Jim Mora Jr. to UCLA: 5 Best and Worst NFL-to-College Football Coaching Hires

UCLA has its head coach as Jim Mora Jr. has decided to leave television and jump back into coaching, although this will be his first time ever having a head coaching position at the college level.

Very few head coaches are able to make the transition from the NFL to college because there is a lot more they have to deal with. In college there are a lot more rules, you're coaching kids and not young men, and you have to recruit. That's a lot more work than the NFL, where you can focus more on the coaching side of things.

Here are some of the best and worst coaching experiences where a coach has left the NFL to take on the college level.

Worst: Dave Wannstedt

Dave Wannstedt coached the Chicago Bears and the Miami Dolphins before taking the Pittsburgh job.

He finished his NFL coaching career with a 82-87 record and two playoff wins. In college he didn't do much better as he led Pittsburgh to only two bowl games in six years. He finished with a 42-31 record and a 1-1 bowl record.

He did have a great recruiting class in 2007 but still didn't do much with it. He later resigned in 2010 after a disappointing 7-5 season.

Wannstedt is currently an assistant head coach with the Buffalo Bills.

Worst: Mike Sherman

Mike Sherman did an OK job as the Green Bay Packers head coach, going 57-39 in six seasons, but was later fired after a horrible 4-12 year in 2005.

In 2008 he accepted the head coaching job at Texas A&M, and despite having great recruiting classes, he failed to live up to the expectations. He didn't win a bowl game in four seasons and finished with a 25-25 record.

This season was the last straw, as he had a veteran team returning from 2010 and ended up finishing 6-6 by blowing several fourth-quarter leads.

Worst: Mike Shula

Mike Shula is the son of legendary Don Shula, so you'd think great head coaching would be in his genes, but it turns out that wasn't the case.

Shula was the offensive coordinator for several teams before taking the head coaching position at Alabama. He coached four seasons and finished his career with a brutal 10-23 record and a 1-1 bowl record. In 2006 he was later fired, and the Crimson Tide went with current head coach Nick Saban.

Shula is now a quarterbacks coach for the Carolina Panthers and doing a fine job with Cam Newton.

Best and Worst: Butch Davis

Butch Davis worked with the Dallas Cowboys before becoming the head coach of the Miami Hurricanes. He had a lot of success in Miami, leading the Hurricanes to a 51-20 record and going 4-0 in bowl games. There are a ton of NFL stars right now that were recruited by Davis.

He then took over the Cleveland Browns head coach position in 2001 and went 24-34.

Feeling the itch to get back into coaching college football, he took over the North Carolina Tar Heels. There he went 28-23 and 1-2 in bowl games.

He was later fired for a scandal involving academic misconduct and players accepting improper benefits.

Butch Davis is one of the few head coaches that has experienced success and failure as a college football head coach.

Best: Pete Carroll

Pete Carroll wasn't real successful during his three seasons with the New England Patriots. But in 2001 when he got his first heading coaching job in college at USC, he would end up becoming one of the greatest coaches in the BCS era.

Sure, many people will remember him for the way he ended up leaving the school, but a 97-19 record and a 7-2 bowl record have to count for something. He also won two national championships.

Carrol has recently tried the NFL again and is doing a subpar job with the Seattle Seahawks as he is 12-16 in two seasons.

Randy Chambers is a B/R Featured Columnist that covers College Football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail]