When Deion “Prime Time” Sanders started his coaching career by becoming the head football coach at Jackson State University in Mississippi, many thought it was a revolutionary concept.
How many Black professional athletes have become head coaches at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)? You might be surprised.
“Coach Prime” parlayed his stint at Jackson State to success at Division-1 University of Colorado, coaching his quarterback son Shedeur and last year’s Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter.
Sanders is far from alone in making the transition from player to head coach. Right now, the list of former players coaching at HBCU schools is quite impressive:
- Michael Vick, former All-Pro NFL quarterback, now the head coach at Norfolk State (VA).
- DeSean Jackson, 17-year NFL wide receiver, is running the program at Delaware State.
- Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, former four-time WNBA champ, four-time Finals MVP, two-time league MVP, two-time NCAA champ, and a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, is the head women’s basketball coach at Texas Southern.
- 13-year NBA vet Reggie Theus is athletic director and head basketball coach at Bethune-Cookman University (FL)
- Eddie George, Ohio State Heisman Trophy winner and a nine-year NFL running back who started at Tennessee State, is head man at Division-1 Bowling Green University (OH).
Add ex-Knick, Heisman Trophy winner, and NCAA national champion (1993) Charlie Ward to the mix. Last spring, Ward was named head basketball coach at Florida A&M University (FAMU) in Tallahassee. Ward captured the Heisman and the national championship playing just 1.3 miles away from FAMU at Florida State University, so it’s a homecoming.
“My parents and my older sister went to FAMU,” said the 54-year old Thomasville, GA native. “I was raised on the campus in a sense, because I was born there [at FAMU’s on-campus hospital]. We went to a lot of the sporting events — mainly football and a few basketball games. I was on campus a lot. All those things were a part of my upbringing on the campus.”
After Ward had been coaching high school in Houston and Florida for 17 years, FAMU called and asked him if he wanted the job. “I coached high school basketball for seven years at one place and I didn’t have aspirations or coaching in college when the job actually opened up,” he said. “I will enjoy my time at FAMU because there are a lot of things that need to be done to continue to build a brand, and the only way that you can do that is if you’re there consistently. I got a five-year deal. Hopefully, they want me around for five years,” he said with a chuckle.
With all the “name” athletes becoming head coaches, the patron saint of NFL players going to HBCUs is former coach Billy Joe who turns 85 in October. A member of the 1969 New York Jets’ Super Bowl team, Joe is a lifer, having coached at four HBCUs: Cheney, Central State, FAMU, and Miles — compiling a 245-157-4 mark; second in wins only to Grambling’s Eddie Robinson.
“I don’t know if it’s a trend or not, because there hasn’t been a plethora of football players going that route,” Joe noted from his home in Hoover, Ala., 10 miles outside of Birmingham. “The few that have gone that route have been very successful and some have been able to catapult themselves to major college football. It’s a good route to take because you are more likely to become employed at an HBCU at this particular time.”