Falcons Coach Petrino Quits; Signs with Arkansas

[RiggoDrill]

Who was the last successful college coach?

You already stated it, Jimmy Johnson. Unless you want to count Barry Switzer - although I would give a great deal of the credit to Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson for Switzer's NFL success. It is rare for college head coaches to find success in the NFL. As someone stated earlier, it's not really about football intelligence, but more about management style and people skills.

I have been trying to think of college coaches who had success in the NFL, and my list is painfully short and certainly open for debate. John MacKay coached very successfully at USC before taking over the expansion Buccaneers. After an 0-26 start, he had that team in the NFC championship game in their 4th season.
Other than Mackay, I can only think of failures - Lou Holtz, Butch Davis, Pete Carroll, John Robinson, Rich Brooks to name a few.

Petrino was in a bad situation from the start, the Falcons are a bad football team with a history of underperformance, so it was going to take a few years at least to get that thing pointed in the right direction.

[freddyg12]

This is tough to call in a way. If he feels he is really not cut out for the job & the nfl, maybe it's the honorable thing to walk away. Of course, he chose to walk away once he got another job.

He deserves some heat for it, but this Atl. team I believe is the worst in football, worse than the dolphins who seem to play hard & have been in a lot of games.

From reading about Vick over the years & his attitude in the locker room, I believe his situation polarized this team much more than is evident. YOu saw Crumpler & R. White w/their Vick support the other night. I think Vick had a handful of friends on the team, but otherwise a lot of them didn't respect him & thought he was too selfish.

ESPN said that there was a bet among some teamates whether Vick would play last year after he got slightly injured (don't remember the injury). The story made it clear that some teamates spoke anonymously that he was not a team guy.

His troubles probably exacerbated all of the falcons locker room tensions. D. Hall ran his mouth this year too. He's a problem, but the funny thing is that he is to be a free agent this year. They could let him & other jackasses walk. Maybe Blank wouldn't let Petrino do that?

[firstdown]

No one knows what was going on with him, his family, and anything else which could have caused him to make this dicision. Its not like he is jumping ship for more money and he is actually taking a pay cut of about 2mil per year. That fact alone tells me that he was very unhappy in the NFL. He had the chance for the Ark. job but he had to move quickly to get the deal done. I think he had to make a tough personal choice which he really did not want to just walk as he did. Sometimes in life you have to make decisions that is in the best interest of your family and yourself.

[FRPLG]

Originally Posted by firstdown

No one knows what was going on with him, his family, and anything else which could have caused him to make this dicision. Its not like he is jumping ship for more money and he is actually taking a pay cut of about 2mil per year. That fact alone tells me that he was very unhappy in the NFL. He had the chance for the Ark. job but he had to move quickly to get the deal done. I think he had to make a tough personal choice which he really did not want to just walk as he did. Sometimes in life you have to make decisions that is in the best interest of your family and yourself.

Yeah but you still need to handle it with class. Not a single thing he did showerd any class. He could have held a news conference and explained why this was best for everyone involved. Explained why it wasn't working. He could have met with his coaches and helped them formulate a plan to go forward. Instead he just walked away. He took his ball and left. It's not the quitting that irks me. It is the complete lack of desire to do right by the organization and all the players and coaches that worked for him. What an ass.

[Monkeydad]

I guess contracts are no longer legally-binding documents.

These coaches should have to take SOME kind of financial hit to get out of these contracts. Petrino has now signed 3 contracts adding up to 20 years in the last year.

[FRPLG]

What becomes increasingly more clear to me by the day is that a head coach in the NFL needs to be a manager first and football guy second. This league is all about getting your guys to play and execute your scheme. So many moving parts and when one breaks down then all is lost. If a HC can get his guys to play for him together then whether or not he is a great Xs and Os guy is almost irrelevant.

You look at a guy Like Belichek. He obviously knows how to push his guys' buttons because they, for years now, have been the best team in the league yet they always play with a chip on their shoulder. Somehow he has these guys believeing that no one respects them and that motivates them to win. Even now they 13-0, clearly the best team in the league, and yet they still act at times like they think no one respects them. He is a great Xs and Os guy but more importantly he has those guys playing together for him.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by FRPLG

What becomes increasingly more clear to me by the day is that a head coach in the NFL needs to be a manager first and football guy second. This league is all about getting your guys to play and execute your scheme. So many moving parts and when one breaks down then all is lost. If a HC can get his guys to play for him together then whether or not he is a great Xs and Os guy is almost irrelevant.

You look at a guy Like Belichek. He obviously knows how to push his guys' buttons because they, for years now, have been the best team in the league yet they always play with a chip on their shoulder. Somehow he has these guys believeing that no one respects them and that motivates them to win. Even now they 13-0, clearly the best team in the league, and yet they still act at times like they think no one respects them. He is a great Xs and Os guy but more importantly he has those guys playing together for him.

He's definitely a master motivator. He undoubtedly used the cheating scandal as ammo for this season.

[Big C]

i really dont blame him. he signed for the team assuming theyd have vick, probably the main reason he signed with them.

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by Big C

i really dont blame him. he signed for the team assuming theyd have vick, probably the main reason he signed with them.

Granted Vick wasn't sentenced until Monday, but it's not like he hasn't known for months now he wouldn't have Vick. Bottom line, there's a right way to do things and Petrino didn't do it that way.

[skinzaholic73]

what a pathetic loser! It's one thing to quit at the end of the season but that is a cowardly,classless move! I hate quitters no more NFL for you!!!

[redskinsfanatic]

i guess ole artie blank has a really sore ass now aye?first the vick situation and now this!

[redskinsfanatic]

Other than Mackay, I can only think of failures - Lou Holtz, Butch Davis, Pete Carroll, John Robinson, Rich Brooks to name a few

do'nt forget the ole ball coach himself steve spurrier!did'nt parcells come into the league from being a college coach?

[FRPLG]

Originally Posted by redskinsfanatic

do'nt forget the ole ball coach himself steve spurrier!did'nt parcells come into the league from being a college coach?

He was head coach at Air Force in 78 before becoming Def Coord for the Giants. I think Perkins was their HC then.

[Dirtbag59]

I sware coaches seem to be really good at one things these days......feeding us bullshit. I use to love watching the SEC coaching shows before class a few years ago on FSN. I've never seen a show display so little enthusiasm not to mention minimal use of the english language.

"Yeah that was good play."
"Yeah hes playing hard right now hes having a good year."
"Coach your 0-6 how do you feel about that?" "Well its a position we don't want to be in but we've done some good things over the pass couple of weeks."

Personally I didn't have a problem with the way the coach portryated their teams. What I disliked was putting someone in a position to give an opinion when you know that they can't tell you anything of value. Alright now I have no idea why I brought that up but I still stick to my original point.

[prinzeofmoval]

who cares about them anyway.....besides who wouldnt quit you signed on thinking you'd have the most explosive player in football to lose him..then lose 10 out of 13..its not getting better anytime soon this or next year so opt out....flipside though it sucks for all these teams when coaches leave the team hanging..i.e. the nick saban rule