It can. Intellectually, it's more status. But on a practical, living your life basis, a college HC lives his life with more relative status to those around him, more authority, more autonomy, than an NFL HC.
Oh, no doubt, looking at it from a practical standpoint, someone like Saban is in the cat bird's seat, but even he left for the NFL.
But the fact still remains - it's the absolute top of the mountain, some people aren't going to be satisfied with being "almost" the best, how many times have we seen NFL players hold out signing a new contract just so they can have the highest annual salary, or highest bonus, or highest total contract. Or they play longer than they should because they don't have a SB, or only one. Payton Manning comes to mind, he had a SB ring, and was risking a lot with his neck playing longer, but Eli had 2 rings, Aikman 3, etc. SOME people might discount his career because he had "only" one SB, even though his stats and stature in the NFL made him one of the all time greats. Yet he played on.
Brees has a ring, and lots of NFL passing records, yet it's not enough. Jerry Rick played on past his prime so he could put the passing records so far ahead of everyone else that it'd be near impossible for anyone to catch up.
I'm not saying every coach wants that top position, a SB win, just that even though it's overall a better job, being a top college coach isn't the very pinnacle of success, as many, if not most, people see it. A coach may just have the burning desire to prove he can coach at the very highest level....
