College football coaches leaving for the NFL could be a new trend

As two coaches from the college football ranks depart for the NFL, and rumors around a third, there's some concern this could be a trend going forward

The biggest talking point around college football these days doesn't seem to be so much around the teams on the field or even the playoff race, but how the sport continues to undergo round after round of historic change, whether it be the new NIL situation, the transfer portal, or the hectic recruiting calendar.

And it seems some of those radical changes have resulted in a few coaches deciding that it wasn't worth sticking around and either leaving the game for good, or departing for positions on NFL coaching staffs.

Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley turned heads when he decided to leave the program he ran in exchange for the defensive coordinator position with the Green Bay Packers. 

And then it was Liam Coen, offensive coordinator at Kentucky last season, who will take the same role with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Then, rumors emerged that Chip Kelly, the head coach at UCLA since 2018, has been entertaining the idea of coaching the Washington Commanders' offense.

And there is considerable speculation around whether seven-time champion Nick Saban retired from Alabama, or if Jim Harbaugh left Michigan for the professional ranks for much the same reason, at least in part.

Remarks made to ESPN about Hafley's decision seem to reveal the motivation for coaches who want to escape what college football has become.

"He wants to go coach football again in a league that is all about football," an insider told ESPN. "College coaching has become fundraising, NIL, and recruiting your own team and transfers. There's no time to coach football anymore... A lot of things that he went back to college for have disappeared."

ESPN broadcaster Matt Barrie responded to the trend by saying: "This is only the beginning. And you may as well include Harbaugh and Saban on the list of 'CFB Climate Change' decisions."

247Sports recruiting analyst Greg Biggins noted: "Never thought we'd see the day where multiple Power 5 head coaches would leave for NFL coordinator jobs, but this day and age of roster building via NIL, transfer portal, and have to re-recruit your own players every year, I get it and think it's only the beginning."

ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit said that college football "in its current state will be seeing more and more coaches heading to the NFL," adding that nothing will change until a former players association is formed and a potential revenue-sharing arrangement.

"This sport is spiraling out of control," Herbstreit said.

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