2010
Pete Carroll
USC to Seattle
Grade: A
Carroll is in year 13 with the Seahawks, and just secured his 10th playoff appearance in that span. He won a Super Bowl and lost another on his way to becoming the best coach in franchise history. His ability to adapt and create a culture where he remains relevant and loved by players speak to his ability as a leader.
Where are they now? Pete is still in Seattle and looks to be a Hall of Famer after his tenure is over with a current record of 127-81-1.
2011
Jim Harbaugh
Stanford to San Francisco
Grade: A
Harbuagh was in San Francisco for 4 seasons, making the playoffs 3 times, getting to 1 Super Bowl, and never had a losing season. His record was an impressive 44-19-1 in the NFL before deciding to take the head job at Michigan.
Where are they now? Harbaugh is still at his alma mater and just made his 2nd consecutive college football playoff appearance. Will he be headed back to the NFL soon? Looming NCAA sanctions may play a role in his decision.
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2012
Greg Schiano
Rutgers to Tampa Bay
Grade: C-
During, Schiano’s first season in Tampa he led the Bucs to a 7-9 record. His second season however, they went 4-12, which was enough to get tugged by his short leash and get him fired with an overall record of 11-21. His relationship with, and benching of, starting QB Josh Freeman doomed his time there.
Where are they now? After a couple years out of football and a stint at Ohio State, Schiano is back at Rutgers, where he recently completed his 3rd season.
2013
Doug Marrone
Syracuse to Buffalo
Grade: C
Marrone’s first NFL gig took him to Buffalo where he went 15-17 over 2 seasons. His 9-7 record in year 2 was the Bills first winning season in 10 years. However, he used his “out-clause,” which was triggered by the change in team ownership to end his time with the Bills. He then was a finalist for the Jets job but did not get it. After spending the next 2 years as an assistant with the Jaguars, he spent the end of 2016 as the interim head coach, then the next 4 as full time head coach. Over this time he made one AFC championship but have an uninspiring 23-43 record before getting fired prior to the team hiring Urban Meyer.
Where are they now? After leaving Jacksonville, Marrone coached O-line at Alabama for a year and now occupies the same role for the New Orleans Saints.
Chip Kelly
Oregon to Philadelphia
Grade: B-
Kelly started hot with the Eagles and brought many things to the league which were innovative at the time. He posted back to back 10-6 seasons his first 2 years, making a playoff appearance. His 3rd year would see them go 6-9 before getting fired. Kelly was then hired by the 49ers right away and went 2-14 in his only season with the club before a speedy pink slip.
Where are they now? Kelly recently finished year 5 as the head coach at UCLA. His first three seasons were underwhelming but the last 2 have brought an 8 and 9 win season.
2014
Bill O’Brien
Penn State to Houston
Grade: B+/F…..more on that in a moment.
Bill deserves two grades here, because his time in the NFL was complex. Therefore, we delve into Bill the head coach and Bill the GM. O’Brien the head coach was quite successful. He coached 6 full seasons in Houston, winning the division and going to the playoffs 4 of those years. His record was 52-48, though his last year of 0-4 was poor. O’Brien as a GM was abysmal, and this is what many people who trash him remember more than the coaching. His roster management seemed shortsighted and we only need look at his trading patterns (ie- several of his trades involved a team the Texans played that week) to know where his mind was.
Where are they now? O’Brien is the offensive coordinator for Alabama and has been both the focal point of fan criticism and mentioned for several other head coaching jobs.
2015 – 2018
None
2019
Kliff Kingsbury
Texas Tech to Arizona
Grade: C
If “failing upwards” was in the dictionary, Kliff’s picture would be nearby. He had been fired at Texas Tech, hired as OC at USC, and then the Cardinals hired him as head coach. Presumably because he looked the part. Kliff had zero place getting this job in the first place and it still baffles me he got it. That being said, he could have done worse with the Cardinals. His record of 28-36-1 shows he’s not been great by any means but he did have one playoff season and a decent season before that.
Where are they now? Kliff was shown the door on Black Monday, and his next step is relatively unknown at this point. At least he can ponder it while sitting here.
2020
Matt Rhule
Baylor to Carolina
Grade: D
The Panthers could never find that reliable signal caller at QB which all successful NFL teams need in order to sustain winning over time. They tried multiple guys and gave a few second chances but this never seemed to pan out. The defense is young and promising, but the wins never accumulated for Rhule with Carolina. He went 11-27 and was fired early in his 3rd season.
Where are they now? Rhule was named the head coach at Nebraska not too long ago. He has already shown promising improvements in recruiting.
2021-2022
None
Summary
There are some interesting observations here. Since 2010, there have only been 8 such instances that have occurred out of 91 NFL Head coaching hires, 8.7% of the total. No NFL team has done this more than once over the time period looked at. Only one, Pete Carroll, is still with the NFL team who hired him away.
None of the coaches hired were coming off of a college national title, or even CFP appearance during this timespan. However, five of the eight are currently head coaches somewhere, with O’Brien and Marrone the lone assistants, and Kingsbury out of a job for the moment. Marrone was also one of only two, along with Kelly, who got a second chance as a head coach in the league.
There’s a lot to unpack in these cases here. By virtue of having a head coaching vacancy in the first place, we can assume these men inherited poor situations. That being said, the success does not look great either.
For every Pete Carroll there is a Schiano and Rhule, but that’s true of the league on the whole as well. For every Sean McDermott there is an Adam Gase and Joe Judge.
