ENGLEWOOD, Colo — It didn’t get much attention at the time but Nathaniel Hackett may have started a trend.
When Hackett became the Broncos’ head coach in 2022, he was among the first to hire multiple position coaches straight from college.
Much has been made about the NFL’s latest coach hiring cycle that has included more college coaches than usual hired by the league. The most notable have been Jeff Hafley, who traded his Boston College head coach job for Green Bay Packers’ defensive coordinator; Ryan Grubb, who went from the University of Washington to Seattle Seahawks’ offensive coordinator; and Jesse Minter, who followed Jim Harbaugh from Michigan to become the Chargers’ and Harbaugh’s defensive coordinator.
The theory is college coaches have tired of the college football’s new player-transient world brought on by NIL money and the loosening of transfer portal restrictions. But this is not a new trend in 2024.
The Broncos were among the first to start hiring college coaches.
In 2020-21, Broncos head coach Vic Fangio had by far the NFL’s most experienced staff with Ed Donatell, Pat Shurmur and Tom McMahon as his coordinators and the likes of Mike Munchak, Bill Kollar, John Pagano, Mike Shula, Curtis Modkins, Reggie Herring and Wade Harman among his top position coaches.
A bunch of old guys, is another way to put it. Modkins is the only one from this group who is still a position coach. (Zach Azzanni and Christian Parker were younger position coaches then who are position coaches with other teams now).
In 2022, Hackett went 180 degrees with his coaching assistants. Not only were Ejiro Evero and Justin Outten first-time coordinators, while Dwayne Stukes had one, long-ago year as special teams coordinator, Hackett went to the college ranks to procure new position coaches Ola Adams, Peter Hansen and Ben Watts. And Tyrone Wheatley, too, although he had some NFL coaching experience.
Hackett a trend-setter? The problem is by the time his trend developed, he was no longer the Broncos’ head coach.
Sean Payton continued the college coach movement for the Broncos last year. Lou Ayeni (running backs), Keary Colbert (receivers) and Jamar Cain (pass-rush specialist) were hired from the college ranks, as were offensive quality control coaches Logan Kilgore and Favian Upshaw. Davis Webb (quarterbacks) and Chris Banjo (assistant special teams) were hired off the NFL playing field.
Economics may be one reason for the shift from experienced to new. Experienced offensive and defensive coordinators are now pushing, maybe even exceeding, $5 million a year, or about the same as first-time head coach money. A position coach breaking in from the college ranks can balance the overall staff payroll with a salary less than a half-mil.
Another reason is energy. There is considerably more rah-rah enthusiasm at the college level than in the pros, where the all-business environment can feel less joy or more drudgery of work. Veteran coaches, not to mention players, can use a jolt.
So much so that the coaching migration is also starting to head the other way. Several veteran NFL coaches like former Broncos’ Joe DeCamillis (South Carolina), Don “Wink” Martindale (Michigan) and Shurmur (Colorado) have shifted from lengthy NFL careers to the college ranks.
The biggest reason for the influx of college coaches to the NFL, though, is talent. The NIL – where players like the CU Buffaloes’ Shedeur Sanders (estimated $4.7 million) and Travis Hunter ($2.3 million) and Texas’ quarterbacks Arch Manning ($2.8 million) and Quinn Ewers ($1.9 million) can draw millions, while dozens if not hundreds of others are drawing six-figure incomes – has empowered players.
If they don’t like tough coaching, or they don’t like how the competition for a starting job is setting up, it’s easy for them to hit the transfer portal and play somewhere else next year.
The college environment has changed enough for some of its coaches to consider the NFL. When the Broncos hired Hackett in 2022 and Payton in 2023, multiple college head coaches inquired to gauge interest.
It may still require a leap of faith for an owner to think a college head coach can immediately became a successful NFL head coach. Matt Rhule was the latest to try, and fail. Jim Harbaugh will try again with the Chargers, although he also had previous NFL head coaching success with the 49ers from 2011-‘14. But the jump from college to NFL position coach figures to be made with increased frequency.
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