When it comes to hiring coaches, should an NFL team hire a proven coach with a good track record or go with the enticing young assistant coach and guru from another team? No doubt that the success of Tony Sparano of Miami, John Harbaugh in Baltimore, and Mike Smith in Atlanta has teams thinking that a solid assistant coach is better than a rehashed head coach...regardless of their coaching record. But perhaps teams aren't quite seeing the big picture. For every Sparano, there's a Rod Marinelli. For every Harbaugh, there's a "Cam" Cameron. For every Mike Smith, there's a Mike Nolan.

Now of course I'm not suggesting that an assistant coach should not be considered. We'd have no NFL coaches if that were the case, but how do you judge whether or not an assistant coach is better for your team than an established coach with a proven track record?

Why have very few teams mentioned Brian Billick as a candidate for their head coaching vacancy? He did win a Super Bowl. Marty Schottenheimer is 200-126. Last time I checked, that was pretty damn good. Jim Fassel is 58-53, which is far from stellar, but he did lead his Giants to a Super Bowl. And what in the world happened to Mike Sherman who led the Packers to a 57-39 record during his tenure. Granted he's coaching in college, but his name is never mentioned when hearing of a coaching vacancy in the NFL. Is it me, or does it seem that the longer a coach is out of the game, the longer his odds become of becoming a head coach again? And whatever happened to Barry Switzer (46-26 and Super Bowl win), Chan Gailey (18-14 two playoff appearances), and Jim Mora (125-106)? Did Mora's "playoffs?" meltdown cost him a future coaching job? Then there's the curious case of Mike Martz. Martz has a career coaching record of 53-32, all with the Rams. Teams seem to be reluctant to hire Martz, He guided the Rams to the Super Bowl, the Rams are 15-28 since he left, the Lions went 0-16 after his departure, and the 49ers offense showed signs of life this season. Yet he was fired, and a head coaching job is not imminent.

Through it all, one thing is clear: teams need to avoid College coaches. Outside of Jimmy Johnson, very few college coaches make the grade. Just ask the teams that hired Steve Spurrier, Bobby Petrino, and Nick Saban.

This year's hot coaching commodity is Steve Spagnola of the New York Giants. Cleveland, Detroit, Denver, and the Jets have all expressed interest. How do teams know that an assistant coach will make a good head coach? Is someone new to head coaching a better risk than an established winning head coach? Spagnola has a career record of 0-0. There's no real answer to the question...nor is there a right and wrong answer. It depends on the team and the situation. So is it worth the risk...sure, it may be, but teams should not be so quick to dismiss veteran coaches. Frankly, I'm not sure how a team could hire an unproven coach, while guys like Billick and Mike Shanahan are available. Then again, those two were coordinators as well, and they turned into winning coaches. Sometimes it works...sometimes it doesn't, but I guess that's for the owners and General Managers to figure out.


Court Adjourned!