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What was Al Groh thinking?

The question was posed in more than one chat room, subway, deli and taxi after the New York Jets coach abruptly left on Dec. 31 to coach at Virginia, of all places.

Wherever people met in the ultimate NFL hub city, it was a street-corner topic.

One minute Groh has the Jets running up more than 500 yards on the eventual Super Bowl champion Ravens. Seven days later, he had forsaken the Big Apple for ... Charlottesville.

"It was unexpected and kind of surprising to me, as it was a lot of other people," Groh said.

What we've got going on here is a reverse trend that has seen Groh and his peers reconsidering just how attractive it is to be an NFL head coach.

Three former NFL head coaches -- Oregon State's Dennis Erickson, USC's Pete Carroll and Arizona's John Mackovic -- now lead programs in the Pac-10. Another Pac-10 coach, Stanford's Tyrone Willingham, has significant pro experience as an assistant.

June Jones, of course, left the head coaching position of the San Diego Chargers to take over the mid-major program at Hawaii.

Former Kansas City Chiefs coach Marty Schottenheimer's name came up at North Carolina before the school hired New Orleans Saints assistant John Bunting. Les Miles left the Dallas Cowboys staff to take over Oklahoma State.

Former Cowboys head coach Chan Gailey was in the running at Georgia.

At least five other former NFL head or assistant coaches "dropped down" to the college level within the past five years. The world wants to know why.

There was a time when leaving the NFL for college was a major step backward. But suddenly, it is acceptable to quit pursuing NFL glamour and power and settle for life in a place like Corvallis, Ore.

"The money is closer, that's one of the basic reasons," said Erickson, who seemingly was forced to take one of those steps down to then-lowly Oregon State when he was fired from the Seattle Seahawks in 1998. "Some college coaches probably get paid even more."

Virginia's Al Groh says there was only one college job that interested him enough to leave the Jets.(Allsport)

At last count, there were 18 college coaches being paid at least $1 million per season, with several others close enough to get into seven figures via some attainable incentives.

Athletic directors hungry for bowl games and prestige, aided by a long economic boom, have been handing out raises almost nightly. Top coordinators are paid well into six figures at major programs.

Bind it all together and, "it's lifestyle and how you want to live," Erickson said.

Groh, 56, had been on the NFL fast track but saw an opportunity to return to his alma mater, where he played football and lacrosse.

It was going to take someone special to replace George Welsh. Groh was it.

"There were a lot of deep issues involved," Groh said. "This is the only school I would have ever considered because I enjoy the NFL very much. I have a lot of contacts within the state. My mother lives here, my brother and sister live here."

College football looks like a big, comfy barcalounger for some looking down from the NFL. There is pressure, yes, but a different kind of pressure.

Miles, 47, left the Dallas Cowboys after three seasons to return to familiar surroundings in Stillwater. His roots had been in college having coached at three schools over 18 seasons. His last college job had been as Oklahoma State's offensive coordinator (1995-97).

"When I got into coaching, my coach told me, 'You're not going to make a dime. You're going to take a pay cut. You're going to work long hours and you're going to be happier than you've ever been,' Miles said. "Everything he said has been true."

Thank you Bo Schembechler, who gave Miles his start in coaching in 1980.

Miles made sure the pay cut thing was for real. He asked school officials to take $300,000 of his original $700,000 per year deal and divide it among the assistants.

"I have to be real honest with you," Miles said. "I've been places where the head coach did not make more money than other people in the conference and was the league's finest coach. I really don't see this as that unusual. It caught some notoriety which is a kind thing. I think this is a way that athletics is headed."

Illinois coach Ron Turner was allowed to go 3-19 in his first two seasons before reviving the Illini.

"I got back in the college game because I love the college game," said Turner who left the Chicago Bears in 1997 after four years as an offensive coordinator, right when he was positioned to become one of the next NFL head coaches. "It's not a step down, I don't think. I don't think the perception is there anymore."

Bunting left for his alma mater less than two years after winning a Super Bowl with the St. Louis Rams. Oakland Raiders coach Jon Gruden, an Ohio native, was at least somewhat interested in the Ohio State vacancy before Jim Tressel came from Youngstown State.

"There are two or three issues," said Arizona's Mackovic, who was the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs from 1983 to 1986. "Financially, the money is much better (than previously). It's an opportunity for a coach to develop his career. With only 32 head coaching jobs in the NFL, they're finding an opportunity to come back to the college ranks, get the experience, leadership training, personnel decisions, dealing with the media. It's a good training ground.

"Plus, the work schedule of the NFL has changed dramatically in the last five to 10 years. Many of the coaches are working yearround. Whereas in the college game, it's (already) been pretty much a year-round situation."

A situation where college coaches can find more control. Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren has made it a career quest for "total control" (coach and general manager) that almost every NFL coach craves.

Guess what? In college, it's built in. It has to be. The coach has to oversee everything from play-calling to recruiting to academics.

If he does it well enough, he becomes a version of Bobby Bowden or Joe Paterno, i.e., the modern CEO king/coach with almost unlimited power in a state.

Despite the pressure and big bucks, college football still has a certain charm that money can't buy.

June Jones returned to his alma mater to help revive Hawaii football.(Allsport)

Sixteen years after starting his college career at Hawaii, June Jones turned down bigger bucks from the San Diego Chargers, leaving the NFL team as interim head coach to return to the Islands in 1999.

The glamour of staying in the NFL meant less than coming "home." His wife Diane had beaten cancer. The kids loved the islands.

Who cared if the program stunk? Jones could watch the sun rise over paradise while on his way to the office.

What clinched Jones' place in Hawaii's heart was that in this age of mega-dollar contracts, he actually turned down money to go to the Islands. He was making $500,000 with the Chargers. Hawaii offered him only $320,000. Jones suggested he could make it into a "lifetime job."

"Here was a fellow that came to Hawaii, wanted to come back to Hawaii," athletic director Hugh Yoshida said. "He came back for all the right reasons. The people in Hawaii really embrace the thought that it's the land of aloha. It's a warm, fuzzy feeling that Hawaii was a good place to live."

Jones solidified his legend status in Hawaii by orchestrating the biggest turnaround in Division I-A history. The Rainbows went from 0-12 in 1998 to 9-4 in 1999.

When Jones was almost killed in a horrific car wreck during the offseason, the outpouring of concern was like that for a head of state. His recovery in time for the 2001 season has elevated him to legendary status among islanders.

Erickson has achieved similar status after ending Oregon State's 29-year losing streak in 1999 and then leading the fourth-ranked Beavers to a Fiesta Bowl-winning season in 2000. It beats going 31-33 in four seasons with the Seahawks.

"It seems like in the NFL now, it's three or four years and they don't give you an opportunity to do anything," Erickson said. "For the most part in college football they're going to give you an opportunity because of the recruiting. In the NFL with free agency, obviously those owners expect it to be done right away."

When former New England Patriots coach Pete Carroll was announced as Southern Cal's new coach on Dec. 15, there was an outcry among the Trojan faithful. The thinking was that athletic director Mike Garrett had strung out the search, waiting for more desirable candidates, and was burned.

Garrett spun this way: Carroll was his choice all along. In fact, Garrett said, Carroll had been approached three years ago, before USC hired Paul Hackett, another guy with an extensive NFL resume.

"I didn't care," Carroll said of the criticism. "I'm here. That didn't matter. I don't think it's as significant as people try to make it."

Groh and Carroll have insulated themselves with a staff heavy on NFL experience. Carroll, for example, hadn't recruited in 18 years when he took the Trojan job. Groh spent 16 years as a college assistant and head coach, but it had been 13 years since he left as South Carolina's offensive coordinator for the NFL.

"When I was named head coach of the Jets, Bill Parcells used the phrase that, 'We're all from the same tribe,'" Groh said. "What separates the people in the tribe from other tribes is a common philosophy, common rituals. All my assistants ended up having some kind of exposure to the NFL."

What's strange is that there is a potential drain on coaches going the other way back to the NFL in a few years. Butch Davis left for the Cleveland Browns after rebuilding Miami. Oklahoma's Bob Stoops at least expressed interest in Cleveland job, and intriguing offers are sure to come his way.

As Mackovic intimated, colleges could be nothing more than a training ground for the young and restless assistants. The NFL is paying coordinators in the $500,000 range and already has shown an interest in elevating the brightest of the college game.

The 49ers snatched Purdue quarterbacks coach Greg Olson in February. It was not a bad time for Olson to leave. All he had done was coach the Big Ten's all-time leading passer, Drew Brees.

If Olson does well maybe someday he'll get a promotion -- and go back to college.

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