Moving the Chains: Boomerang Effect of Coaching

By Scott Ludwig, [email protected]

Rich Rodriquez did it.  So did Mack Brown.  And Scott Frost.  Greg Schiano as well.  

And don’t forget Bobby Petrino – as if any Atlanta Falcon fan ever could.

All five of them left their respective head coaching jobs – at West Virginia, North Carolina, Central Florida, Rutgers, and Louisville, respectively – in search of greener pastures.

As if they could find any pastures greener than the ones where they were already the top cows … and could graze wherever they chose to their hearts’ content.  

At the time they left, all five coaches were running highly successful programs, essentially set for life.  

So what did they do?  They left for the supposedly  greener pastures of Michigan, Texas, Nebraska, and for Schiano and Petrino, the NFL, respectively. 

(Apparently Schiano and Petrino failed to notice how Steve Spurrier and Nick Saban, 

respectfully, fared in their short stints with the Washington Redskins and Miami Dolphins.

If they had, they may have stayed where they were.)

Take a look at what they all left behind:

• Rodriquez was on a 32 – 5 roll in his last three years with the Mountaineers before jumping ship.

• Brown was on a 54 – 18 run in his last six years with the Tar Heels.  

• Frost had just completed a perfect 13 – 0 season with the Golden Knights.  

• Schiano turned around a downtrodden Golden Knight program by compiling a 49 – 28 record in his final six seasons with the team.  

• Petrino perhaps generated more excitement them the other four coaches in his four years with the Cardinals, compiling a record of 41 – 9 capped off with a win in the Orange Bowl.        

It all begs the question: why leave a program where, in the eyes of its supporters, you virtually  walked on water? 

Think about it: if you had a job paying top dollar and were surrounded by people serving as your collective genies in a bottle (‘your wish is my command’), would you ever leave?  Of course not.  

But here’s the kicker: eventually, they all came back to  the programs they left. 

Sort of like really slow-moving boomerangs.

Or, like a bad habit you just can’t quit, depending on your perspective.  Consider: 

• Mack Brown, despite winning a National Championship with Texas, eventually lost his job in the Lone Star State because of an impatient group of boosters.  A few years later, he returned to Chapel Hill – where he eventually lost that job, too.  

• Petrino, infamous for the ‘Dear John’ letter he left for his players in the locker room when he was the coach of the Atlanta Falcons, returned to Louisville … and was subsequently relieved of his duties for a host of reasons, any one of them a whole lot worse than what he did to the Falcons.

As for the other three:

• Rodriquez spent just three season with Michigan (15 – 22) , followed by six years at Arizona (43 – 35), and three years at Jacksonville State (27 – 10).  It’s no wonder he opted to return to Morgantown. 

• Frost was 16 – 31 in 4 ¼ seasons with Nebraska before his alma mater decided it was best for the two of them to go their separate ways.  And it’s no surprise he jumped at the chance to return to Orlando.  The job even came with a built-in bonus: Central Florida is now in the Big-12 … and Nebraska isn’t.    

• In the *five years since Schiano returned to Rutgers, his record is 26 – 34.  Also, since he left the program, Rutgers became a member of the Big Ten.  Thus far, the Scarlet Knights have only won 13 games against conference opponents his second time around.  

*I only learned Schiano’s been at Rutgers since 2020 when I recently

 spotted him on the sideline during some obscure bowl game.  

Then again, in my defense, I watch Rutgers play football

 about as often as I walk on the moon.

Unlike the other coaches, Schiano likely isn’t asking himself why he ever left Rutgers in the first place.

He’s probably questioning why he ever decided to return. 

College football coaches: you might want to write that last part down.