NFL coaches Bill Belichick and Herm Edwards took over college programs, and Urban Myers, a great college coach, took over an NFL team. Outcomes are the same. The coaching crossover experiment doesn’t work.
During the off-season, UNC rocked the football world by hiring the legendary Bill Belichick as the new head football coach. The arrival of Belichick in Chapel Hill was met with excitement and high expectations. Belichick was previously the head coach of the NFL’s New England Patriots from 2000 to 2023, during which he led the Pats to six Super Bowl Championships, the record for most by a head coach.
Photo courtesy FOX News
The season started with UNC taking a 48-14 loss to TCU. Back-to-back wins against Charlotte and Richmond followed this, but back-to-back double-digit losses to UCF and Clemson followed that.
The on-field issues are just the tip of the iceberg of the mounting problems for “Chapel Bill.” Sources close to the program have told news outlets about a “toxic culture” already building at UNC. Elsewhere, the NCAA is investigating UNC for recruiting violations that occurred under Belichick’s leadership. On October 9, ESPN confirmed that the school has suspended cornerbacks coach Armond Hawkins for his involvement in said violations. Reports are also circulating that multiple assistant coaches have begun looking for jobs at other schools.
Meanwhile, even more reports have made the rounds that both Belichick and UNC are already weighing possible buyout options. Particular attention has been brought to the clause in Belichick’s contract that allows him to pay the school a $1 million buyout to pursue opportunities in the NFL or in media. Rumors began to spread that Belichick might not coach the team’s most recent game against Cal. Although those rumors turned out to be false, the Tar Heels still lost 21-18.
Belichick isn’t the first NFL coach to land in hot water after taking over a college program. In 2018, former New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs head coach Herm Edwards was named the head coach at Arizona State. This hire raised eyebrows because Edwards’ only previous coaching experience at the college level was as an assistant back in the late 1980s at San Jose State.
Photo courtesy AZ Central
Herm Edwards led the Sun Devils to a 7-6 record in 2018, an 8-5 record in 2019, and 2-2 in a season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, reports began to surface alleging NCAA recruiting violations at Arizona State during 2020. It was claimed that Edwards had hosted recruits on campus in 2020 during a dead period, a breach of the rules put in place by the NCAA to keep everyone safe and healthy during the pandemic.
The investigation went on throughout the 2021 season, and multiple ASU assistant coaches were placed on administrative leave. Once the season ended, multiple assistant coaches resigned, and 17 players left ASU via the transfer portal. Among those players were quarterback Jayden Daniels and wide receiver Johnny Wilson. Each would go on to have a great career at LSU and FSU, respectively. Despite all of this, Edwards remained at Arizona State until the 2022 season, when he was fired after the Sun Devils lost 30-21 to Eastern Michigan.
Ultimately, the NCAA found substantial evidence supporting the allegations. On May 11, 2023, it issued a show-cause penalty against Herm Edwards. NCAA schools are barred from hiring him unless they can prove to the NCAA why they should be allowed to do so.
I tell the story of Herm Edwards and Arizona State because I see some very stark similarities to the situation at UNC. In both cases, you have a tenured NFL coach taking a college program with zero head coaching experience at the college level. And in both cases, you mentioned that an NFL coach is getting in trouble for violating NCAA rules regarding recruiting.
I don’t think that is an accident; I think it is a trend. I think these NFL coaches came to these schools thinking they were above the law and the NCAA because of what they may have done at the next level. It has to be that or a blatant ignorance of the NCAA policies.
I don’t think NFL coaches should be allowed to take over a college program unless they can demonstrate to both the interested school and the NCAA a clear and fundamental understanding of NCAA rules and regulations. But I feel the inverse of this is also true, and there’s a story to back that up as well.
Urban Meyer is often regarded as one of the best college football head coaches ever. He won three national championships as a college football head coach, two at Florida in 2006 and 2008, and one at Ohio State in 2014. In 2021, he was hired as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL. There was general excitement among Jaguars fans, but issues began before he even coached his first game in the NFL, when he was fined $100,000 for violating off-season practice rules. Once the season started, the Jaguars started 0-5. While the product on the field was bad, Urban Meyer found himself in hot water off the field. A video surfaced online of Urban Meyer inappropriately touching a woman in a bar in Ohio.
Photo courtesy Sports Illustrated.
Elsewhere, players and coaches in Jacksonville became critical of Meyer’s treatment of them, with some even calling it “college stuff” on December 15, 2021. Jaguars kicker Josh Lambo accused Meyer of physical abuse. Lambo stated that Meyer kicked his multiple during warm-ups before the team’s final preseason game. When Lambo told Meyer to stop, Meyer told Lambo that he was the head coach and would kick him “whenever the *expletive* I want.” Urban Meyer was fired by the Jaguars the next day after less than one season.
College football and the NFL are different animals, each with its own governing body, rules, and regulations. Coaches who wish to cross that threshold need to be aware of the differences, and schools and NFL teams need to ensure a coach understands what he is getting into. Otherwise, the crossover isn’t going to work.
For my money, I think it makes sense for it to stop. Period.
