After revealing earlier in the week that he was headed to Norfolk State to be the football team’s new head coach, Michael Vick was officially appointed to the position on Friday.
Norfolk State University (NSU), a historically black university (HBCU) in Vick’s home state of Virginia, announced Vick as the Spartans’ 19th head coach in program history, succeeding the fired Dawson Odums.
Norfolk State’s athletics director, Dr. Melody Webb, released a statement highlighting Vick’s importance to the region as he was born and raised in the city of Newport News before attending Virginia Tech.
13-Year Playing Career
This foray into, first the media and now coaching, followed a 13-year playing career for Vick with four different teams. He was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2001 NFL Draft and spent his first six seasons with the Atlanta Falcons before a high-profile arrest for dogfighting that resulted in an 18-month stint in federal prison and two missed years of NFL action.He returned to the field in 2009 with Reid and the Eagles, played five years with the team, and then spent one year each with the New York Jets and the Pittsburgh Steelers. His last game came in 2015, and he was a four-time Pro Bowler who remains the all-time leading rusher in NFL history among quarterbacks, for now, as Lamar Jackson is just 109 yards away from breaking that record.
Per Norfolk State, Vick will be formally introduced at a press conference on Monday.
Hiring of NFL Stars
This hire by Norfolk State is the latest in a string of former NFL stars being appointed by HBCUs despite no previous coaching experience at the college level. However, both of the prior prominent hires ended up being home runs for the football programs.The most well-known was Hall of Famer Deion Sanders being hired by Jackson State in 2020, even though his only prior coaching experience was at a high school he founded, as well as being an offensive coordinator at a private high school his son, Shedeur Sanders, attended.
Sanders went 4-3 in his debut season, which was shortened due to the COVID pandemic, and then went 23-3 over the next two seasons. Those two years included back-to-back SWAC Championship Game appearances as Sanders was named the conference’s Coach of the Year in both seasons. He parlayed that job into his current role with the Colorado Buffaloes.
Another example is that of Eddie George, a four-time NFL Pro Bowler like Vick. George rushed for over 10,000 yards in his pro career, ranking 18th all-time when he retired, with much of it coming with the Tennessee Titans. His ties to the state remained strong after retiring, so much so that Tennessee State, which, like the Titans franchise, is located in Nashville, hired George as its football coach in 2021 despite no coaching experience at any level.
While George struggled initially, going 15-18 over his first three years, this past season was a breakout for the program. He led the Tigers to a 9-4 record, won the Big South-OVC Football Association, and made the FCS playoffs. The Tigers lost in the first round, but it was still their first postseason appearance since 2013.
Norfolk State is hoping for similar success with Vick. The Spartans compete at the FCS level and haven’t been to the playoffs since 2011 or won a conference title since 1984. The team went 4-8 in 2024, marking its third straight losing season under Odums, who took over in 2021. Odums had 22 years of coaching experience before landing the gig, including eight years as a head coach, so Norfolk State is going toward the opposite end of the spectrum with Vick’s hiring.