NFL Rookie Head Coaches: Making the Grade in 2009?

(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Last season saw the success of two franchises that had struggled in 2007, the Atlanta Falcons and the Baltimore Ravens. The two teams ended their the 2008 seasons with an 11-5 record and came in second in their respective divisions.

Both teams earned a berth to the playoffs.

Both teams were also led by rookie head coaches.

Now in their second years, Falcons' head coach Mike Smith and Ravens' head coach John Harbaugh are headed in the right direction, and both can easily follow up last year’s success with yet another run at the postseason.

This season, many owners and general managers have taken a liking to the idea of fresh minds in the locker room—young blood motivating young blood.

Let’s take a look into all the new first-time head coaches that are being handed the reins of their respective teams and see how each hope to fare.

Just for the sake of discussion, I will be mentioning each coach’s win-loss average between their former team and their new team. The new coaches were all coordinators and played a heavy hand in the records of their team.

In the simplest of worlds, it would be apparent that the former team’s win-loss record combined with the win-loss record of the coach’s new team would indicate how successful the new team would be.

Since it’s obviously not so simple, I will follow each commentary with my prediction on how each coach will perform.

Without further ado, here are my thoughts.

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