Iowa State offensive coordinator Nate Scheelhaase is leaving the Cyclones to join Sean McVay’s staff with the Rams. His departure marks yet another example of college football coaches bolting for the NFL.
This is becoming a trend!
Scheelhaase, who is only 33 years old, will serve as the Pass Game Specialist in Los Angeles. It is not necessarily as big of a demotion as it might look on paper, but strictly by title, it is a step down.
The former Illinois quarterback, who began his coaching career as a running backs coach in 2015, is essentially leaving Ames for a slight demotion in Inglewood.
NIL and the transfer portal has made it so that coaches want to leave the college game for the pros. There is minimal time to focus on football when a large chunk of the day is spent recruiting, re-recruiting and fundraising to be able to recruit and re-recruit. Xs and Os are put on the back burner.
The same cannot be said for the NFL. General managers and front office positions exist so coaches can put their full attention toward game planning and… coaching.
As a result, there is an ongoing exodus from college to the pros. Jeff Haffley left his job as head coach at Boston College for a coordinator job with the Packers. Michigan lost its entire defensive staff. Scheelhaase bounced from Iowa State for the Rams.
Now, to be fair, Nate Scheelhaase has generated a lot of interest from NFL teams in recent years after his rapid rise up the ranks. Working under McVay as the Pass Game Specialist is a remarkable opportunity, especially at such a young age. It’s not like this is necessarily a situation where he was desperate to leave and took whatever he could.
Still. An offensive coordinator in college is leaving for the NFL…
The migration continues!