Alex’s Search for Redskins Head Coaching Candidates, Part 2

November 21, 2019

by Alex Zeese

In part one of my breakdown of potential head coaching candidates, I focused on current NFL defensive coordinators whom I’d consider if I were in the shoes of Redskins management. In part two here I’m going to just look at college coaches.

A lot of people seem to think the Redskins should steer clear of college coaches. We all remember what a disaster Steve Spurrier was in his time here in D.C., and for every Pete Carroll that we see succeed in the NFL, there are far more who can’t make the transition from the NCAA to the NFL. Even the great Nick Saban was just 15-17 in his two years with the Miami Dolphins. I do think that there’s a route to success from college to the NFL. Anytime fans talk about a college coach coming to the NFL, they like to focus on big names, for example Saban who I mentioned before, or Urban Meyer. Sometimes it’s the hot new “system” coach like Chip Kelly. But I don’t see those men as the kinds of coaches who are likely to have much success in the NFL. Often their strength is in recruiting, not schemes or talent development, and that’s what I’m more interested in looking for – coaches who re-built a team with lesser talent. Who brought guys in and filled their heads with grit and work ethic and found success that way? Let me start with a homer name.

Matt Rhule, 44, head coach at Baylor
Anyone who follows our show or our blog knows that I’m a Temple alum, so it shouldn’t surprise you that I’m a huge Matt Rhule fan.  He’s currently the head coach at Baylor, where he took over the program after the terrible sexual assault situation left behind by Art Briles and Ken Starr. Rhule took the job knowing the culture was horrific. Does sound like any NFL team you know? Rhule was the guy who helped turn around a long struggling Temple Owls by installing a winning culture on the foundation of tough defenses and a blue-collar work ethic. That is an overarching philosophy that can work at any level of football.

Okay, my fanboy pick is out of the way. Let me get to some other suggestions that were given to me by some of our readers. I feel like I should give our commenters a shout out on the suggestions, because they were great at giving me some guidance. I got a lot of good suggestions. Here’s one that stood out.

Matt Campbell, 39, head coach at Iowa State
I like that Campbell’s background is as an O-line coach. He started out coaching a small school in Toledo, which he led to back to back MAC championship games and had a 35-15 record in his four seasons there. Campbell was then hired to be the head coach at Iowa State in 2015, and one year later led them to their first winning season since 2009. He has won 8 games in each of the last two seasons. Campbell deserves a lot of credit for turning around a college program that was usually overlooked. Campbell’s personality is said to be very fan friendly, which is one of the things that’s helped him rebuild that program. Like most young coaches these days, he’s a players’ coach. When he went to Iowa he was very focused on instituting a winning culture and building around hard working players. Rumor is that Campbell was courted by the Jets last year and turned them down when they asked for him to interview.

Lastly, the so called “dream coach”:

David Shaw, 47, head coach at Stanford
I know I started by saying I’d want to avoid big name coaches, but this is the one guy for whom I’d make an exception. It seemed like four or five years ago EVERYONE wanted to hire Shaw away from Stanford.  I think it was partly a trickle down effect from when Jim Harbaugh came into the NFL. The interest from the NFL seems to have died down a little bit these days, even if his team’s success on the field has not – his worst season as a head coach was an 8-5 campaign, and he’s gone 82-26 from 2011-2018. Shaw comes across in the press as a natural leader, so it’s no wonder that you always hear fans clamor for him to come back into the NFL. Shaw had a nine year run in the league as an assistant coach in Philly, Oakland and Baltimore. It does seem like pulling Shaw away from Stanford would be a tough task. He’s been very successful coaching at his alma mater, and it would probably take a big offer to get him to come back to the NFL. Bruce Allen does have some ties to Shaw going back to their time in Oakland.

I don’t think the Redskins will go in the direction of a college coach for 2020. This would be a high risk move, and not the style of the Bruce Allen era Redskins. But if they do decide to go that direction, I think that there’s a number of candidate worth looking at, guys who’ve built winners from nothing in the past.