At least in the NFL, Spurrier won't have to recruit

Like so many college coaches, Steve Spurrier was intrigued about life on the other side of the street. Now he's going to find out about it -- firsthand.

After suddenly deciding to pack up his visor and playbook at Florida and take off for the NFL, Spurrier finds plenty of potential employers. Carolina, San Diego and Indianapolis all have openings. More could follow.

But before he signs anywhere, Spurrier might want to talk to others who made the journey from college to pro coaching. For some -- including Jimmy Johnson and Dennis Erickson in football and Larry Brown and Rick Pitino in basketball -- it has been a round trip.

Johnson and Brown won at both levels. Erickson and Pitino found greater success in college than in the pros.

Erickson coached at Idaho, Wyoming, Washington State and Miami -- where he won two national championships -- before four mostly ordinary seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. Then he made a personal U-turn, returning for college football at Oregon State.

"It's different in a lot of different ways," he said. "The X's and O's are very similar. There's a change or two with the clock and the hashmarks, but that's no big deal. Coaching is coaching.

"Now, the players. That's a little different situation. They all want to learn and do what they can to be the best. And if you can help them, they're all coachable. Coaching is about making people better.

"When you deal with college players, you're dealing with a player's problems off the field, his life, his academics. In the NFL, you're dealing with a player who's a professional, a player whose job this is."

The most dramatic difference would seem to be recruiting, but Erickson said NFL free agency requires much of the same skills from a coach. NFL coaches are also more involved than ever in player evaluation for the draft.

Erickson said pressure comes from alumni at colleges. In the pros, it's from owners.

"The bottom line is the same at both levels," he said. "Winning and losing."

Then there is the length of season. Oregon State played 13 games in 2000, 11 last season.

"In the NFL, it's a 16-game season with four preseason and you hope three or four more in the postseason," Erickson said. "That's an awfully long season."

It's nothing, though, compared to basketball, where NBA teams play 82 regular-season games and, they hope, more in the playoffs. A college schedule is less than half that long.

Pitino made the journey from college coaching to the pros twice.

He became a hot property at Providence College when he took the Friars to the Final Four, then moved to the New York Knicks before returning to college and helping Kentucky win an NCAA championship.

Pitino was unable to translate that success in his second trip to the NBA with the Boston Celtics. Now he is back in bluegrass country with Louisville, a move that did not thrill Kentucky fans.

Pitino knows the differences between college and pros are dramatic.

"In college, there's such a premium on making people better," he said. "In the pros, that's not the case. In the pros, it's staying away from injuries, developing your scouting, developing your matchup situations. You have one or two key injuries in the pros and you're going on a losing streak. Practices are not the same. Each day, you're focusing so much on improving skills.

"There's more teaching at the collegiate level and more game management at the professional level. We have much more time in college. At the professional level, you have one week to get ready for the exhibition season. Here, you're teaching improvement and molding the player. Practice is at a premium, the games are secondary. In the NBA, it's right away, you're into games, you're coaching on the fly and you're really not worried about improving skills as much as you are worrying about the X's and O's and matching up with the opponent."

"It's totally different, because it's run at a different speed."

Spurrier will be off to the races shortly.

End Adv for Sunday, Jan. 13