Harbaugh, Frost and the joy (and pain) of coaching your alma mater
Twenty-two head coaches in the FBS share the responsibility of leading the programs for which they played. There's joy in the experience, immense pride and always, at some point, a dash of pain.
"You can't call it work," said Appalachian State coach Scott Satterfield, who quarterbacked the Mountaineers from 1992 to '95.
The highs are higher and the lows are lower when they happen at your alma mater.cheap nfl jerseys china nike
"You don't ever escape it," Texas Tech's Kliff Kingsbury said. "Win, lose or draw, a lot of people in your life know the score. They know how it went, and they want to talk about it."
Said Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst: "There's just a lot more layers."
In relationship-status terms, well, it's complicated.
"It's just different than being at another school," Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said.
Saturday at Michigan Stadium, two of the most high-profile college players to return as coach meet in the Big Ten opener for both. Nebraska, winless under Scott Frost in his first season, visits Michigan and Jim Harbaugh, known in his fourth year more for six losses in seven games against the Wolverines' chief rivals than for his 30 victories.
Both former quarterbacks achieved head-coaching success elsewhere before answering the call from home -- Harbaugh with the University of San Diego, Stanford and the San Francisco 49ers, and Frost for the past two seasons at UCF. They endure intense scrutiny but said that the potential reward of restoring championship-level play at their proud programs is worth the pressure and weight of increased expectations.nike nfl jerseys cheap china
"It's heightened," Harbaugh said this week when asked whether the moments mean more to him because it's Michigan.
Last year, before UCF embarked on a 13-0 season that vaulted Frost to the top of the Group of 5 coaching hierarchy, his mother, Carol Frost -- a pioneer for female athletes and coaches in Nebraska some five decades ago -- granted a lengthy podcast interview to Omaha World-Herald writer Dirk Chatelain.
