Hamilton, Austin was the head coach at Cornell University. Potential monetary increases aside, I ‘m of the theory that this lateral move has hurt Austin’s chances of landing his coveted NFL gig. I know the audience is reading this scratching their head(I’m used to it) proclaiming that someone from the CFL JUST got hired to be  a NFL head coach in Marc Trestman. Apples and Oranges. The average fan will not know that prior to his Alouettes post, he had a multitude of experience south of the border having done some admirable with the likes of Hall of Famer Steve Young and future Hall of famer Cam Newton. Back to Austin, he doesn’t hold the same NFL cards that Trestman had which is why he would’ve been better served staying at Cornell, biting the bullet for a few more years and I’m sure at that point the NFL would of came calling.

To summarize, any young prospective coaches out there who have NFL head coaching aspirations, when debating on whether to accept a position as a NFL coordinator or a NCAA head coach, take the latter option as the long term gain will certainly be on display for the minimal term pain.