This week: Former NFL star Marshall Faulk
Marshall Faulk is the latest former big-time NFL player to become a head football coach at an HBCU, and he is in his first season at Southern University.
The New Orleans native was named SU coach last December after his first season as Colorado running backs coach under Deion Sanders, another gridiron great who began his college coaching career at Jackson State (2020-22).
Faulk was a three-time All-American and three-time Heisman finalist at San Diego State, then became the second overall pick of the 1994 NFL Draft and played 12 seasons with Indianapolis (1994-98) and the St. Louis Rams (1999-2005), winning the 2000 MVP award and leading the Rams to two Super Bowls (winning in 2000 and appearing again in 2002).
Faulk is in several halls of fame, including the Pro Football Hall of Fame (2011), the College Football Hall of Fame (2017), his alma mater’s (1998) and the Colts Ring of Honor.
After a decade as a broadcaster for the NFL Network, Faulk returned to football, this time as a coach.
“I’m the rookie here,” Faulk joked to reporters, including MSR, on his first SWAC coaches media call of the 2026 season. “There’s a lot of unknowns, and the only thing I can do for my players, I tell them, ‘Control what you can control.’
“We’re ready for whatever is going to take place,” Faulk stressed.
It’s not lost on him that being a Black coach, especially in football, is very important for many reasons.
“Being a head coach, being Black and a former player, it’s growing, man,” Faulk responded to an MSR question. “I don’t want to put the focus on us being Black head coaches or former players because that takes the light away from the guys who maybe didn’t play in the NFL as doing a damn good job as well.
“All in all, we’re all just head coaches trying to help these young men to get better on and off the field, to put them in a better situation, to teach them the qualities of life and how football can prepare you for the game of life as well,” he continued.
On getting to the NFL and sticking there, “I talk to the kids on what it takes to make it at the next level,” explained the SU coach, “and about making sure they understand whether you make it to the next level or next as a player, the opportunity as a coach or in the front office, that opportunity is just as great to provide you and your family in life. It’s just as awesome as playing.”
Faulk said he had excellent role models to follow as he contemplated a future in coaching.
“Fortunate enough to have some great head coaches lead me,” he pointed out. “And before I decided to go on this journey, I literally made as many calls as possible. I’m always in contact with my mentors, guys around the NFL that’s coached in college, coaches in high school.
“Just asking the nuances about the how-to’s and they help me with all the things that’s needed in making the decisions.”
SU plays at Texas Southern on Saturday, Oct. 24, after a bye week.
“Football is a team game and that the team that plays the better as a team usually wins,” Coach Faulk surmised.
Finally …
As we head into the 2026-27 women’s college basketball season, only four Black head coaches are listed among the 25 winningest active coaches (with at least five years at Division I): Dawn Staley (No. 8, .779), Niele Ivey (No. 15, .743), Kenny Brooks (No. 21, .717) and Kara Lawson (No. 24, .713).
Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses at challman@spokesman-recorder.com.
Copyright © Charles Hallman