Special Feature: College Football Requires Coaching, Not Just Playcalling

I got the idea for this from the radio last week. I usually listen to Mike and Mike on ESPN Radio. If you’re like me, you know that show has about 20 minutes per hour of actual talking, the rest being filled by seemingly endless commercial breaks. It’s not that bad though, as it gives me plenty of time to tune in to other sports radio shows. In fact, if it wasn’t for commercial break No. 386 on Mike and Mike last week, I never would have gotten the idea for this post. Thank you, Steve Czaban of The First Team on Fox, FSR XM 142.

Czaban argued with his co-hosts that the NFL is a horse’s league, meaning the players run the show and everything depends on them. Their points were made very clear and solid. Names like Mike Martz, Charlie Weis and Mike Nolan were thrown around, nearly proving the fact that NFL coordinators are way over-hyped. I couldn’t agree more.

But in college, coaching is everything. How many times have we seen big time coaches take a horrible program and get it on track within a few seasons? Bill Snyder at Kansas State? Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech? Some will say that the biggest difference between college and pro ball is parity. Others will say that college ball is coming along, and 2007 was a great example of the growing parity. I think 2007 was a fluke, and parity is a long way off, if you’re going to compare it to the parity that thrives in the NFL.

What if Drew Bledsoe never got hurt in 2001? Tom Brady would have remained the backup—yes, backup. Where would the Patriots be right now, if Brady never got the nod? I can’t say exactly, but I would bet a pretty penny that Brady, Vrabel and Belichick wouldn’t have a handful of Super Bowl Rings. What if Terrell Owens didn’t go to the Cowboys? You’re going to tell me that Terry Glenn and Patrick Crayton would pick up that sort of slack? It’s all about who’s on the NFL rosters.

I find it hard to believe that Charlie Weis will ever win a national championship at Notre Dame. I don’t mind the Irish. I actually rooted for them when Ty Willingham was there. Now, it’s a different story. The elite in South Bend, with no real evidence that Weis could coach at the collegiate level, showered the man with a contract like none other—at least, that early in a coach’s tenure.

What did Weis do at New England? He won with the best team. And don’t give me “They beat the Rams.” The Rams were all offense, and the Patriots only scored 24 points. After that first Super Bowl win, the Patriots were on auto-pilot. I think Weis was given a little bit too much credit for “his” offense. If Weis was the wheel that turned the engine, then why didn’t that Patriot offense go into the tank after he left, or at least slow down a bit.

Fast forward to 2005. When Weis landed in South Bend, he inherited a plug-and-play team. He had a Heisman contender in Brady Quinn, and two huge receivers that gained more than 1,000 yards each that season. It was perfect for a “Charlie Weis Offense.” It’s easy to make up all sorts of crazy, complicated plays when you’re working with NFL-calibers players, as Weis did at Notre Dame in 2005 and 2006. Keep in mind, Weis had two full seasons to lean on those players—Willingham’s recruits—while he built up the kind of depth that would suit his offensive preferences.

Fast forward again, to 2007. Weis has had two full seasons of top-10 recruiting classes, with the best talent coming in, outside of Southern California. One could argue, Notre Dame has brought in more talent in two classes than most schools recruit in a decade. I’m talking about four and five-star guys across the board.

Super-recruits like 2006’s James Aldridge, Sam Young, Demetrius Jones, Matt Carufel, Raeshon McNeil, Eric Olsen, and 2007’s Jimmy Claussen, Armando Allen, Duval Kamara, Matt Romine, Andrew Nuss and others. Oh yeah, and about half of those players mentioned were offensive linemen and all of them were offensive players. Notre Dame finished dead last in offense in 2007. But don’t even consider yet the kind of class that Weis is bringing in for 2008. It’s not even signing day and he’s got three five-stars, and fifteen—yes, fifteen—four-stars.

Any half decent college coach would have been able to win eight or nine games in 2007. But with or without the hundreds of excuses given by the Notre Dame fanbase, it was still horrible coaching that doomed the Irish in 2007. Sure, the defense was okay over the last half of the season, but not enough to overcome the epic struggles of the offense. Charlie Weis never realized that college isn’t nearly the NFL. I think he started to take the hint when his Irish team lost to Navy for the first time since Roger Staubach’s time under center. But watch, Weis will stockpile enough talent to mask his coaching deficiencies. He'll win 10 or 11 games consistently, but he'll never make it over that hump. Winning championships requires a good coach, not just good players.

Switch gears now and think of someone like George O’Leary, Mark Mangino, or even Jim Grobe. Where have they taken UCF, Kansas and Wake Forest? Two BCS bowls and fielded the nation’s leading rusher. Five years ago, those teams were laughing stocks. But it was the coaching that got them to the level they’re at now. I know, recruiting is everything in college football. That’s true, but how then do you explain Notre Dame’s 3-9 record? It’s not like they just missed at 6-6 or 5-7.

Go back to even 1989, when Steve Spurrier was only known for his Heisman Trophy. That was before he stepped into Gainesville, where a Gator program had been established for years, and the recruits would give anything to play in sunny Florida. He took a pathetic Duke program and turned it into a regular winner. It wasn’t exactly Miami or Florida State, but the Blue Devils won the ACC that year. The Blue Devils have had one winning season since Spurrier left. Their overall record from 1990 to 2007 is 43-160-1. Oh yeah, they lost that 1994 All-American Bowl.

You can’t just expect your players to do their jobs in college the way they do in the NFL. And it’s because of that one word that separates the two sports—job. It’s Tom Brady’s job to win the Super Bowl. It’s Randy Moss’s job to catch a gazzilion passes. For guys like Jimmy Claussen and Sam Young, it’s still just a game. Certain coaches who think going from the NFL to college is easy are usually given a rude awakening, probably once they realize just how good you have to be at coaching, not just calling the plays.