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FSU Football: Stat shows current NFL coaches struggled vs. Noles

By Jason Parker

TALLAHASSEE, FL - OCTOBER 18: Ronald Darby #3 of the Florida State Seminoles is called for pass interference against William Fuller #7 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during their game at Doak Campbell Stadium on October 18, 2014 in Tallahassee, Florida. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
TALLAHASSEE, FL - OCTOBER 18: Ronald Darby #3 of the Florida State Seminoles is called for pass interference against William Fuller #7 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during their game at Doak Campbell Stadium on October 18, 2014 in Tallahassee, Florida. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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FSU football has given plenty of coaches headaches when they have faced the Noles, including those who have gone on to the next level of coaching.

When the FSU football team has taken the field over the past few decades, they have faced opposing coaches and staffs who have gone on to do big things in the college game – as well as some who have taken their talents to the next level and gone on to become a head coach in the National Football League.

For the most part, those coaches know first hand the struggle that comes with playing the Seminoles each and every season – including the current eight head coaches in the NFL who have faced the Noles at some point when they were a college coach.

Since the 1978 season, those eight current head coaches who have faced FSU football as either a head coach, assistant coach or graduate assistant in the college level have done so a total of 25 times – going back as far as the 1978 season and as recent as 2014.

When you combine all eight coaches, their winning percentage against the Seminoles would be enough to get them fired immediately.

  • Bruce Arienas (Tampa Bay): 1-1 at Mississippi State (1978-79), 0-1 at Temple (1983)
  • Vic Fangio (Denver): 0-1 at North Carolina (1983)
  • John Harbaugh (Baltimore): 0-1 at Cincinnati (1990)
  • Matt LaFleur (Green Bay): 0-1 at Notre Dame (2014)
  • Doug Marrone (Jacksonville): 0-4 at Georgia Tech (1996-99)
  • Bill O’Brien (Houston): 0-8 at Georgia Tech (1995-2002), 1-1 at Maryland (2003-04), 0-2 at Duke (2005-06)
  • Dan Quinn (Atlanta): 1-1 at Florida (2011-12)
  • Pat Shurmur (New York Giants): 0-1 at Michigan State (1988)

Only one of those coaches was a head man at the time they got beat by FSU football, as Arienas led the Owls into Tallahassee during his first season as a head coach and left with a loss.

Also surprising is that, with the exception of the mens that both Marrone and O’Brien suffered together with the Yellow Jackets, most of the losses were not given by the Seminoles during the dynasty decade of the program in the 1990s – including several in years where the Noles were struggling to stay above water when building the program into a powerhouse.

Several have appearances in Super Bowls and some have even brought home the biggest prize in all of professional football – but more often than not, they have had to live with the realization that they also have a couple Ls at the hands of the Seminoles that they can never get rid of.

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