SWC75
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- Aug 26, 2011
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Yesterday I made a post that contained this paragraph:
"This is probably the most difficult level at which to be a head coach. In high school it's about youth programs, teaching the game and coaching the team. In the small colleges it's about coaching well enough that you win more than your rivals and a player who wasn't quite a D-1 prospect but can play goes to your school instead of them. At the FCS level it's about getting the under-the radar guys who will play against other under the radar guys. If you are BCS but not in the power conferences you can dominate your conference the way Boise State did. If you are a true powerhouse, a "Selector school", you are automatically on the short list of any recruit you contact and you can win most of your games just because you have more and better talent than they do. In the pros, you have adult, professionals who are elite athletes and know how to stay that way. So you concentrate on game plans. If you are in a power conference but not a powerhouse, you are competing against blue-chippers with under the radar guys. You have fans who remember when your school was good and demand that this year's team be as good as they remember. Not many coaches are going to have consistent success at this level."
Today I was listening to Bud and the Manchild. A caller said we ought to get rid of Shafer and hire Tom Coughlin as soon as the Giants fire him. Coughlin has coached on this level before and is a Syracuse guy. He'd get things turned around! Poliquin suggested he's be too old (at 68). Jim Lersh, (the Manchild), didn't think it was a bad idea, (he wasn't advocating that Shafer be fired: he just felt that Coughlin could do a good job here). He cited Bill Snyder who is doing a great job at Kansas State at age 75.
I called in to suggest that Snyder might be an exception to the rule and perhaps it's better to make decisions by the rule, rather than the exception. Coach Mac left for the pros at age 60, in part because opposing coaches were using his age against him in recruiting. Snyder was 51 when he first came to Kansas State and had great success. Thus he he had some carry-over credibility from an earlier stint there. He certainly proves that an older man can do the job. But it's not an easy one.
I called in and basically repeated the above paragraph. Manchild disagreed that this is the toughest level. He said the pressure to win immediately is much greater in the pros and you are going up against geniuses like Bill Belicheck to try to do it. He cited several top college coaches who couldn't cut it in the pros and went back to college with great success, such as Lou Holtz, Nick Saban and Bobby Petrino. I was no longer on the line to suggest that some coaches might prefer dealing with kids rather thanmore independent-minded adults and might prefer teaching to just game planning but Bud, (in general terms) did it for me. He added: "Why don't the many NFL coaches who get fired come down to the college level and make great successes? It's not as if the 32nd best NFL coach is better than all the top college coaches." I think some pro coaches who do come to college find recruiting and keeping track of 85 "kids" to be quite a job and find themselves in over their heads when they step down a level. We've some experience with that here.
So I thought I'd put it to the boards, (some of whom have coached or played the game). Which level of football coaching, (at least head coaching), do you feel is the most difficult?
High School?
Division III (with no scholarships)
Division II
FCS
FBS but outside the "power 5"
Inside the power 5 but you aren't one of the powerhouses
A powerhouse school
The NFL?
"This is probably the most difficult level at which to be a head coach. In high school it's about youth programs, teaching the game and coaching the team. In the small colleges it's about coaching well enough that you win more than your rivals and a player who wasn't quite a D-1 prospect but can play goes to your school instead of them. At the FCS level it's about getting the under-the radar guys who will play against other under the radar guys. If you are BCS but not in the power conferences you can dominate your conference the way Boise State did. If you are a true powerhouse, a "Selector school", you are automatically on the short list of any recruit you contact and you can win most of your games just because you have more and better talent than they do. In the pros, you have adult, professionals who are elite athletes and know how to stay that way. So you concentrate on game plans. If you are in a power conference but not a powerhouse, you are competing against blue-chippers with under the radar guys. You have fans who remember when your school was good and demand that this year's team be as good as they remember. Not many coaches are going to have consistent success at this level."
Today I was listening to Bud and the Manchild. A caller said we ought to get rid of Shafer and hire Tom Coughlin as soon as the Giants fire him. Coughlin has coached on this level before and is a Syracuse guy. He'd get things turned around! Poliquin suggested he's be too old (at 68). Jim Lersh, (the Manchild), didn't think it was a bad idea, (he wasn't advocating that Shafer be fired: he just felt that Coughlin could do a good job here). He cited Bill Snyder who is doing a great job at Kansas State at age 75.
I called in to suggest that Snyder might be an exception to the rule and perhaps it's better to make decisions by the rule, rather than the exception. Coach Mac left for the pros at age 60, in part because opposing coaches were using his age against him in recruiting. Snyder was 51 when he first came to Kansas State and had great success. Thus he he had some carry-over credibility from an earlier stint there. He certainly proves that an older man can do the job. But it's not an easy one.
I called in and basically repeated the above paragraph. Manchild disagreed that this is the toughest level. He said the pressure to win immediately is much greater in the pros and you are going up against geniuses like Bill Belicheck to try to do it. He cited several top college coaches who couldn't cut it in the pros and went back to college with great success, such as Lou Holtz, Nick Saban and Bobby Petrino. I was no longer on the line to suggest that some coaches might prefer dealing with kids rather thanmore independent-minded adults and might prefer teaching to just game planning but Bud, (in general terms) did it for me. He added: "Why don't the many NFL coaches who get fired come down to the college level and make great successes? It's not as if the 32nd best NFL coach is better than all the top college coaches." I think some pro coaches who do come to college find recruiting and keeping track of 85 "kids" to be quite a job and find themselves in over their heads when they step down a level. We've some experience with that here.
So I thought I'd put it to the boards, (some of whom have coached or played the game). Which level of football coaching, (at least head coaching), do you feel is the most difficult?
High School?
Division III (with no scholarships)
Division II
FCS
FBS but outside the "power 5"
Inside the power 5 but you aren't one of the powerhouses
A powerhouse school
The NFL?
