Examining prior experiences and career attainment of FBS football head coaches

A Football Bowl Subdivision college head coach position is desired in the American football coaching profession due to associated financial benefits, social network improvements, and prestige. The rise of an individual from player, to assistant coach, and eventually head coach, is primarily understood anecdotally. This empirical evaluation of head coaching attainment provided insight into the career progression of these important sport leaders. The purpose of this study was to assess prior experiences (e.g., playing and assistant coaching) of first-time Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football head coaches hired from 1998–1999 to 2013–2014 (n = 200). Data were collected to determine if the quantity of playing and coaching experiences indicated variance within or predictability for career attainment. The five experiential categories investigated were: Playing Experience, Coaching Experience, Affiliation, Coaching Success, and Descriptive Variables. Several significant predictors among the coaching variables emerged, including coaching experience, affiliation, and past coaching success. Playing experience variables were found to be largely non-significant, suggesting that career attainment of college football coaches does not hinge on playing experience.