---

RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's June Jones, left, and Jerry Glanville, and USC's Pete Carroll (below) are all former NFL head coaches.

---

Back to School

Tomorrow’s game between the
Trojans and Warriors features
nine former NFL coaches

FOR MORE AND more football coaches, the next level means returning to the one they were at earlier in their careers.

And they don't necessarily see it as stepping down.

Nine of the 20 coaches in tomorrow's USC at Hawaii game formerly served on NFL staffs. Both head coaches -- the Trojans' Pete Carroll and the Warriors' June Jones -- and UH defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville are former NFL head coaches.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

After 16 NFL seasons Carroll was fired as the New England Patriots head coach at the end of the 1999 season. But he is in no hurry to return to the NFL after leading USC to consecutive national championships. Carroll quickly ended speculation eight months ago that he would be the new head man of the San Francisco 49ers.

"I think the NFL's a wonderful place. ... It was awesome to be in that arena," Carroll said in January. "But this is an extraordinary fit for me. I couldn't be happier where I am. I'm having so much fun."

Jones got his dream job in 1999 when he took the reins at UH, leaving the interim head coach position of the San Diego Chargers.

"I had a chance to stay in the NFL, and I can only speak for myself," said Jones, who coached in the pro ranks for 15 years. "I wanted to come back to Hawaii. If it wasn't Hawaii, I'd be in the NFL. I wouldn't have gone back to college football. It was about Hawaii. If it'd been somewhere else I'd have taken the Chargers job."

Jones is the reason defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville and running backs coach Mouse Davis are on the Hawaii staff.

Glanville was out of coaching since he was fired as the Atlanta Falcons head coach in 1993 (and replaced by Jones, his offensive coordinator). He wanted to return as a college coach because he was inspired by young soldiers during a trip to Iraq last year.

"I didn't want to coach pro football," said Glanville, who coaches in his first college game tomorrow since he was an assistant at Georgia Tech in 1973. "I wanted to coach this generation. This is the greatest generation in the history of the world."

Davis coached Jones at Portland State. Then Davis went on to more than 20 years of mentoring pros in several different leagues, including the NFL. He said the trend of experienced coaches returning to the college ranks helps the game.

"There's so many guys coming back that it improves the defensive and offensive packages and everyone has to improve," Davis said.

He said there aren't many differences between coaching college and pro players.

"The only fairly big difference I can see is there is less interference at the college level for a head coach than there is at the pro level," Davis said.

"At the pro level there are so many entities involved. There's the owner, there's the president, there's the director of player personnel, there might be a vice president, and you have to answer to them," Davis added. "Some guys have full control, like (Bill) Parcells, his is like a college situation. And usually a better job gets done with that kind of control. Dan (Reeves) had it at Atlanta. There's a few who do. Most don't."

---

CRAIG KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM UH's Mouse Davis coached with the Lions and Falcons.

---

Most coaches of professionals make more money than they would as college coaches. UH graduate assistant Jeff Reinebold is an extreme example. The former head coach of Winnipeg in the CFL left a job paying around $100,000 a year with NFL Europe so he could become a graduate assistant and receive little more than tuition for classes.

Reinebold made the move because he loves Hawaii and wanted to coach with Jones, Glanville and Davis. He said working with college athletes in a college atmosphere is a bonus.

"I wanted the opportunity to be a guy who helps represent Hawaii. Put that H on your chest and the aloha shirt on and go out and coach. I don't care if we're playing the Punahou junior middle school Dragons, I'd be excited because I get a chance to represent Hawaii," Reinebold said. "But beyond that there are certainly things that are enjoyable about coaching college football that you don't get in pro football.

"Nobody ever graduated from the Chicago Bears. The college experience is so unique. Pro football is a big business and it's about the Benjamins," he said. "It's very refreshing to be back in an environment where people care, and knowing all over the world people with Hawaii ties will tune in to see how we do against SC. That's special."

Davis said working with college-age people is rewarding but can take more effort.

"You don't want to overstate that because they grow up in spite of you. But you are a part of it," he said. "In the pros you get all good kids, because if you don't you just ship 'em down the road and get a new one. In college you can do that to some degree, but you have to try to bring 'em along."

---

From the NFL to the NCAA

Nine of the coaches in tomorrow's USC-Hawaii game have served on NFL staffs

HAWAII

Head coach June Jones*
Oilers (1987-88), Lions (1989-90), Falcons (1991-96), Chargers (1998)

Defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville*
Lions (1974-76), Falcons (1977-82, 1990-93), Bills (1983), Oilers (1986-89)

Running backs coach Mouse Davis
Lions (1988-90), Falcons (1994-95)

USC

Head coach Pete Carroll*
Bills (1984), Vikings (1985-89), Jets (1990-1994), 49ers (1995-96), Patriots (1997-99)

Defensive line coach Jethro Franklin
Packers (2000-04)

Offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin
Jaguars (2000)

Running backs coach Todd McNair
Browns (2001-03)

Offensive line coach Pat Ruel
Lions (2000), Packers (2001-02), Bills (2003), Giants (2004)

Quarterbacks coach Steve Sarkisian
Raiders (2004)

* Jones, Glanville and Carroll were former NFL head coaches