NFL stars take over HBCU football: the history & the future

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HBCU football has seen a surge of interest in recent years for the pageantry and culture on display as well as the exciting action on the field every Saturday. But, a large part of the success is due to the recent coaching hires in the HBCU space. Recently, Norfolk State made headlines by hiring  Michael Vick as the next head coach of the football team. Not to be outdone, Delaware State hired former Eagles star and Michael Vicks’s former teammate DeSean Jackson as their next head coach.

Starting this Fall, HBCU football is set to see levels of interest and excitement only rivaled by Deion Sanders for two and a half seasons at Jackson State University.  HBCU football has always welcomed former NFL stars turned coaches. None of them are more popular than Doug Williams. Williams made his name as quarterback of the Grambling State University Tigers under the leadership of legendary head coach Eddie G. Robinson.

Williams took his immense success in college football and turned it into a productive career in the NFL, including becoming the first black quarterback to both start and win a Super Bowl for the Washington Commanders in Super Bowl 22 in 1988. Only ten years later in 1998, Williams succeeded his coach Eddie Robinson as the coach of Grambling State. He led his team to three consecutive SWAC championships.

There are many other former NFL players that have found success in HBCU football across history such as Pete Richardson at Winston-Salem State and Southern University, Billy Joe and Central State and Florida A&M and Mike White at Albany State. But the hire of Deion Sanders by Jackson State in 2020 sparked a new interest in former NFL standouts becoming HBCU coaches.

Immediately following Deion Sanders’s being hired as coach of Jackson State, Eddie George was recruited and hired to lead the Tennessee State University Tigers. George recently led Tennessee State to a conference championship and an FCS Playoff appearance, their first since 2013.

Former NFL stars like Ray Lewis and Ed Reed of the Baltimore Ravens have expressed interest in becoming head coaches as well and have even been in the running to be hired at some institutions. But, the hires of Michael Vick and DeSean Jackson has generated more excitement and discussion around the potential for former players to use their NFL experience to help develop HBCU football programs.

Both DeSean Jackson and Michael Vick signed up for jobs that certainly won’t be easy. For Vick, he must turn around a Norfolk State program that has a proud athletic legacy in basketball and other sports but the football team has yet to see continued success.

Norfolk State joined the MEAC in 1997 but they’ve only had five winning seasons. In 2016, the NCAA stripped Norfolk State of all of its wins from 2009-2011, including the 2011 MEAC title, after neglecting to oversee its eligibility certification process.

Because of this, Norfolk State has only had two winning seasons since 1997: 2007 under Pete Adrian (8-3) and 2021 under Dawson Odoms (6-5). After the 2024 season, Dawson Odoms was dismissed following three straight losing seasons. Now, Michael Vick looks to bring a winning culture to one of his home state HBCUs as well as energize the Spartan fan base.

DeSean Jackson finds himself in a similar situation. Jackson was offered a position on Michael Vick’s coaching staff prior to both being hired, as Jackson said in a recent interview on the radio show The Breakfast Club.

"It’s crazy because when he called me he was like, 'I got an opportunity to either be at Sac State or Norfolk State.' He was like, 'You going to be my first hire.' So, at the same time, l was like, 'l'm interested' but I was trying to like play…not playing but like kind of keep him limbo cuz I knew I would potentially my own position so l was trying to really figure it out."

Unknown to Vick was that Jackson was already in talks with Delaware State to take the lead of their football program that’s only won two games in the past two seasons. But, Jackson looks to bring needed energy to the team, as he expressed in his introductory press conference to start the year.

Jackson looks to establish his coaching career in a different fashion than Deion Sanders and even Michael Vick.

"And I’ll tell you this, I know a lot of people say, 'Coach Prime, Coach Prime.’ I respect him. And he’s gave us guys like myself an opportunity. I’m going to do it differently than Prime, I’m going to do it the Coach Jackson way."

According to Jackson, the reason why he looked to become a head coach is because of his mentor Travis Clark."Not necessarily. I will say, me being able to get inspired from coaching came from having the opportunity to go coach with my older brother, my mentor, Coach Clark. He’s been coaching in high school for the past 25 years. And every step of my, my college career and my NFL career, I’ve always kept an eye on seeing what he, what he’s able to install in these young men. And I respected it and what he installed in me. So last year I went and coached with him and I regained a different love for football, like the void that I’m missing of catching touchdowns now."

Clark is an experienced high school coach who led the Woodrow Wilson High School football team in Long Beach, California during the 2024 season. Before DeSean Jackson was hired at Delaware State,  Clark hired Jackson to be the offensive coordinator at Woodrow Wilson.

Now, Clark is set to join Jackson's staff as an assistant coach, where he's expected to serve as the former Eagles star's trusted right-hand man. During a media session at Jackson’s introductory press conference, Clark talked about getting the call to join Jackson’s coaching staff.

"So for me coaching in high school for so long, maybe after year 15 or 17 the dream of coaching collegiately kind of dissipated. It was in the back of my mind because when you do a good job at the high school level, college coaches want you to stay there so they can continue to come back and recruit kids, et cetera. So when DeSean asked me, 'Hey, if I’m going to Delaware, are you coming with me?’ You know, it took about five minutes."

He continued, "[I]  had to talk to my family a little bit. I left a great group of kids at Woodrow Wilson High School behind after a year that they, you know, they’re all emotional because we just establish aed great relationship. So I had to deal with that. But I’ll do anything with this young man. I’ve been with him since he’s about nine years old and he’s my family. And anything that he puts his mind on, I know that he’s going to be successful. So when he asked me to come aboard that he needed me here, it wasn’t even a hesitation."

As Michael Vick and DeSean Jackson become the latest head coaches to lead an HBCU,  it’s clear that the landscape of college football is changing and HBCU programs are willing to change with it.

The post NFL stars take over HBCU football: the history & the future appeared first on ClutchPoints.

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