Bonus Content That's Not About the Steelers

So, Bobby Petrino left the Falcons tonight and he's going to go coach Arkansas. He left Louisville in the offseason to go to the Falcons, coached 13 games, sucked, and went running back to the college ranks.

What have we learned from this? Don't trust college coaches. After Spurrier, Saban, and... well, those are the two I remember besides Petrino. Coaching in college is way easier if you coach a good school, the guys that are good at it aren't good at coming to the NFL, and it takes a certain type of person. Wannstedt and Bill Callahan haven't had success going from the pro ranks to college. Then again, they were pretty crappy NFL coaches, so there's that.

Bill Walsh and Jimmy Johnson. Those are the guys that went from college to the pros and succeeded, so far as I know. Guys like Jeff Tedford, June Junes, Pete Carroll, Chan Gailey, Dennis Erickson and... I'm sure there are others... they need to stay in college. The guys in the pros need to stay in the pros. As a matter of fact, I think we have the right guys in the right places. I really hope that the guys that are in the NFL pool stay in the NFL pool and the guys that are in the college pool stay in the college pool. Maybe Neuheisal and some of the former college coaches that are some assistants go to college.

We've got lots of good former NFL coaches still in play, though. Maybe Dennis Green comes back. What about Mariucci? Of course, you've got guys like Cowher and Schottenheimer. And, there's a number of former coaches that are now assistants or assistant head coaches that could take the jobs that will come available. Plus which, since a bunch of assistants have been hired the past few seasons, so the pool's full there as well. And, there's always the pool of up-and-coming assistants to choose from, if someone's looking to take a chance (like, say, the Steelers did in the offseason). Rex Ryan, Rob Ryan, Josh McDaniels, Russ Grimm, maybe Ron Rivera or Mike Singletary.

At any rate, I see a surprising number of openings next offseason, especially considering that there have been 17 changes the past two years.

Here's where I see changes:

• Atlanta, obviously.
• Miami. I don't care if Cameron's only been there one year. C'mon. 0-16, for Christ's sake.
• Washington. Gibbs is gonna retire.
• Baltimore. Billick's gone.
• Maybe Cincinnati. Marvin Lewis, aside from that one 11-5 season, has treaded water too much. The defense still isn't fixed. He's done a lot for the franchise, considering where they started. He just can't take them that extra bit. They need a specialist. They need someone that can bring them to the next level. They need Cowher or Marty, but ownership would never spend the money.
• Possibly Mike Nolan in San Francisco.

One other big point: As much as getting ass-stomped by the Patriots sucked, it has sucked WAY more to be a Falcons fan this week. And, this season. They're 3-10, Mike Vick went to prison, and Petrino went to Arkansas. Sucks to be them.

So... Go Steelers.