We often long for what was once great. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. The largest growing trend in college football coaching is to bring in great former players with very little to no college coaching experience, in the hopes they will be as great as a coach as they were as players. However, the results rarely live up to expectation.

The track record of great former players becoming coaches does not have a high success rate. While this is not a new idea, teams keep taking a crack at it. Despite a staggeringly bad rate of success.

Mike Ditka was an all-pro tight end that took the Bears to a Super Bowl as a coach. Larry Bird is arguably a top 10 player all time, and he won a coach of the year award on his way to leading the Pacers to an NBA Finals appearance. While there are some success stories, there are far more that fail to reach those levels.

Players turned coaches doesn’t guarantee success

In college football, there has been an uptick in hiring former players and none of those have rendered recent results. Yet this week, former NC State quarterback Phillip Rivers has accepted the NC State head coaching job and Robert Griffin III will interview for the open Baylor job.

Deion Sanders might get credit for starting this trend back up again, but those results are anything but great. Between his time at Jackson State and Colorado, Sanders is 46-33. With 27 of those 46 wins coming at Jackson State. At Colorado, Sanders is 20-27 with more than half of those wins coming in the 2024 season.

Sanders jump from the HBCU ranks has led to several other players getting similar opportunities. Former Ohio State and Tennessee Titans running back Eddie George has a 24-22 record between Tennessee State and Bowling Green. Former Cal and NFL receiver DeSean Jackson is currently 14-8 with Delaware State.

However, some of these hires are falling well short of expectations. Even with a small sample size. Virginia Tech legend Michael Vick is 5-17 with Norfolk State. Ed Reed was expected to take over the head coaching duties at Bethune-Cookman, but that ended before it began. Even hall of fame running back and member of Sanders’ coaching tree Marshall Faulk has had a less than smooth start with Southern.

Utah never wavered and stayed the course

When it became apparent that longtime head coach Kyle Whittingham had decided to leave the program, the Utah Utes could easily have reached out to former players who maybe have an interest in coaching. Alex Smith and Eric Weddle are two names that immediately come to mind.

Instead of reaching towards a hype hire, Utah stuck with their plan. Seven years ago, long before Whittingham considered leaving, Morgan Scalley was internally named head coach in waiting. Then, after a short period, they re-designated that title in 2024.

Former player hires are almost always accompanied by hype. Fans remember how great they were as players and naturally expect similar results as a coach. The hype aspect bought time. Fans are less likely to be critical early because the former player in question is given a grace period non-legacy hires would not get.

There is an excitement that comes with fans dreaming of what could be. At Colorado, the hype behind Sanders lasted over two years. That was followed by a 3-9 season and their current season with the same win total through nine games. In year four, Colorado fans are wondering how much longer Sanders will last in Boulder.

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Conversely, Utah is in a very different situation. There was no hype surrounding Scalley on any national level. Utah’s aim was to continue being the program they already were, with a name that was not new to the culture. A mere passing of the same baton, one might say.

Utah is worried about winning games, conference titles and competing in the College Football Playoff. They are not concerned with media optics and fan hype. Whether Sanders can turn it around or Rivers will be successful is still a wait and see proposition. What the No. 2 Utes are doing has a track record of success that far exceeds former great players turned coaches.

Source: Yahoo Sports