with another so called great callege coach failing miserably in the pros, adding Saban to the infamous list that includes the likes of Steve Spurrier and even Lou Holtz, it got me wondering, who is the most succesful college coach to make it in the pros. granted, I don't have much knowledge in this area, but the only one I could come up with is Dennis Green, who went from being very good at Stanford to the Vikings, where he had tremendous success over a long period of time, winning several division titles and making two championship games. could this be correct? is Dennis Green the most succesful coach to make the transition? is he just what we thought he was?!?
Dennis Green did spend 3 years as an NFL assistant coach before going back to college coaching at Stanford, so it's difficult to know how to define the terms here. If being an NFL assistant beforehand doesn't disqualify you, I would say that the most successful NFL coach who came directly from a college head coaching job was a different Stanford head coach, Bill Walsh.
I think he's actually a much better choice than Green or Walsh, since he had no NFL experience before becoming head coach of the Cowboys.
Just throwing some names out there. Paul Brown- National title at Ohio State in 1942. Won multiple titles with Cleveland Browns in 1940s (in AAFC) and 1950s (in NFL). John McKay- four national titles at Southern California, first coach of Buccaneers. Dick Vermeil- head coach at UCLA in 1974 and 1975; won '76 Rose Bowl John Robinson- won national title at Southern California; coached Rams to NFC Championship Game. Pro Football Hall of Famer Sid Gillman coached at Miami (Ohio) from 1944-47 and Cincinnati from 1949-54. Later coached Chargers to AFL title. Coached Oilers in 1970s. Gillman was the line coach for Red Blaik's Army team in 1948. Vince Lombardi was an assistant there from 1949-53.
Paul Brown was 18-8-1 as coach of Ohio State and was so popular that they named the pro team he took over after him based on a poll in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He then won the only four AAFC titles, and three NFL titles (with three losses in NFL title games). (Edit: Cakes mentioned him while I was doing my research!) Maybe the question should really be who is the most successful to enter the league in the last 50 years?
In the modern era, it'd have to be JJ, and maybe that's just because I remember him patrolling the UM sidelines more than I remember Bill Walsh at Stanford. Ron Meyer didn't have a bad run at Indy. Not great, but not bad. I've never understood the whole Denny Green fanclub thing, but I guess he counts. A strange one would be Barry Switzer. Came from a Oklahoma with two national championships, coasted with JJ's team to a Superbowl ring, and then fell off the planet.
