Three former pros convinced Marshall Faulk to take a head coaching job originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
On Monday, Southern University introduced Marshall Faulk as their next head coach. Faulk in 2025 served as the running backs coach for the Colorado Buffaloes under Deion Sanders. While his time in Boulder represents the only college football coaching experience he has, he did provide improved results for Colorado.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIn 2024, Colorado had a historically poor running game. Averaging a shade under 70 yards per game making them the lowest ranked rushing team in the FBS. In 2025 Faulk and the Colorado running backs almost doubled that production. Ending the 2025 season averaging 125 rush yards per game.
Faulk, who is an NFL hall of famer, has spent the bulk of his post NFL career in sports media, most notably as a mainstay on NFL Network for twelve years. In addition to that role, Faulk has worked as a Senior Marketing Director for Virtuity and representative of WealthWave and World Financial Group. All companies that promote financial education.
During the Monday introductory press conference, Faulk was joined by two of the three former players who convinced Faulk to take the Southern job. Both of those two are Southern alumni as well as former professional athletes in their own right.
Former players of influence
Faulk was joined on Monday by Southern alumni and pro football hall of famer Aeneas Williams as well as former NBA player and coach Avery Johnson. According to USA Today, Faulk credits Williams and Johnson as the people who convinced him to take the Southern job.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFaulk follows in familiar footsteps by taking the Southern job. Southern, is one of many HBCU programs who have looked to former NFL players as coaches. Including Michael Vick at Norfolk State, DeSean Jackson at Delaware State, Eddie George at Tennessee State, and Faulk former boss in Deion Sanders at Jackson State before taking the Colorado job.
In each of those cases, those names were in some way encouraged to pursue those jobs if not mentored directly by Sanders. In each case, the experience factors were similar. Getting NFL greats to coach at HBCUs with less-than-ideal experience just might become a coaching trend. The former players get valuable coaching experience in a non-Power 4 landscape, and those programs have the benefit of added exposure with a high-profile hire.
In the case of Faulk, he was influenced by three specific names. The aforementioned Williams and Johnson as well as his former boss Deion Sanders. While Sanders does not have any noteworthy connections to Southern, he is the grandfather of this coaching trend. Faulk understands the experience part and has no delusions on where he stands from an experience standpoint.
Experience and impact
“What's there to question?” Faulk said when asked about his lack of experience. “You know and I know this is my first head coaching job. I don't think there's a question. You can't give answers to anything like that. You know, it's like anything else. Just wait and see. Like, time will tell. You’ll get to decide whether what they’re saying or what I’m doing works.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementCoach Sanders encouraged Faulk to pursue Southern and was at the forefront of this idea before it got off the ground. Sanders not only supports the move, he encouraged it from the beginning. “Hey, man, I encouraged Marshall to not only interview for the job, but to accept the job if that’s was in his heart to do,” Sanders told them. He followed it with something even more personal. “Make no mistake about it. It is and I’m going to miss Marshall Faulk.”
Faulk takes over for a Southern team coming off a 2-10 campaign. While they did beat Grambling State in the Bayou Classic, athletic director Roman Banks called the hire a game changer that is already showing Faulk’s name carries weight. Banks acknowledged that the hiring of Faulk has “led to phone calls that we’ve never been able to get to upgrade facilities”.
Faulk said on Monday that he has 90% of his staff already in lined up but did not specify who those names are. Faulk has roughly a month to get aligned with his staff before the transfer portal window opens. Then another couple of months before Spring Ball gets underway.
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