Ra’Shaad Samples was a reticent and newly appointed student-assistant, shagging balls at practice with a group of wide receivers who were recently his teammates, when he received one of his first important lessons about coaching.
“Ra’Shaad, you have to talk to coach,” Samples recalls then-Houston coach Tom Herman yelling at him from across a practice field.
The 29-year-old Samples has come a long way since. Now heading into his first season as running backs coach at No. 3 Oregon, he has made stops at Texas, SMU, TCU, the Los Angeles Rams — where he was the youngest position coach in the NFL — and Arizona State.
This tumultuous and uncertain period of college football, with rules about player compensation and transfers seemingly changing every six months, has made more than a few coaches — including Nick Saban — question whether the job is really for them anymore.
For younger coaches like Samples — the potential head coaches of the future — evolution is everything. The 30-something head coaches Samples has worked for — the Rams’ Sean McVay, Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham and now Oregon’s Dan Lanning — have taught him: It’s not about keeping up with trends, but being a trendsetter.
“I actually think about that all the time,” Samples said. “I think the most important part of staying competitive in college football is fluidity and being able to change with the times.”
In the past that meant being willing to try new offensive and defensive schemes, incorporating social media into a recruiting strategy or embracing fourth-down analytics.
Now, as college football becomes more like the pros, the fundamental relationship between player and coach is changing. As is a program’s organizational chart. Recruiting is becoming more transactional and talent retention is as important — if not more so — than talent acquisition.
College football head coaches have long been compared to CEOs of large companies, but as these operations grow the need to reliniquish or delegate control increases — but how much?
“Some coaches are way more hands on than others, but there are so many more hats (to wear) I think the quality of help that you have is really important in hiring good people and being excited and surprised with how they do their job,” said the 38-year-old Lanning, who is 22-5 in two seasons leading the Ducks. “But I also know that if it’s important to me as a head coach, I better be involved in it in some way. And if I’m not, then it’s probably not going to be to the standard.”
Dollars and sense
Since 2021, when the NCAA lifted its ban on athletes using their names, images and likenesses to earn money, millions of dollars have flowed to major college football players through booster-supported NIL collectives.
The next evolution of college sports is revenue-sharing with athletes.
“There’s a business relationship that has to be had between players and coaches now that didn’t exist,” Samples said.
Dillingham, who at 34 is the youngest head coach in major college football, said money doesn’t change everything. Where a player decides to play is still often a decision made with parents and loved ones, weighing an assortment of factors that NFL players do not.
