There has been a significant shift in the hiring of HBCU football coaches in recent years. Teams are no longer pursuing veteran coaches. Instead, they are relying on hype and hoping for positive results. Deion Sanders’ appointment at Jackson State in 2020 was probably the biggest catalyst in that regard. We saw names like Michael Vick and DeSean Jackson come to coach HBCUs following that trend. And now an HBCU is after Deion Sanders’ assistant.

Well-known HBCU media personality Scottay appeared on his podcast ‘Offscript TV’ on Tuesday and indicated a potential switch of jobs for Buffs RBs coach Marshall Faulk. “Word on the street is that Marshall Faulk is the leading candidate for the Southern head coaching job. This weekend, Southern’s staff flew out to see Marshall Faulk at Colorado,” said Scottay.

Southern University fired its head coach, Terrence Graves, after a 1-6 start to the 2025 season. Terrence was Southern’s head coach from 2023 and had accumulated an 11-11 record. Laying him off, the Baton Rouge program has made clear its intentions to compete at the highest level, something a coach like Marshall Faulk can guarantee. That said, there are other candidates, too, being evaluated for the job.

“This was a difficult decision, but the results on the field were not acceptable. After evaluating every aspect of the football program. I believe it is in the best interests of Southern football student-athletes, our fans, and our university,” said Southern University’s AD Roman Banks. The message seems simple: Southern is looking to follow programs like Norfolk State, Delaware State, and Jackson State, adopting their blueprint of hiring illustrious names.

Marshall is considered one of the best running backs of his generation and played in the NFL from 1994 to 2005. The now-52-year-old won the Super Bowl XXXIV with the Rams and had 10 NFL All-Pro selections. Not to mention that the Buffs’ RBs coach was a two-time unanimous All-American at San Diego State, selected second overall in the 1994 NFL draft. All of these achievements are reflected in his coaching at Colorado.

Joining Colorado in the 2025 season, Marshall Faulk has upped the running game for the Buffs. For context, last year Colorado squeezed just 847 yards from its running backs while the air offense accumulated 4,134 yards. This year, after Faulk’s arrival, the rushing game has improved, notching up 1,221 yards so far, while the air offense has managed to accumulate just 2,097 yards. That surely boosts his resume, despite Colorado being his first coaching job since his retirement from the NFL. Moreover, this isn’t the first time the Colorado assistant has been linked with the Southern job.

Deion Sanders’ own recipe is paving the way for his assistant, Marshall Faulk

Southern’s budget lags behind rivals like Jackson State, but the program has intended to punch above its weight. The first signal of it came in 2021 when Faulk was linked to the Southern head coaching job. Even Southern University AD Roman Banks also signaled interest in landing Marshall Faulk. “We have spoken to his team of representatives, and we have had conversations,” said Banks. That time, it didn’t pan out, and veteran coach Eric Dooley was hired instead. But now, Southern is going the Jackson State route for success both on and off the field.

If anyone could have made HBCUs’ jobs intriguing for NFL veterans, it would always be Deion Sanders. The head coach, in short order, achieved back-to-back 11+ win seasons, as well as a Celebration Bowl win. Not only that, Deion Sanders’ 2022 season marked the first undefeated season in the team’s history, and the program achieved a No. 1 ranking in FCS polls, a first in its history. Not to mention, landing 5-star talent like Travis Hunter and Kevin Coleman Jr. was unthinkable for an HBCU until Coach Prime did it at Jackson State.

So, now that Marshall Faulk has spent almost a season with Deion Sanders learning the craft, it’s time to move on. Currently, almost 9 more candidates are reportedly being evaluated for the Southern job. But since the Baton Rouge program had interest dating back to 2021, the Super Bowl winner still looks to be the leading candidate for the job. All signs then point to Deion Sanders losing his assistant, but it’s a career trajectory Coach Prime would surely back. “He is a rising star in this league,” said Coach Prime on Faulk’s arrival. Could we see another Deion Sanders-esque trajectory from Marshall Faulk then?