ESPN Clayton: Petrino, Saban a chilling effect on college coaches to NFL

[WoodysGirl]

A chilling effect: The horrible way Bobby Petrino misled Falcons owner Arthur Blank in quitting his job and going to Arkansas won't necessarily close the door on college coaches coming into the NFL, but it will slow that process to a halt. Nick Saban was a failure at Miami and was wise to go to Alabama after two years with the Dolphins. Petrino struggled communicating with NFL veterans and seems more at home in the control-oriented college game. The door from college to the NFL will never be completely shut. If the right jobs are there, Pete Carroll of USC and Kirk Ferentz of Iowa would get chances. After that, though, the chances of other college coaches coming to the NFL are slim. NFL coaches do not have the control over their players college coaches can enjoy.

Pro-Am inequity: One thing the NFL does need to look into is how unfair it is to have colleges going after NFL coaches during their seasons. Thanks to the Rooney Rule, NFL teams have a structured way of hiring coaches. The search can't start until after the season. Minority interviews must be built into the process. Proper contacts must be made if a team is going after a coach of another team. Let's say it takes three weeks after a season for an NFL team to find a head coaching replacement. That puts the hiring to the third week of January. To have a Bobby Petrino be contacted and have a contract in place on Dec. 11 sets the Falcons back because it will take them another month to reorganize the direction of their team. College can come after NFL coaches in December without penalty. NFL teams can't go after college coaches until the first of January. There is an inequity there that needs to be discussed.

 

[burmafrd]

Colleges are under no obligation to do anything the NFL wants.
The NFL can say no one can talk to a coach but who is going to listen. That will just make interested NFL coaches hide things more.
I can understand the colleges position: recruiting is so important and waiting untill late Jan to go after a coach means that recruiting year is shot.

 

[lurkercowboy]

"won't necessarily close the door on college coaches coming into the NFL, but it will slow that process to a halt."

???

 

[WoodysGirl]

"won't necessarily close the door on college coaches coming into the NFL, but it will slow that process to a halt."

???

Badly worded, but I think he means that it won't stop some owner from hiring a hot college coach, but it's not going to happen anytime soon.

 

[CrazyCowboy]

Poor Falcons......I am starting to feel bad for them.

 

[sago1]

There's gotta be a way to stop colleges from going off an NFL HC while season is still ongoing. You all can say what you want but how would you like it if one of these colleges went after Garrett, signed him and he abruptly w/o warning quit the Cowboys maybe just before one of our next games. Don't know about you but I would be really ticked off. If I'm Jerry, I'd figure some way to sue Garrett & the college.

The NFL does have some options. Right now we don't draft college players unless they meet certain criteria. Well, if colleges can hire NFL HC or any other NFL coach, maybe it's time to change that rule. Maybe that will stop colleges from "tampering". If the NFL wants to get nasty, it could even sanction a college/unversity by refusing to allow any football player from then school to be drafted for next 5 years. Might be harsh but the threat might force both the NFL and NCAA to set down and come up with some rules.

 

[StanleySpadowski]

If anything, this is going to keep college coaches from wanting to go to the NFL.

The money from the NFL isn't significantly higher, at least not enough to change a lifestyle, and the headaches with dealing with the NFL players just isn't worth it.

A quality college coach would be stupid to look towards the NFL. They have much more control over everything, from disciplining players to filling the roster on the collegiate level.

 

[sjordan6]

Well it is first pretty understandable why a college coach would want to come to the league. If you have noticed, normally a college coach coming to the league is usually after some significant success and their ego allows them to think they can duplicate that success in the NFL. They soon realize that it is not that easy to win games in the NFL (0 and one loss season no longer exist) and the culture of players is so radically different. Soon they realize that the NFL too many puzzles where the exact pieces have to be created.

Whats ironic about the whole college-coach-to-the-NFL-then-back-to-college thing is how much the ex-NFL coach value rises within the college circle. His NFL experience, although a brief-frustrating experience, is worth gold to these college presidents who are looking for wins and a coach with an edge. Spurrier, Sabab, and Petrino all come to mind. Dave Wandstatt (sp) loss in the NFL and has not had alot of success at the University of Pittburg but he was given an extention a fews weeks ago.

My point is that the Commissioner is probably fuming right now at how all this went down and I'll bet my dog that the next Owner's Meeting will address this so it never happens again. Sure, Petrino is taking a public lashing, as he should, for quitting his team, lying to his boss, and accepting a job and holding a press conference all in the same day, but it should never be allowed to get to that. Thats beyond unprofessional but should become a civil matter. Imagine how the coaches feel. A new coach will definitely want to hire his own staff and think of all the families who will have to move and find a new job (if they can) because of him. It sucks!

 

[Nightman]

Nobody was crying for Blank when he stole Petrino from Louisville. He is just another hypocrite just like when Huzienga took Saban from from LSU. It's just business.