3 college coaches who succeeded in the NFL
Making the jump from being a head coach in college football to the NFL is not an easy task. Urban Meyer recently learned that the hard way after being fired by the Jacksonville Jaguars this week. He lasted a total of 13 games.
While Meyer joins a list of individuals who failed to leap from college to the NFL, there are several notable success stories. This explains why NFL teams continue to hire coaches, even with the bad examples out there.
Here are three college coaches who found success once they reached the NFL ranks.
3 college coaches who found success in the NFL
#3 - Pete Carroll
Pete Carroll is an interesting member of this list because he made the jump from college to the NFL after already being an NFL head coach.
Carroll spent one season leading the New York Jets in 1994 and was fired after a 6-10 finish. He was then the head coach of the New England Patriots from 1997-1999 before the dynasty began with Bill Belichick.
Carroll's college glory came at USC, where he won two national championships and seven Pac-10 titles. His tenure there ended in controversy, but he still had overwhelming success. Carroll was then able to land a job with the Seattle Seahawks and was a Super Bowl champion just a few years later.
#2 - Jim Harbaugh
Jim Harbaugh coached at both San Diego and Stanford before taking the job with the San Francisco 49ers in 2011. There was no sense of adversity, especially since the team was in the NFC Championship Game his first year.
Football is funny sometimes. Urban Meyer dominated Jim Harbaugh in college but Jim Harbaugh took the 49ers to a Super Bowl and Meyer was fired with a 2-11 record with the Jaguars.
The 49ers, then, made the Super Bowl during the 2012 season and fell in the Championship Game a year later. For some reason, the 49ers decided to move on from Harbaugh following an 8-8 finish in 2014. They would eventually rebound with Kyle Shanahan several years later, but not retaining Harbaugh was a silly move.
Harbaugh's experience as an NFL quarterback surely helped his transition from college into the professional game. He understood how NFL teams operate and was a winner from the start.
#1 - Jimmy Johnson
Jimmy Johnson has had one of the most fascinating NFL head coaching careers in league history. He spent five years with the Dallas Cowboys and won two Super Bowls, only to leave his post after winning the second. Him and Jerry Jones not being able to get along ruined what should have been a long-term partnership.
Johnson, then, coached the Miami Dolphins for four seasons, making the playoffs three times. This entire career came after a successful career in college with Oklahoma State and Miami. He won a national championship with the Hurricanes and went 52-9 in five seasons with the program.
All Urban Meyer had to do was copy the 1989 Dallas Cowboys. There might not have been a Herschel Walker to trade, but he could’ve followed the Jimmy Johnson playbook.
Franchise QB, draft capital, accept that it would take a few years, believe in his eye for talent, and …
Nope
While his NFL career got off to a rough start at 1-15, the Cowboys had a plan in place and were champions three years later. Johnson was brought in to build a program and did just that. He only had two losing seasons at the NFL level, and those came in his first two years with Dallas.