In one spacious corner: Pete Carroll.
In the crowded, opposite corner: Chip Kelly, Bobby Petrino, Steve Spurrier and myriad others.
Somewhere in the middle ground: Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh.
Urban Meyer was hired Thursday to take over as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, the team announced. So, how does one of college football’s all-time great coaches — a 187-32 record at Utah, Florida and Ohio State — translate his success better than those who jumped and imploded?
“He is a controlling personality, but there are too many roster decisions that need to be made every day,” one NFL source said. “So, he needs people he trusts to do the things he doesn’t have time for. If he is going to try to do it like Bill Belichick, he’s going to have a hard time.”
Meyer already is ahead of the curve by commanding final say underneath ownership, but his first empowered moves before using 10 draft picks and $73 million in salary-cap space could determine his success. Here are some keys to Meyer’s transition, based on The Post’s conversations with a half-dozen NFL and college sources:
Find an aligned business-minded GM. Meyer’s specialties are building culture and evaluating players, though he won’t be able to out-recruit competition to get the best raw talent to choose him. On a level playing field, uncovering hidden gems makes a huge difference.
But the Jaguars’ next general manager — it helps the coach and GM will be on the same timeline — needs to be skilled in salary-cap intricacies, contract structure and anticipating roster-building moves other teams will make. Bill O’Brien had success as the Houston Texans coach, but his tenure blew up without a system of checks and balances.
Hire NFL-experienced coaches. Meyer doesn’t have any previous NFL experience on his résumé — a tie that binds gold-standard Super Bowl winner Carroll, the quit-too-soon Saban and the successful-but-wore-out-his-welcome Harbaugh. Meyer’s résumé will initially command player respect, but he must treat adults like adults and strike the difficult balance of hard-driving but not demeaning.
All coaches defer to the familiar, and Meyer could bring with him former lieutenants with college head-coach experience like Charlie Strong, Chris Ash and Steve Addazio. But he also needs assistants who have been in locker rooms where jealousy over salary-per-production can fester and motivation under adversity can wane. Former Giants assistant Everett Withers checks both boxes.
It’s the right market. In college, the coach is the face of the program. Everywhere but with the New England Patriots, NFL quarterbacks and stars are the face of the franchise.
If you don’t understand the difference, ego can get in the way of a zero-sum business where fundraising, graduation rates and other measures of fall-back success go out the window. But Meyer is royalty in a college-first sports market after winning two national championships at Florida and one at Ohio State, so he will have a longer rope and should control the narratives better than in other cities.