Norfolk State is hiring former NFL quarterback Michael Vick as its head football coach, The Athletic and other outlets reported Tuesday.
In taking the top job at a school near his hometown of Newport News, Va., Vick joins a group of NFL stars turned first-time coaches at HBCUs in recent years. Here’s a look at which notable names have made the move recently and how it’s gone.
Deion Sanders at Jackson State
In three years at Jackson State, Sanders brought a new level of media attention to HBCU football — and won games. The Athletic named him Sports Culture Person of the Year in 2022, largely for his “Coach Prime” style, and his profile as a coach has only grown since then. While at Jackson State, Sanders raised viewership for games, advocated for HBCU players at the NFL Scouting Combine and hosted a pro day for athletes in Mississippi. Under Sander’s coaching, Jackson State won a school-record 11-win season in 2021 and the first SWAC championship since 2007.
Jackson State was Sanders’ first college coaching job, but he had spent years as a youth and high school coach after wrapping up a decorated career as a professional football and baseball player. He’s brought that same national spotlight to Colorado since the Buffs hired him away in 2022, a disappointment to many Jackson State fans. Like at Jackson State, Sanders’s hire upped the profile, recruiting caliber and performance of the team, most recently evidenced by Buffs star Travis Hunter’s Heisman Trophy win. Hunter followed Sanders from Jackson to Boulder alongside Deion’s sons, quarterback Shedeur and safety Shilo, and several other Tigers contributors.
Eddie George at Tennessee State
Since his hiring in 2021, George has found success at Tennessee State, which saw its best conference finish in 11 seasons this year, going 9-4 and making the FCS playoffs for the first time since 2013 before losing in the first round to Montana. George was a first-time college coach when Tennessee State hired him a few years ago.
George won the Heisman Trophy at Ohio State in 1995 before playing for eight years with the Houston Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans) and one year with the Dallas Cowboys.
Eddie Robinson Jr. at Alabama State
Robinson, who played for the Oilers/Titans, Jaguars and Bills while in the NFL and appeared in the Super Bowl with the Titans in 2000, has coached at Alabama State, his alma mater, since 2022. He has delivered winning records in each of his three years with the Hornets.
Robinson traded words with Sanders in 2022, when the two both coached in the SWAC before Sanders left for Colorado. “He ain’t SWAC. I’m SWAC, he ain’t SWAC,” ESPN reported Robinson said at the time.
Ed Reed at Bethune-Cookman
This hire … did not go as well as the other three. Bethune-Cookman parted ways with Reed less than a month after the school announced that he had entered into an agreement to become coach at the end of 2022.
The school ultimately decided not to ratify Reed’s contract after weeks of negotiations between the Hall of Famer and Bethune-Cookman. During that time, Reed posted and then apologized for social media videos criticizing the program and the campus.
The Super Bowl champion safety, who starred at Miami and then played for the Ravens for most of his professional career, had spent one year as assistant defensive backs coach for the Buffalo Bills and as chief of staff at his alma mater before the botched Bethune-Cookman hire.
Required reading
- Former NFL QB Michael Vick to become coach at Norfolk State: ‘Looking forward to coming back home’
- A Celebration Bowl win without Deion Sanders can help Jackson State forge new path
(Photo: Ryan Hunt / Getty Images)
