Within a month of being hired, the new Southern University Jaguars head coach, Marshall Faulk, is already trying to stack his hometown program into a Year 1 conference title contender. The man was given $950K to bring in assistant coaches, and the NFL Hall of Famer is making the most of it by once again dipping straight into Deion Sanders’ backyard.

“Marshall Faulk adds a Southern legend to his staff! Anthony Balancier is returning to the Bluff as DB coach. From his days as an All-SWAC MVP at Southern to his coaching stops at Jackson State and Colorado, Balancier is finally home.” On December 20, an HBCU college insider who goes by the name OffScript_Tv hopped on X and spilled the tea about the Jaguars’ newest addition to the football program.

It’s a sweet full-circle moment because Balancier used to play for Southern and is a local hero from New Orleans. Back in his playing days, Balancier was a tough linebacker for the Southern Jaguars, wearing number 49 from 2010 to 2014. He was pretty good on the field, even earning a defensive player of the week award in the SWAC conference one time.

He also made sure to hit the books, graduating with a degree in interdisciplinary studies. After hanging up his pads, he moved into coaching. Interestingly, he linked up with none other than Deion Sanders at the HBCU level. Balancier worked as a defensive assistant (quality control analyst) at both Jackson State and later at the University of Colorado.

Working with Deion Sanders has to be the best coaching experience he has probably had in his career. Mind you, he was part of their back-to-back SWAC championships at Jackson State.

Now, he’s officially returning to “the Bluff,” which is the nickname for Southern University, since the campus sits high overlooking the Mississippi River. He’s been hired as the new defensive backs coach, meaning he will be coaching the secondary. This isn’t the first impressive hire from Marshall Faulk.

Marshall Faulk’s $950K shopping

Marshall Faulk has made it clear he’s serious about building a strong football foundation at Southern University. His biggest move so far was hiring Kyle Caskey as offensive coordinator. Caskey brings more than 20 years of experience across college football and the NFL.

He last coached in college at Ole Miss in 2009 before spending over a decade in the pros with teams like the Detroit Lions, Cincinnati Bengals, Jacksonville Jaguars, and the St. Louis Battlehawks.

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What really stands out is how Faulk is doing this without a massive Power Four like NIL budget. So earlier this month, Marshall Faulk signed a three-year, $1.2 million contract, with about $950,000 set aside for all assistant coaches. That is modest by today’s standards, especially compared to Power Four programs. Still, Faulk has somehow pulled in coaches with real NFL and Power Five experience.

If you’re not very familiar with Caskey’s coaching arc, let us enlighten you. He’s coached at the highest level and even worked directly under Urban Meyer during Meyer’s time with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Faulk didn’t stop there. He also added Curtis Johnson as general manager and senior advisor. Plus, added Todd Lyght as defensive coordinator, Donald Penn as offensive line coach, and Ben Miles as tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator. Judging solely by the caliber of coaches Marshall Faulk has assembled this season, he sounds like a man with a plan.