Are college coaches racing to the NFL because of the overbearing workload with a non-stop recruiting calendar?
On Thursday, Keary Colbert became the third Florida assistant coach to leave for a job in the NFL in the last two days, forcing Gators head coach Billy Napier to make multiple hires less than two weeks before spring practice.
The exodus of Gators staffers to the league, coupled with prior coaching movement in the 2022-23 cycle, has led many in the industry to wonder aloud if college football’s overbearing recruiting workload — with prep prospects and the transfer portal — is driving coaches in droves to the NFL.
Most agree that college football’s crammed calendar in December, coupled with its seemingly never-ending open and quiet recruiting periods, has led to loud cries for change. The calendar was a hot-button topic at the AFCA Convention in January, and while many agree the schedule demands are “killing coaches” and “is not sustainable,” there’s little consensus on how to best fix the problem.
As I wrote last month: Everybody admits everyone is overwhelmed right now, but everybody only wants to act in their own self-interest, too.
“You talk to 10 different coaches and you get 10 different opinions,” TCU head coach Sonny Dykes said.
Right now, the recruiting calendar has too few dead periods and way too many days where college coaches are either on the road evaluating prospects or hosting visitors (officials, Junior Days, etc.). The grind never stops, either.
If coaches aren’t hosting recruits, they’re likely on the phone with them. Or playing video games with them. Or sending them DMs on Instagram or Twitter.
They’re recruiting sophomores, juniors and seniors, plus their own guys in college just to stay in the program rather than enter the transfer portal.
And yet, this is where the famous Mad Men line bares repeating: “That’s what the money is for.”
For now, the notion that more and more college coaches will race for jobs for the NFL is mostly intuitive and anecdotal.
Sure, a lot of coaches would love to coach in the NFL, but this is a supply and demand issue, and the data doesn’t scream, “Mass exodus.”
Yet, at least.
In the last two coaching carousel cycles — so taking into account the introduction of NIL and the transfer portal — the number of FBS coaches to leave for the NFL:
2022: 18
2023: 17 (so far)
The work-balance lifestyle for NFL coaches is absolutely better than college coaches. They get a real offseason, and when they’re off, they’re off.
NFL assistants can go home, put down their phones and go to the park with their kids. College assistants may have the leave the lake on an “off day” because a prospect made a last-minute visit to town.
But many college football assistants have their $500,000 job BECAUSE of their strong ability to recruit.
In the NFL, coaches have to be tacticians, teachers and schemers. They don’t give a damn how great you are at reeling in 5-star prospects.
That’s not to say many college assistants aren’t really good at developing players or coaching Xs & Os, but those attributes are equal (or lower in many cases) on the job requirement scale.
As one agent said, “the barrier to entry (to the NFL) is still strong.”
Again, there are only so many opportunities available. So even if more coaches want NFL jobs because of the CFB’s ridiculous recruiting calendar, thus far, the sample sizes aren’t big enough to suggest it’s a budding trend of assistants leaving one industry for another.
Who has made the jump so far this cycle?
Alabama offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien (Offensive coordinator with the New England Patriots)
Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken (Offensive coordinator with the Baltimore Ravens)
Florida wide receivers coach Keary Colbert (Wide receivers coach with the Denver Broncos)
Florida co-defensive coordinator Patrick Toney (Defensive assistant with the Arizona Cardinals)
Florida tight ends coach William Peagler (Defensive assistant with the Arizona Cardinals)
Troy offensive line coach Cole Popovich(Assistant OL coach with the Houston Texans)
Northwestern cornerbacks coach Ryan Smith (Cornerbacks coach with the Arizona Cardinals)
Utah State defensive coordinator Ephraim Banda(Defensive assistant with the Cleveland Browns)
Indiana receivers coach Adam Henry (Receivers coach with the Buffalo Bills)
Stanford offensive line coach Klayton Adams (Offensive line coach with the Arizona Cardinals)
Cincinnati offensive coordinator Tom Manning (Tight ends coach with the Indianapolis Colts)
Boston College defensive coordinator Tem Lukabu (Outside linebackers coach with the Carolina Panthers)
North Carolina cornerbacks coach Dre Bly (Cornerbacks coach with the Detroit Lions)
North Carolina tight ends coach John Lilly (Tight ends coach for the Carolina Panthers)
Oregon offensive line coach Adrian Klemm (Offensive line coach with the New England Patriots)
Former FAU head coach Willie Taggart (Assistant with the Baltimore Ravens)
Western Kentucky defensive line coach Kenny Baker (Assistant defensive line coach with the Miami Dolphins)
Headliners among the 17 coaches include former NFL coordinators Todd Monken, Bill O’Brien and Oregon OL coach Adrian Klemm. All three had spent time coaching in the NFL before. Same for Tom Manning and John Lilly. Toney, formally Florida’s DC, is considered an Xs and Os wiz.
Of the coaches mentioned, only Klemm and Lilly, who has bounced back and forth from college to the NFL, were regarded as top-flight recruiters. Dre Bly was a solid recruiter for North Carolina, but as a former longtime NFL player, his return to the league is a unique situation. Same for a guy like Willie Taggart.
Also, while there are obviously many more available jobs in college football compared to the NFL, plenty of coaches have left the league to return to CFB across the same two-year span, too.
2022: 25
2023: 19 (so far)
Among the notables this cycle, include former Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who left LA for Kentucky in 2021, went back to the Rams in 2022 and is now back with the Wildcats for 2023. Ra’shaad Samples was the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator for Sonny Dykes at SMU in 2021, and then he joined the Rams’ staff as their tailbacks coach in 2022. Samples is now back in college football as a part of Kenny Dillingham’s inaugural staff at Arizona State as the Sun Devils’ receivers coach and passing game coordinator.
Ultimately, a fair share of college coaches wanting NFL jobs isn’t new.
What has changed — with the early signing period and the transfer portal — is college football’s recruiting calendar has only gotten worse. The demand on coaches is at an all-time high, and what is certainly true is it’s time college football addresses the issue.