Former NFL Pro Bowler quarterback Michael Vick is set to become the next head coach at Norfolk State University, a historically Black university located in Norfolk, Va., less than an hour from where Vick grew up in Newport News, Va, according to a Facebook post by Michael Vick and multiple sources.
Vick takes over for Dawson Odums, who was dismissed after four seasons with the Spartans; his record was 15-30. Norfolk State University competes in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), a D-I division, and member of the NCAA’s Football Championship Subdivision, the division’s second tier behind the Football Bowl Subdivision where an NCAA football national champion is crowned. Other institutions in the MEAC include HBCUs Howard University, Delaware State University, Morgan State University, South Carolina State University, among others. Vick has never coached at the professional or collegiate level, however some fans of the program expressed excitement over the former NFL star’s potential to lead.
“Just so y’all know, my Auntie is already praying for Michael Vick. So, basically he’s gonna have a STELLAR season. Lolol…” tweeted one X user. “Let’s see this gifted and ordained staff he surrounds himself with[!]”
Vick is the latest former NFL star to take over a head coaching position at an HBCU. Former Pro Bowl running back Eddie George recently completed his fourth season at Tennessee State University and two-sport star and Super Bowl winner Deion Sanders famously coached Jackson State University’s football team for two seasons before heading to the University of Colorado at Boulder. One of his biggest gets, five-star recruit Travis Hunter signed to Jackson State University to play for Sanders and then followed him to Colorado where he won the 2024 Heisman Trophy, given to the nation’s top college football player.
A standout high school football player in Newport News, Vick chose to stay in Virginia and played quarterback at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. In college, he led the Virginia Tech Hokies to the 1999 season national championship game in his redshirt freshman season, a loss to Florida State University in the Sugar Bowl. After his 2000 campaign, where he led Virginia Tech to a win in the Gator Bowl, Vick declared for the NFL draft where he was selected number 1 by the Atlanta Falcons where he broke records and was an NFL superstar on the field and in pop culture, and was a fan favorite in the city of Atlanta.
Vick’s Pro-Bowl NFL career was interrupted in 2007 after he was convicted for his involvement in a dogfighting ring in Newport News. He was released by the Atlanta Falcons and served 21 months in a federal prison. Upon his release, he played for the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers, before retiring in 2017 and moving into a career in sports media. He’s been an NFL analyst for Fox Sports since 2017.
According to ESPN, Vick is meeting the moment with anticipation, saying he was “looking forward to coming back home.”
Panama Jackson is a columnist at theGrio and host of the award-winning podcast, “Dear Culture” on theGrio Black Podcast Network. He writes very Black things, drinks very brown liquors, and is pretty fly for a light guy. His biggest accomplishment to date coincides with his Blackest accomplishment to date in that he received a phone call from Oprah Winfrey after she read one of his pieces (biggest) but he didn’t answer the phone because the caller ID said “Unknown” (Blackest).