This offseason, the NFL’s New England Patriots hired Mike Vrabel to be their new head coach after he took a coaching hiatus for one season following his firing by the Tennessee Titans.
While he seems to be set up for the foreseeable future, coaching is volatile, and he could end up somewhere else within the next five years. However, it seems that whatever happens, Vrabel will not be making the jump to college football anytime soon.
Mike Vrabel Has No Plans To Return to College Football
When Mike Vrabel wrapped up his 13-year career as an NFL player, he immediately took a coaching job with Ohio State as their linebacker coach in 2011. He served as a coach for the Buckeyes from 2011-2013, before making the leap to the NFL, and has not returned to college football since.
Recently, on the “Triple Option” podcast, Vrabel was asked about his former Patriots coach Bill Belichick taking the job at North Carolina and about the possibility of him ever returning to college football. Vrabel’s response was simple.
“Three years in college was enough for me, and I took off to the NFL,” the coach said.
One of the hosts on the podcast is legendary college football head coach Urban Meyer, who happened to be Vrabel’s boss at Ohio State. Vrabel joked, “Urban didn’t want to hire me, or that was just his way of motivating me.” Later, adding “I just felt the pro game is where I was meant to be.”
It’s no surprise that Vrabel is not thinking about the college level at this point in time, as he has just taken the Patriots’ job. Vrabel did credit legendary Pats coach Bill Belichick, saying, “If Bill feels like he wants to go down to North Carolina and recreate that (the NFL), then I wish him all the luck in the world.”
With NIL and the transfer portal, managing a college football team in 2025 can be treated like managing an NFL team now more than ever.
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If Belichick does create success at UNC and is able to cultivate an NFL-style program, it’ll be interesting to see if more pro coaches follow in his footsteps.
But for right now, sorry college football fans, Mike Vrabel doesn’t seem like he’s going to be your team’s savior any time soon.
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