5 college football coaches who flopped in the NFL 

Coaching the NFL and college football is very different.

In college, coaches need to recruit players and need to be able to have a personal relationship with the players in order to keep them from entering the transfer portal. The college coaches also need to focus on alumni, sponsors, and administration.

Although those are just some of the differences, some coaches have had success coaching in both the NFL and college. However, others have struggled mightily in the NFL, and below are five college coaches who flopped in the NFL.

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#5 Matt Rhule

Matt Rhule went 11-27 as an NFL head coach

Matt Rhule is one of the better coaches in college as he helped turn around both Temple and Baylor. Rhule's first season in Temple was in 2010 and the school went 2-10. They followed it up with a 6-6 season, a 10-4 season, and a 10-3 season before he went to Baylor.

At Baylor, Rhule went 1-11 in his first season, 7-6 the next year, and went 11-3 in his third season. After helping turn around his second college program, Rhule was hired to be the Carolina Panthers head coach.

Rhule only lasted two-and-a-half seasons in the NFL as he went 11-27 and was fired. He has since returned to the college and is the head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

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#4 Kliff Kingsbury

Kliff Kingsbury is considered to be an offensive wizard, but it didn't work out in the NFL.

Kingsbury first became head coach of Texas Tech for the 2013 season and helped the Red Raiders go 8-5. His team was up and down and after six seasons where Kingsbury went 36-38 as head coach, he was hired by the Arizona Cardinals to be their head coach.

Kingsbury only had one winning season in four years as head coach and was let go after the 2022 NFL season. With Arizona, Kingsbury went 28-37-1 as the head coach.

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#3 Lou Holtz

Lou Holtz is one of the greatest college football coaches in history.

Holtz is known for his time at Notre Dame but also coached South Carolina, Minnesota, Arkansas, NC State, and William & Mary. In 33 college football seasons as a head coach, Holtz went 249-132-7 and won the National Title with the Fighting Irish in 1988.

After three years at William & Mary and four years at NC State, he took the New York Jets head coaching job in 1976. Holtz only lasted one season as he went 3-10 and resigned with one game remaining on the schedule.

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#2 Urban Meyer

Urban Meyer didn't last a full NFL season

Urban Meyer was the head coach of the dominant Florida Gators teams that won the National Title in 2006 and 2008.

Meyer coached Bowling Green and Utah for two seasons each before getting the job at Florida. After six seasons with the Gators, he coached the Ohio State Buckeyes and helped lead them to a National Title in 2014.

In his college football coaching career, Meyer went 187-32 and in 2021, ended his retirement to take the job with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Meyer went 2-11 and was fired in his first season and is tied for fourth-shortest coaching tenures in NFL history.

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#1 Nick Saban

Nick Saban lasted two years in the NFL

Nick Saban is arguably the greatest college football coach of all time.

Saban has been the Alabama Crimson Tide's head coach since 2007 and in his career has won seven National Titles, with his first coming with LSU in 2003.

In his career, Saban is 283-70-1 as a college coach but went 15-17 in the NFL.

Saban was hired by the Miami Dolphins in 2005 and went 9-7 his first season. In 2006, he led the team to a 6-10 record and left the NFL to take the job with Alabama.