With an eye on Kliff Kingsbury, who makes his NFL coaching debut against the Detroit Lions, a look at college coaches who made the leap from Saturdays to Sundays. Some thrived while others were busts.
Steve Spurrier
Steve Spurrier was a great college coach. That made Washington believe he could do the same on Sundays. It didn’t pan out. In two seasons, Spurrier went 12-20 and was out.
Bobby Ross
Bobby Ross left the college ranks to become coach of the San Diego Chargers. In five seasons, he went 47-33. He then took over the Detroit Lions in 1997 and went 27-30.
John McKay
John McKay was a legendary college coach at USC. One of the all-time greats. He was too tempted by Tampa Bay and went to the Bucs for their expansion team. McKay coached the first nine seasons for Tampa, including the first year when the Bucs went 0-14. Overall, McKay went 44-88-1.
John Robinson
Another USC coach who moved from college to the pros was John Robinson. He left the vaunted Trojan program for the Los Angeles Rams. Robinson was their coach for nine seasons and went 75-68 with five seasons of 10 or more wins.
Pete Carroll
Pete Carroll deserves an asterisk. He coached in New York and New England before going to USC. After creating a terrific program with the Trojans, he made the leap back to the NFL. Carroll is currently coaching the Seahawks and has won a Super Bowl and almost made it back to back.
Marv Levy
Marv Levy had an unsuccessful run in Kansas City after his college coaching career, going 31-42 in five seasons. He moved to Buffalo in 1986 and coached 12 seasons with marvelous results. Levy went 112-70 and led the Bills to four consecutive Super Bowls.
Bill Walsh
“The Genius” was exactly that on the pro level. He coached the Niners for 10 years after leaving Stanford. Walsh had a long journey to the head coaching job for the Cardinal. He then moved to SF and was brilliant, going 92-59-1 in 10 seasons with three Super Bowl victories.
Don Coryell
Don Coryell made the leap from San Diego State to the St. Louis Cardinals. He went 42-27-1 in five seasons with St. Louis before returning to San Diego — with the Chargers. Air Coryell lit up the passing lanes and the coach went 69-56 in nine seasons in SD.
Tom Coughlin
Tom Coughlin was one of the most successful college coaches to go to the pros. He help build the Jaguars into a contender and then went to the New York Giants, where he won two Super Bowls. Overall, he was 170-150.
Dick Vermeil
Dick Vermiel left the comfort of Westwood and UCLA for the NFL. He spent seven seasons in Philly, going 54-47 and making opponents respect the Eagles. In St. Louis, Vermeil was 22-26 … oh but he won a Super Bowl. He then went to Kansas City for four seasons and was 44-36.
Nick Saban
Talk about someone who never should have left school. Nick Saban left the comfort of college for Miami. The decision imploded as he went 15-17 and never felt comfortable with the Dolphins. He has had a wee bit more success in his return to college … at Alabama.
Chip Kelly
Chip Kelly built a juggernaut at Oregon. His fast-paced attack worked for two 10-6 seasons in Philly. Then, the bottom fell out and the Eagles went 6-9 and Kelly was off to SF, where he went 2-14 in one season.
Jimmy Johnson
Jimmy Johnson was a champion on the college a pro level. He was the mastermind of Miami in the college ranks and then went to Dallas, where he won two Super Bowls. Johnson spent five years in Dallas, going 44-36 — that includes a first season of 1-15. After an NFL hiatus, he went to Miami and was 36-28 in four years with the Dolphins.
Barry Switzer
Barry Switzer was a college legend at Oklahoma. He was 40-24 in four seasons with the Cowboys, winning a Super Bowl in his second year.
Paul Brown
One of the great coaches of all-time, Paul Brown had success at Ohio State before heading to the pros. Brown was 18-8-1 with the Buckeyes and 213-104-9 with seven championships in the AAFC and NFL.
Jim Harbaugh
Jim Harbaugh coached at Stanford from 2007-10. He followed Bill Walsh’s move from The Cardinal to the San Francisco 49ers. Harbaugh was 44-19-1 in four seasons with SF and lost a super Bowl to his brother, John, and the Baltimore Ravens.
Lou Holtz
Lou Holtz was not meant to be an NFL coach and he will tell you that. He left college for the New York Jets and the Big Apple. It was a bad mix and Holtz was done before his first season was finished.
Butch Davis
Butch Davis was a college assistant, then worked with the Dallas Cowboys, became head coach at Miami from 1995-2000 before becoming head coach of the Cleveland Browns. Davis was 24-35 in three-plus seasons in Cleveland. He returned to college and is currently at FIU.
Dennis Green
Dennis Green spent 13 seasons in the NFL after a career in college coaching. He coached the Vikings for 10 seasons, going 97-62, and then was 16-32 in three years with the Cardinals.
Dennis Erickson
Dennis Erickson has coached in many places. He had two NFL runs, going to Seattle in 1995. He lasted four seasons there, finishing with a 31-33 mark. He coached the Niners for two years, winding up 9-23.
Bobby Petrino
An utter disaster saw Bobby Petrino leave college coaching for the pros. The Atlanta Falcons didn’t get a full year out of Petrino, who never seemed to regain his magic after the run in the ATL.
Bud Wilkinson
Bud Wilkinson was 145-29-4 as a college football coach. The step up to the NFL was nowhere near as successful. He went 9-20 with the Cardinals.
Kliff Kingsbury
The Cardinals need to hope Kliff Kingsbury has more success in the pros than he did in college. Kingsbury was 35-40 in Lubbock with three consecutive losing seasons.
