Coach 4: “One of the biggest differences is once our season is over in the NFL, most staffs are in the office for the next three-to-five days to have exit interviews with players and staff and, after that, staffs are typically off till after the Super Bowl. So if your team doesn’t go to the playoffs and you’re retained, you’ll usually get a three-to-five week break.

In the NFL, I think the head coach and general manager have the mentality of, with staff changes, let’s wait till all of the changes happen before re-grouping as a staff. That way we don’t start working on stuff if we lose people and get new people. It’s the mindset of knowing there’s going to be some healthy transition on staff, let’s wait till all is done before getting back together.

Based on my time at the college level, everything keeps moving. You have new coaches? It’s up to them to get up to speed. Another thing is colleges don’t get time off after national signing day. Teams will play a regular season, a bowl game and then come back from the bowl and student-athletes are back on campus for class. Coaches are going to the AFCA convention. They’re on the road. A lot of times if a team has success, you’re not getting a breather till after signing day, and a lot of teams don’t even give their staff the week after signing day off.

A lot of times college coaches are going from spring through March or April before they’re getting substantial time away. With that said, at the college level, when you’re away, you’re still expected to be communicating with recruits, you’re still expected to be communicating with your student-athletes and staying on top of them and dealing with issues if there are issues, and making sure that even though you’re away, the organization doesn’t miss a beat.”

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