Kirk Herbstreit has been around college football a long time — and yet still — this new age of the sport in 2023 has him puzzled as he watches some of the greatest coaches of all time step away and successful collegiate head coaches leave their programs to become NFL coordinators.
On Wednesday it was announced that the Green Bay Packers made a surprise hiring for their defensive coordinator vacancy, as they’ve named Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley to be Joe Barry’s successor. Hafley’s name had not previously been reported to be linked to any defensive coordinator opening in the NFL this offseason.
At Boston College, Hafley’s Eagles went 22-26 — including 12-22 in ACC play. Over his four years at the helm, the team was bowl-eligible in three seasons. According to ESPN’s SP+ metric, Boston College finished the 2023 season ranked 77th in the FBS on the defensive side of the ball.
Before joining the college ranks as Ohio State’s co-defensive coordinator in 2019, Hafley spent the previous six season as a full-time on-field assistant in the NFL. He spent time at three stops as a defensive backs coach: Tampa Bay (2013), Cleveland (2014-2015) and San Francisco (2016-2018).
Herbstreit saw the move, and others before it, as part of a bigger trend that is ruining the sport.
While Hafley is the first college head coach to take a NFL coordinator job, we’ve seen massive shakeups already on the college landscape. Nick Saban — arguably the greatest coach of all time — abruptly retired following the season. Jim Harbaugh, despite a lucrative offer and pleas from alumni, donors and Wolverines fans, bolted from his Alma mater after winning the national title to become the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers.
Kirk Herbstreit & Other College Football Insiders Believe More Head Coaches Will Follow Jeff Hafley Due To State Of The Sport
ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that Hafley left college football due to the mess that NIL and the transfer portal have created. Many experts speculated that the same factors were considered by Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh, who both left college football head coaching jobs this offseason.
Kirk Herbstreit reacted to the news and ripped the current state of the state of the sport after Hafley’s departure.
“No. CFB in its current state will be seeing more and more coaches heading to the NFL,” Herbstreit posted on social media. “Without boundaries and regulation that make sense coaches that get real opportunities in the NFL will be gone. This trend will continue until there is a new governing body and it creates a CBA with a players entity or union that would include issues like NIL-Transfer Portal and eventually revenue sharing. The sport is spiraling out of control as we know and many of these coaches are not sticking around and waiting. Just a new reality for the sport.”
Longtime college football writer Stewart Mandel agreed with Kirk Herbstreit’s take.
“For the last 2-3 years, there’s been constant speculation that college coaches fed up with NIL/portal world would start trying to jump to the NFL,” Mandel saiid.
“Jeff Haffley giving up a P5 head coaching job to be a coordinator is the most clear-cut example to date.”
