With Bill Belichick leading the North Carolina program, we aimed to reflect on the coaches who have thrived in both college football and the NFL. Here is our list arranged in alphabetical sequence.
Paul Brown
Brown, the founder of both the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals, was a renowned NFL icon and also made a significant impact on college football. He served as head coach at Ohio State for just three seasons but guided the Buckeyes to the program’s inaugural national championship in 1942. After focusing on the NFL, Brown led Cleveland to three NFL titles — 1950, ’54, ’55, before assuming the Bengals coaching role in 1968. Brown additionally secured four professional titles with Cleveland in the late 1940s within the former All-America Football Conference (AAFC).
Bill Callahan
An excellent offensive assistant coach, Callahan had only two seasons of coaching experience in the NFL, yet during his debut with the Oakland Raiders in 2002, guided them to Super Bowl XXXVII. Nonetheless, various veterans on the Raiders roster opposed Callahan’scoaching approaches. After a 4-12 season in 2003, tensions escalated, and Callahan was dismissed as coach. He reemerged in the college scene at Nebraska, where his pass-oriented offense led to a 27-22 record and two bowl appearances across four seasons.
Pete Carroll
One of three head coaches to achieve victory in both a college football national championship and a Super Bowl. With assistance from Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush, Carroll led USC to national championships for the 2003 and 2004 seasons, as reported by The Associated Press. The 2004-05 BCS title of the Trojans has been officially vacated. Subsequently, he guided the 2013 Seattle Seahawks to triumph in Super Bowl XLVIII. Carroll, returned to the NFL as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, has a record of 170-120-1 coaching the New York Jets, New England, and Seahawks. At the college level, Carroll achieved a record of 97-19 over nine seasons with the Trojans.
Bill Callahan
Gary Rothstein/Icon Sportswire
An excellent offensive assistant coach, Callahan had only two seasons of coaching experience in the NFL, yet during his debut with the Oakland Raiders in 2002, guided them to Super Bowl XXXVII. Nonetheless, various veterans on the Raiders roster opposed Callahan’s coaching approaches. After a 4-12 season in 2003, tensions escalated, and Callahan was dismissed as coach. He reemerged in the college scene at Nebraska, where his pass-oriented offense led to a 27-22 record and two bowl appearances across four seasons.
Pete Carroll
Matthew Maxey/Icon Sportswire
One of three head coaches to achieve victory in both a college football national championship and a Super Bowl. With assistance from Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush, Carroll led USC to national championships for the 2003 and 2004 seasons, as reported by The Associated Press. The 2004-05 BCS title of the Trojans has been officially vacated. Subsequently, he guided the 2013 Seattle Seahawks to triumph in Super Bowl XLVIII. Carroll, returned to the NFL as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, has a record of 170-120-1 coaching the New York Jets, New England, and Seahawks. At the college level, Carroll achieved a record of 97-19 over nine seasons with the Trojans.
Chuck Fairbanks
Fairbanks did not win the championship as a college or professional coach, yet experienced significant success in that position at both levels. At Oklahoma, Fairbanks led the Sooners to a 52-15-1 record from 1967 to 1972, clinched three Big Eight championships, and won the Sugar Bowl twice as well as achieving an Orange Bowl triumph. From that point, Fairbanks tested his fortune in the NFL, leading the New England Patriots for six seasons, achieving a record of 46-39 from 1973 to 1978. He also guided the team to two postseason appearances (1976, ’78), the first for the franchise since the AFL-NFL merger. Fairbanks additionally coached for three seasons at the University of Colorado.
Jim Harbaugh
Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK
Harbaugh, now in his second tenure as an NFL head coach, has nearly achieved the dual feat of winning both the national championship and the Super Bowl. He recorded a 44-19-1 record over four seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, marked notably by the 2013 team reaching Super Bowl XLVII, where they lost a close game to Baltimore. In the meantime, during his college career, Harbaugh secured 114 victories while coaching at San Diego, Stanford, and Michigan. Naturally, he eventually overcame the obstacle when the Wolverines were declared national champions of the 2023 season.
Jimmy Johnson
Another addition to the roster of coaches who have achieved both a college Division I-A national championship and a Super Bowl. Johnson earned recognition in Miami, Fla., where he frequently matched the boldness of his players. He achieved a record of 52-9 over five seasons with the Hurricanes and led them to the 1987 national championship. In the NFL, Johnson’s initial team with Dallas had a record of 1-15 in 1989, but three years later, he led the first of consecutive Super Bowl-winning teams. Johnson came back to South Florida, coaching the Miami Dolphins (1996-’99), during which he reached the playoffs three times.
Chip Kelly
Matthew Visinsky/Icon Sportswire
We will present the case that Kelly merits inclusion on this list. He truly experienced success at Oregon, achieving a 46-7 record and securing two Pac-12 championships, along with a Rose Bowl, from 2009 to 2012. Kelly then sought to leverage that success in the NFL with Philadelphia, where the Eagles finished 10-6 and claimed the NFC East in his inaugural season of 2013. The Eagles finished the next season with a 10-6 record, yet missed the playoffs. Following a disappointing 2015, Kelly switched to San Francisco, where his reputation suffered due to the 2-14 record in 2016. That brought Kelly back to college at UCLA, where he had a record of 35-34 and earned a spot in threebowl games from 2018-’23.
Leave a Reply