Highschool Football Coaches

[Airhog]

I dont profess to know a whole lot about college football outside of the game, and my own team. It does seem obvious to me, that you see very few HS coaches make the jump to coaching college football. It seems like a good number of the coaches get into coaching after playing, but they get in on the ground floor of a college program and go from there. I have always wondered if its just that HS coaches are not very good, since the majority of them take on coaching as an extra-cirricular activity when teaching is their main focus. Or it could just be that I dont follow college football enough to hear about coaches that make the transition.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Good question, I never really gave it too much thought, but you made me curious.

I decided to pick a team that I knew nothing about their coaching staff, USC, and take a look.

OC Norm Chow - Waialua HS (1970-1972)
RB Coach Todd McNair - OC at Camden(NJ) HS 98-99, OC Schalick (NJ) HS in 2000
LB Coach Ken Norton, Jr - DC at Hamilton (Los Angeles) HS 2003
Special teams Coach Dennis Slutak - HS Ass't Coach at 3 schools 93-99

Graduate assistant at a college, regardless of size, seems to be a more common route to bigger things, but it appears that former HS coaches aren't exceptionally unusual in the college ranks either. I suspect we just don't hear them referred to that way very often.

Just for kicks, I looked up the details of the one HS-turned-college coach I was sure of -- former GT ass't / former ECU ass't/ 2004 O-Line coach for South Carolina:
Steve Shankweiler - Interestingly, his bio lists " started his coaching carer as offensive coordinator and head track coach at Avondale (Ga.) High (1974-76) before serving as head coach at Redan High in Stone Mountain, Ga. from 1976-79. He piloted Redan to a 35-8 record and won the 1979 Class AAA state title before moving on to the collegiate coaching ranks in 1980." What it leaves out is his stint as head coach at Griffin (GA) HS between leaving Georgia Tech & heading to East Carolina.

That omission sort of makes me wonder if the high school backgrounds of college coaches aren't somewhat avoided, as programs worry that there might be some "small-time" stigma attached to making the experience too prominent.

[NoMyths]

Great question, Airhog. I remember our HC (from Kansas 3A Pleasant Ridge) making the jump to DC at an unremembered college (for some reason I'm thinking Mankato State, but prob. because that's the shirt he always wore). After Googling him, I've discovered that he is currently the (and I quote) "Assistant Football Coach/Assistant Equipment Manager" at Minnesota. Shades of Coach...man.

[Poli]

I don't recall his name, but the former Buffalo Bills head coach (Williams? I don't follow much football) was a coach that worked his way from high school to college to the pros. At least, that's what I'm told. He could have pulled an O'Leary.

[digamma]

David Kelly, now an assistant at Duke, made the leap from Dunwoody High School in the metro Atlanta area to Georgia. He's also coached at Georgia Tech and LSU. IIRC, he moved to the college ranks the same season one of his player's committed to Georgia (not a package deal, because that would be illegal). But, I do think that is how a number of high school coaches with higher aspirations get into college coaching.

[Noop]

Well the very good highschool coaches dont want to be G.A. at a major school... I remember Coach Frasier for Carol City was offered the LB coach job at UM... I believe he turned it down cause he was to old or something like that. I am guessing you would to be young single, skinny and a quick learner to make it up thru the ranks.

[mckerney]

Mike Holmgren was an assistant high school football coach from 1971 to 1980 before getting a job as an offensive coordinator/qb coach in 1981 at San Francisco State, though wasn't a head coach at any level until Green Bay hired him.

I know George O'Leary was Mice Tice's head coach in high school, but can't off the top of my head think of any others who started in high school.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Just for kicks, I looked up the details of the one HS-turned-college coach I was sure of -- former GT ass't / former ECU ass't/ 2004 O-Line coach for South Carolina:
Steve Shankweiler - Interestingly, his bio lists " started his coaching carer as offensive coordinator and head track coach at Avondale (Ga.) High (1974-76) before serving as head coach at Redan High in Stone Mountain, Ga. from 1976-79. He piloted Redan to a 35-8 record and won the 1979 Class AAA state title before moving on to the collegiate coaching ranks in 1980." What it leaves out is his stint as head coach at Griffin (GA) HS between leaving Georgia Tech & heading to East Carolina.

That's a very cool example becuase I watched every game of that 1979 Redan State Championship. My sister was a senior at Redan that year, and my mom's best friend had a son that played on the team. That season was the reason I became a sports fan. That team had a little known kicker named Kevin Butler on it.

[MacroGuru]

My old HS head coach, just celebrated his 4th State Championship in 10 years...He is now being persued by some DIV II schools, that may be able to get him into a DIV I program somewhere soon.