The names of three coaches who coached college football and then took a stab at coaching a team in the NFL. All three failed at the position of NFL Head Coach and headed back to college. I won't go into "how" they left their coaching positions, as enough ink has been spread on that subject, especially regarding Sabin and Petrino.
Why was it so hard for these exceptionally talented coaches to make the grade in the NFL?
Well, let's examine one very critical aspect of being a coach: leverage.
What is probably THE key point of leverage a coach has with his players? The ability to sit the player down.
The way it works in college, players choose the school. They know ahead of time what kind of "system" the football team uses and they know something about the coach. So they go into this with some element of self-determinism. And when it comes to playing time, I would imagine every college football player WANTS to be on the field. With the very talented players, they HAVE to be on the field. Why? Well, if they're not playing, then the NFL scouts are not seeing them. A college player that has his sights set on playing in the NFL is absolutely determined to showcase his talents. And you can NOT showcase your talents on the bench.
So, from a leverage point of view, the college football coach has LOTS of it. This is not to say every college player wants to be on that field solely because of the need to prove their worth to pro football scouts. But I think it's safe to say that those college players who do have a pro football career in mind -- these players are not super eager to rock the boat.
How much of this very same leverage does an NFL coach have? Certainly some, but I submit NOWHERE NEAR the amount a college coach has. A pro football player can be benched and he is still going to make an enormous amount of money. Whether he plays or not. If a pro football player wants to mouth off to his coach, he can pretty much do so without anywhere near the downside if the college player attempts the same. The pro player has made it. He's there. He's got the big money coming in. And most people know that it's an awful lot easier to fire the coach than it is to "fire" the player.
So leverage is a factor.
Yes, a pro player can be fined and he can even be suspended. But when you are working your butt off to put all the pieces together so that you can HAVE a pro career, your willingness to be a team player and stay on the same page as the head coach is very high. That same willingness has dropped to some degree when the player turns pro.
I am not saying that every pro player has this reduced willingness. There are a tremendous number of professional football players who take their job seriously and work extremely hard to play their very best and be a real team player. But there are some who do not have this "professional" viewpoint. And these guys grate on the coach and they grate on their fellow players.
It's just a bit tougher for some professional athletes to put in the same intensity when they've "arrived."
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