Did Rob Ianello ever play college football?

[InTheZone]

By the looks of him, I would guess no. It may not seem all that important to those of you who never played, but when I was a player there was just automatically a higher level of respect given to the coaches who you knew had played, and played at a high level. When a guy like Paul Winters yelled at you, you kind of just automatically accepted it because you knew he had been there and done exactly what you were doing, and he had put in the sacrifice. He knew what it was about. I can remember a lot of times when coaches who hadn't played were yelling at guys, there were quite a few "shut the f** up"s being muttered around. That level of respect just wasn't there.

I loved Lee Owens as a coach, but it was an issue for a lot of guys that he had quit his D3 college team as a freshman. How can you, a guy who couldn't even hack it at a D3 school, sit here and tell me to suck it up and work hard and press through the pain when you couldn't do it yourself, was the basic line of thought. That's not to say that a coach can't earn a majority of guys respect even if he didn't play, as I think LO did. But I was just wondering about Rob, since I don't see it anywhere in his bio.

[ZachTheZip]

I don't think that matters any more. Almost every single one of our assistants played, though.

[Captain Kangaroo]

But I was just wondering about Rob, since I don't see it anywhere in his bio.

I wondered that too. I've heard of Southern Methodist...Presbyterian...Texas Lutheran...but I've never heard of "Catholic University"?

Since he played some D-1 ball, would Devoe Torrence be a better coach than Lee Owens? Probably not.

I see the "street cred point," but certain guys just aren't all that athletically gifted, yet intelligent, motivated and with a love of the game. More often than not, you'd like to see your HC with D-1 playing experience. But it isn't all too rare to find exceptions. Dambrot never played college basketball*, yet he's a pretty successful D-1 hoops coach.

* Douche Bag Alert (hereafter abbreviated DBA) - Yes, I do know he played baseball for the Zips, and he got hit by a lot of pitches. Now go back to re-laminating your Bryan Hipsher rookie card. If you are not a Douche Bag, please ignore the DBA.

[Zipmeister]

But I was just wondering about Rob, since I don't see it anywhere in his bio.

I wondered that too. I've heard of Southern Methodist...Presbyterian...Texas Lutheran...but I've never heard of "Catholic University"?

Since he played some D-1 ball, would Devoe Torrence be a better coach than Lee Owens? Probably not.

I see the "street cred point," but certain guys just aren't all that athletically gifted, yet intelligent, motivated and with a love of the game. More often than not, you'd like to see your HC with D-1 playing experience. But it isn't all too rare to find exceptions. Dambrot never played college basketball*, yet he's a pretty successful D-1 hoops coach.

* Douche Bag Alert (hereafter abbreviated DBA) - Yes, I do know he played baseball for the Zips, and he got hit by a lot of pitches. Now go back to re-laminating your Bryan Hipsher rookie card. If you are not a Douche Bag, please ignore the DBA.

Well thank goodness he wasn't on the rifle team.

[Wally B]

By the looks of him, I would guess no. It may not seem all that important to those of you who never played, but when I was a player there was just automatically a higher level of respect given to the coaches who you knew had played, and played at a high level. When a guy like Paul Winters yelled at you, you kind of just automatically accepted it because you knew he had been there and done exactly what you were doing, and he had put in the sacrifice. He knew what it was about. I can remember a lot of times when coaches who hadn't played were yelling at guys, there were quite a few "shut the f** up"s being muttered around. That level of respect just wasn't there.

I loved Lee Owens as a coach, but it was an issue for a lot of guys that he had quit his D3 college team as a freshman. How can you, a guy who couldn't even hack it at a D3 school, sit here and tell me to suck it up and work hard and press through the pain when you couldn't do it yourself, was the basic line of thought. That's not to say that a coach can't earn a majority of guys respect even if he didn't play, as I think LO did. But I was just wondering about Rob, since I don't see it anywhere in his bio.

He's got South Bend street cred!

[Z.I.P.]

But I was just wondering about Rob, since I don't see it anywhere in his bio.

I wondered that too. I've heard of Southern Methodist...Presbyterian...Texas Lutheran...but I've never heard of "Catholic University"?

He may have attended The National Catholic University, in Washington, D.C.. They play football in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, whose members are Divison III, and all in Virginia or North Carolina. One of them, Roanoke defeated Akron for the NCAA College Division basketball title back in 1970 in Evansville, IN.

[K-Roo]

But I was just wondering about Rob, since I don't see it anywhere in his bio.

I wondered that too. I've heard of Southern Methodist...Presbyterian...Texas Lutheran...but I've never heard of "Catholic University"?

He may have attended The National Catholic University, in Washington, D.C.. They play football in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, whose members are Divison III, and all in Virginia or North Carolina. One of them, Roanoke defeated Akron for the NCAA College Division basketball title back in 1970 in Evansville, IN.

The answer is no....

Article

at the bottom of the article:

• Five FBS coaches did not play college football at all. Despite watching the games from the stands, Georgia Tech's Paul Johnson, Duke's David Cutcliffe and Louisiana Tech's Sonny Dykes are considered offensive gurus, even if they have vastly different philosophies. The others are UNLV's Bobby Hauck and Akron's Rob Ianello. (Interestingly, Hauck's brother, Tim, played in the NFL for more than a decade as a defensive back.) The fraternity of coaches who never saw the field shrank this offseason with the firings of Mike Leach, Charlie Weis and Mark Mangino.

[GP1]

If he wins, it doesn't matter where he went. If he doesn't win, it will be something that matters far down the list of things that matter, yet don't.

Coach I coached for Charlie Weis and Weis went to Notre Dame where he didn't play football. Weis may not have been a good head coach, but he is still a well respected coach and it doesn't matter that he didn't play at ND or in the NFL. Edit: K-Roo made this point above before me. Didn't see it.

Bill Bilichick played at a small D-III school in New England and is one of the best coaches in the NFL and probably the best coach of his generation. I don't think that all of the guys on the Patriots are looking at his Super Bowl rings and saying, "Why would I listen to that guy? He didn't play at a D-I school."

I think the guys who looked down their noses at Owns should be ashamed considering they were stealing their scholarships.

There is a good point to be made in all of this. From reading his posts, ITZ played around the last five years of the Owens disaster, which followed the Faust disaster and predated the JD disaster (one disaster after another...see the trend?). ITZ saw first hand how quickly a coaching staff can fall apart and players lose the respect of them. Owens ran into the exact problem with hiring and retaining good coaches after his fourth season. JD had the same problem and Faust had the same problem. Owens, Faust and JD all had their best coaching staffs in their first 4-5 seasons. After that, the writing is on the wall that you won't be around for long and you end up hiring coaches who were not as good as your original staff. Staff members from the first 4-5 years all three previous coaches have done well after leaving Akron. The coaches from the later years either went back to coaching high school where they came from or went away not to be heard from again. I could list a bunch of guys from Faust's first 5 years who are at BCS schools and in the NFL coaching today. Player talent and coaching during the first 5-6 years of Faust were better than at any time during the D-1A era......and then the wheels fell off....... in a hurry. Both JD and Owens have guys from their early staffs at big time programs. Akron is a good place to cut your teeth.

The point is, Coach I needs to win in his first 3-4 years or it all starts to unravel beginning with the coaching staff. It is critical the Zips win sooner rather than later. If you lose and assistant coaches start to leave, it is one of the major signs of a program being in trouble. Some coaches on the staff will leave after next year. UofA will be a place for them to collect a pay check until they can find a better paying job in a better conference. Get over it, that's the way it is.

[Buckzip]

B-Hip sighting.

[Zips Win!]

B-Hip sighting.

Speaking of B-Hip....What moron bid $78 for an authentic B-Hip UA basketball jersey about six weeks ago?

Please fess up?

[skip-zip]

But I was just wondering about Rob, since I don't see it anywhere in his bio.

I wondered that too. I've heard of Southern Methodist...Presbyterian...Texas Lutheran...but I've never heard of "Catholic University"?

He may have attended The National Catholic University, in Washington, D.C.. They play football in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, whose members are Divison III, and all in Virginia or North Carolina. One of them, Roanoke defeated Akron for the NCAA College Division basketball title back in 1970 in Evansville, IN.

The answer is no....

Article

at the bottom of the article:

• Five FBS coaches did not play college football at all. Despite watching the games from the stands, Georgia Tech's Paul Johnson, Duke's David Cutcliffe and Louisiana Tech's Sonny Dykes are considered offensive gurus, even if they have vastly different philosophies. The others are UNLV's Bobby Hauck and Akron's Rob Ianello. (Interestingly, Hauck's brother, Tim, played in the NFL for more than a decade as a defensive back.) The fraternity of coaches who never saw the field shrank this offseason with the firings of Mike Leach, Charlie Weis and Mark Mangino.

I think it's fair to assume that someone who's been a player, especially at a major college, would have some areas of knowledge when they become a coach that a non-player would not have.

Obviously you can't consider it a make-or-break factor, since some successful coaches have not been players. But, with very few non-players in the D-1 coaching ranks, it would seem to indicate that it's at least harder to get to that level if you were never a player. And that could actually mean that you've really proven yourself, if you made it that far without "played at a major college" on your resume.