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Playing experience at the highest level is becoming a bigger part of a prospective coach’s resume than coaching experience anywhere when it comes time to apply for a college football head coach opening.
With varying degrees of success, former NFL stars like Deion Sanders, Eddie George, Trent Dilfer, Michael Vick, DeSean Jackson and Hines Ward have entered the college football coaching ranks – all but the latter after having never served as a college assistant – or in some cases, even a high school football coach.
Ward – currently the Associate Head Coach at Arizona State – is the exception. He’s been an assistant coach for the past two season in Tempe after spending four years as an NFL assistant and a single season as the head coach of the San Antonio Brahmas of the UFL. On his current trajectory, he’s likely to get a college head coaching job sooner rather than later.
Sanders and George Left TV Work Behind
After a successful media stint, Sanders dabbled in high school coaching before beginning a two-year stint at Jackson State, followed by his current gig at Colorado. Dilfer came out of the broadcast booth and spent two and a half seasons at Alabama-Birmingham (9-21) before being fired mid-season this year. George tried his hand at acting before becoming the head coach at Tennessee State, where he spent four seasons before landing his current head coaching job at Bowling Green, where his team is 4-8 this season.
Vick is in his first season at Norfolk State, as is Jackson at Delaware State. The two of them just clashed in a Mid-Eastern-Athletic-Conference contest, with the former Philadelphia wide Eagles receiver and his Hornets topping his former QB Vick and the Spartans 27-20.
Faulk Joins List of Former Pros Coaching HBCU Programs
The latest to join this group is Pro Football Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk, who is leaving Sanders staff at Colorado, where he served as the running backs coach for one season – to take over the job at HBCU member Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Faulk grew up in nearby New Orleans.
Despite his Hall of Fame playing credentials, Faulk has mostly stayed in the background in Boulder this season. Perhaps that was due to his lack of experience in college coaching, or maybe he – and the rest of the CU staff – simply stayed in their collective lanes with Sanders out in front at all times. Regardless, when the opportunity came to accept his first head coaching gig, Faulk didn’t hesitate to join Sanders, George, Vick and Jackson in starting their college coaching careers with an HBCU program.
Southern closes the season on Saturday against rival Grambling, which is coached by former Nebraska quarterback and interim head coach Mickey Joseph, the brother of Denver Broncos Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph.
Mark Knudson Mark is a former MLB pitcher for the Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers and Colorado Rockies. He’s the only person ever to play high school, college and professional baseball in Colorado. Mark earned a BA in Technical Journalism from Colorado State University and has worked in radio, television and print sports media since 1994. He’s the co-author of “Pitching to the Corners” with former teammate Don August and the author of “Just Imagine,” a historical fiction novel about The Beatles.
Mark is currently a feature writer and columnist for Mile High Sports in Denver and recently joined the team at Heavy.com. Mark is also a high school baseball coach in the Denver area. More about Mark Knudson
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