Difference in coaches??

I've coached with a few coaches who have coached in the NFL and D1; for the most part they knew their football (techniques, X & Os, etc). But I have known plenty of HS coaches, who never coached a game above the HS level, who knew as much football as those who had coached at higher levels. I've also known a few guys who coached at college who had a relatively limited knowledge of football.

To be certain, there is a greater amount of X & O knowledge and variety of technique required on a regular basis in the NFL compared to most HS teams; but its nothing that can't be learned or that requires some special talent to grasp.

Honestly, I don't think there is much of a difference between 90% of the coaches out there in regards to ability and capability. So much of where you end up is how much effort you put forth, how much crap are you willing to go through to get there (you gonna GA and work for free for a couple years), and of course who you know. Former NFL players get coaching jobs because they already know who to talk to to get a job.

The fans (and NFL and a lot of CFB coaches) would tell you different.

That doesn't mean it's true, but we all know that guys who have coached (or maybe just played) at higher levels can pretty much get any HS job they want because it's assumed they are just more knowledgeable and better than everyone else because of their "pedigree."  Everyone expects them to be miracle workers.

A while back I saw Mike Sherman speak at a clinic.  He'd come out of retirement after being HC of the Green Bay Packers (was 57-39) and Texas A&M (25-25 record) to take over a HS team.  He went 4-18 in 2 years.  He's far from the only guy to have that kind of rough transition.

It's way more about WHO you know that WHAT you know when you're trying to climb up that ladder. You obviously have to know your stuff if you're going to make it at the college and NFL level but you need to be networked with coaches at some pretty high tiers if you're going to make those kinds of vertical moves.

I have been to many FCS and FBS level spring practices as I get quality drills and tips from those college coaches that are willing to share. At those practices, I have been privy to many coaches that were very technical and knew their positions inside and out. I got great information from those guys. But... I have also seen my fair share of coaches that I wasn't impressed with, for a variety of reasons.

I watched the spring practices at an FCS school that went to the semi-finals the next year and was amazed that their WR coach had made it to that level. I watched his drills and he was all over the place with the WR alignments, stances, footwork on routes, breaking points on routes blocking technique, etc..etc.. "On our 'one' routes (should be a one step slant) we will break at one step with out inside foot up against man-man, we will break at 5 yards or three steps, whichever comes first with our outside foot up against zone!!" The players were so friggin' confused, it was ridiculous.

To make matters worse, he'd grab a kid that would make a mistake (because he wasn't coaching for chit) scream at them and then send them on a run.

I was telling a younger assistant on our staff that he could find just as much useful information in a free webinar run by a good high school coach as he could by paying out the teeth to listen to a FBS speaker at a clinic. A good coach is a good coach; it's pretty simple math.

And, yes, coaching at the college or NFL level is a whole different animal. I imagine the coach I described in my earlier post was one helluva recruiter and that was how he kept his job. They had some serious talent at their WR positions.

I can attest to this.

I had a buddy who took an NFL position coach job a while back; one of his players was a surefire HOFer whereas my buddy had only coached as high as a position coach at D1. The HOFer called him out in his first positional meeting claiming "he'd forgotten more football" than his new coach knew. 

My friend stood his ground, pointed out some techniques the HOFer used a decade back (showing he knew his stuff), and how when the HOFer is off filming commercials during his off time he'd be breaking down more film of the opponent and getting his reports ready so the player could succeed (showing that he could help the team improve). The player backed down and soon they were all on the same page.

Now this guy had just been hired off the staff of a top 20 FBS program and still had to defend his abilities right off the bat. For many people, they care more about your resume than your abilities.

I know the Coach who has replaced Mike Sherman. 
He is currently 3-3. 
His background involved 3 consecutive trips to his previous State's 4A (large school) finals or semi-finals.

Coaching High School kids is an entire different deal than coaching on the next levels. There are endless intangibles of teaching and coaching adolescents that are not going to occur at the upper levels. And although the distractions are present at all levels, you do not have the competition for attention and focus that you will with the high school age athlete. The leverage I have with the kids is their love of the game, and dedication to their team.

For the college level athlete, it is what keeps them in school. The coach has leverage that way.
For the Pros, it is their JOB. At that level it ceases to be "just a game". It is an incredibly competitive, physically intense, high risk, high paying career with a very limited career time span, somewhere between  2 and 4 years.

The other significant differences are time and resources.

I sincerely doubt that the majority of High School Coaches spend as much time on each individual nuance of technique that they do in college and the Pros. Some of those skills are refined down to a gnat's ass. I'm more concerned with things like my kids getting into a proper stance, the basic fundamentals.

And they don't have the video resources available at the higher levels. To that end, Hudl and the internet has made evaluation and access to resources easier than ever. And not too many High School Coaches are going to be able to spend 10-12 hours per day working on their information.

I have been to many clinics, and I have walked out of lectures when the coaches start talking about things that my kids can't do, or I don't have time to teach. 

The best clinicians for High School level football are High School Coaches, or guys that started out coaching High School ball, not the guy who went D1 and then worked as a GA for Famous Coach so and So at Enormous State University. 
Our realities are different.

1,000,000% This

There was a story in a book about Saban when he was in Miami. During some practice he went nuts on the defense and told them to line up for gasers or something. A DL went and got water and sat down. Saban started flipping on him cussing at him and all. DL said it's in my contract Nick that I don't do extra or punishment running. Saban kept screaming saying calling me coach Saban. Player said okay Nick and called him Nick all season. That's what you deal with in the NFL so you better understand that more than the X and O's to coach in the league.