On December 11, 13 games into his first NFL season as head coach, Bobby Petrino resigned without notice to coach at the University of Arkansas, leaving the beleaguered players only a note in the locker room.

First-year head coach Mike Smith was named 2008 NFL Coach of the Year.

Walsh was viewed as a strong advocate for African-American head coaches in the NFL and NCAA.

Walsh directly helped propel Dennis Green into the NFL head coaching ranks by offering to take on the head coaching job at Stanford.

Many former and current NFL head coaches trace their lineage back to Bill Walsh on his coaching tree, shown below.

Paul Brown, the first head coach and namesake of the Browns, who won 4 AAFC and 3 NFL Championships as coach of the Browns, is a Pro Football Hall of Fame member, and is widely regarded as one of football's greatest coaches of all-time.

Former Browns QB Otto Graham ( left, with head coach Paul Brown ), who led the Browns to 4 AAFC and 3 NFL Championships, and is a Pro Football Hall of Fame member. While the championship losses sowed bitterness among Cleveland fans who had grown accustomed to winning, the team continued to make progress.

After being dismissed as the Browns ' head coach by Art Modell ( who had purchased majority interest in the team in ) in January, Brown had shown interest in establishing another NFL franchise in Ohio and looked at both Cincinnati and Columbus.

However, under head coach Weeb Ewbank and the leadership of quarterback Johnny Unitas, the Colts would go onto a 9 – 3 record during the 1958 season and reached the NFL Championship Game for the first time in their history by winning the NFL Western Conference.

Following the two championships in 1958 and 1959, the Colts did not return to the NFL Championship for four seasons and saw a transition from head coach Ewbank to a young Don Shula in 1963.

The result of the game was surprising to many in the sports media as Joe Namath and Matt Snell led Jets to the Super Bowl victory, under head coach Weeb Ewbank, who won two NFL Championships with the Colts.

Coughlin had worked in the NFL as a position coach, but he had been neither a head coach nor a coordinator in the NFL.

Steckel, who came to the Vikings in 1979 after working as an assistant with the 49ers, was the youngest head coach in the NFL in 1984 at age 38.

During the season, the Vikings had many distractions, including trading for Randy Moss and then waiving him only a month later, Brett Favre's NFL investigation for allegedly sending inappropriate text messages to Jets ' employee Jenn Sterger while he was with the team in 2008, the Metrodome's collapse and resulting venue changes, and finally head coach Brad Childress ' firing on November 22 following a 31 – 3 loss at the hands of the rival Green Bay Packers.

Under quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick, the Patriots have also compiled the longest winning streak consisting of regular season and playoff games in NFL history, a 21-game streak from October 2003 – October 2004.

Lloyd Carr, former head coach at the University of Michigan, former NFL coach Jerry Glanville, and Steve Mariucci, former head coach of the Detroit Lions, played football for NMU, and current Michigan State coach Tom Izzo played basketball at NMU.

) By the late 1940s, head coach Earle " Greasy " Neale and running back Steve Van Buren led the team to three consecutive NFL Championship Games, winning two of them in 1948 and 1949.

In 1960, the Eagles won their third NFL championship, under the leadership of future Pro Football Hall of Famers Norm Van Brocklin and Chuck Bednarik ; the head coach was Buck Shaw.

The following year the Chargers began " head to head " competition with the older NFL with a preseason loss to the Detroit Lions.

The Dolphins were led by head coach Don Shula and featured a defense that gave up the fifth-fewest points in the NFL in the regular season.

At the time of his retirement he was the 6th winningest coach in NFL history with 168 career wins, including playoffs.

Minnesota began the 2006 season 4 – 2 ( Childress became the first coach in Vikings history to start 2 – 0 in his first year ), but would finish the year at 6 – 10, receiving the 7th pick in the NFL Draft ; with it, the Vikings selected Adrian Peterson out of the University of Oklahoma.

After a brief struggle for control over filling these vacancies, General Manager AJ Smith fired Schottenheimer, replacing him with Norv Turner, who had been a head coach with two other NFL teams and had previously served the Chargers as offensive coordinator.

* Norv Turner ( born 1952 ), current head coach of the San Diego Chargers football team ( NFL )

Emmitt Smith led the NFL in rushing all 3 yrs under Norv Turner, winning Super Bowl XXVIII MVP.

Michael Irvin never finished lower than 2nd in the NFL in receiving yards under Norv.

His success didn't come immediately, as the team posted a 4 – 12 record in 2003, thereby " earning " the first overall pick in the draft ( this was the last time that a team with the worst record in the NFL kept its head coach the following season, even considering the three other 4 – 12 teams that season replaced their head coaches, Oakland, Arizona, and the New York Giants hiring Norv Turner, Dennis Green, and Tom Coughlin, respectively ).

He believed that his role was reduced because he missed some voluntary offseason workouts to go to China on an NFL tour, although head coach Norv Turner denied this was the case.

* 1982 – Michael Turner ( American football ), NFL running back for the Atlanta Falcons

He is TNT's lead NBA voice, calls NFL games for CBS, and also calls NCAA tournament action for CBS and Turner Sports.

* Kevin Turner, NFL player

Notable staff included 9 year NFL Veteran John " JT " Turner of the Minnesota Vikings and Sam Adams, 6 time pro bowl defensive tackle who had two Super Bowl appearances and one Super Bowl ring while playing for the Baltimore Ravens.

Prominent NFL alumni include Senators Russ Feingold, Richard Lugar and William Frist, media visionary Ted Turner, Academy Award winners Patricia Neal and Don Ameche, Emmy award winners Kelsey Grammer and Shelley Long, television host Oprah Winfrey, news anchors Jane Pauley and the late David Bloom, C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Federal National Mortgage CEO Franklin Delano Raines, actors Brad Pitt and Zac Efron, and musician David Cook.

The NFL National Tournament continues to be held annually, featuring competition in Policy Debate, Lincoln Douglas Debate, Legislative Debate, Public Forum ( Ted Turner ) Debate, United States Extemporaneous Speaking, International Extemporaneous Speaking, Original Oratory, Dramatic Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, Commentary, Impromptu Speaking, Prose Reading, Poetry Reading, Expository Speaking and Storytelling.

Currently, they also serve distributor for television and / or movie product released by Lifetime, HBO, CNN, Cartoon Network, Turner Entertainment Co., truTV ( known as Court TV until 2008 ), TCM, TNT, American Girl, King Features, Peanuts, Sesame Workshop, National Geographic Society in the U. S., and product from the NBA, NFL, and NHL.

* Vernon Turner, NFL football player ( Buffalo Bills, Los Angeles Rams, Detroit Lions, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers )

Turner has coached the most games in NFL history among head coaches with an overall losing record.

Upon arriving in Dallas, Turner took over an offense that was dead last in the NFL in total yards averaging 255. 1 yds / gm and scoring 15. 2 pts / gm, his impact was immediate.

This left Turner with the distinction of being the only NFL head coach in the post-merger era to be fired midway through a season with a winning record.

Despite promising a strong start to the season and downplaying the effects of a major coaching turnover, Turner began the 2007 NFL season by losing 3 of his first 4 games.

On October 4, 2009, Turner recorded his 100th career loss as an NFL head coach.

On November 28, 2010, Turner recorded his 100th win as an NFL head coach.

On September 11, 2011, the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Turner recorded his 100th regular season win as an NFL head coach with a 24 – 17 opening game victory at home, over the Vikings.

A six time all-pro center, and a steady linebacker, Turner intercepted 4 passes in 5 NFL title games.

ESPN kept this contract until the 1997 season, by which time the NFL had expanded its Sunday night offerings to the full season and added Turner Sports as a broadcast partner.

* Scott Turner ( b. 1972 ), class of 1991, NFL defensive back and politician.

* Kevin Turner, NFL player ( class of ' 87 )