Over the weekend, while NFL free agency was starting its frenzy, Eddie George decided to leave Tennessee State and become the new head football coach at Bowling Green.
It was a great moment for George, the former NFL star who had no interest in coaching until Tennessee State came calling in 2021.
After retiring in 2004, George remained in Tennessee and began a career as an entrepreneur, football analyst and actor. Coaching hadn’t crossed his mind and then he got a call from Tennessee St. president Dr. Glenda Glover and athletic director Dr. Mikki Allen.
“He probably thought we were asking for money,” said Dr. Glover at the time.
But they actually wanted to give him money to become the Tigers new football coach.
He was unsure that he wanted to be a coach, so with doubt on his mind, he turned to his wife Taj (yes, the Taj from SWV) for guidance, which she provided in two simple words.
“Why not?”
So in April 2021, George became Tennessee State’s 22nd head football coach.
That was the easy part though.
He was taking over a 2-5 Tigers program that had faltered in recent years. Remember, Tennessee St once produced HBCU and NFL legends such as Eldridge Dickey, Ed “Too Tall” Jones and Richard Dent.
But George was determined to succeed. After all, he was a former 4x Pro Bowler with the Titans and a business man who returned to school to get his MBA, so he understands the work it requires to build success.
In his first season, he led the Tigers to a 5-6 record. The next year they went 4-7.
But in year three George led them to a 6-5 record, it’s first winning season since 2017.
This past season, the Tigers went 9-4, won the OVC (Ohio Valley Conference) championship (its first since 1999) and secured an NCAA FCS Playoffs appearance, its first since 2013.
One of those watching his success was former Bowling Green head coach, Urban Meyer.
Meyer coached the Falcons from 2001-02 and then moved on to even bigger success at Utah, Florida and Ohio State. So when the Falcons’ head coaching position came up after coach Scott Loeffler left to become the quarterbacks coach for the Philadelphia Eagles, school AD Derek van der Merwe reached out to Meyer for candidates.
And Meyer made it easy.
“I have one name for you. I want you to talk to Eddie George,” van der Merwe told the media Meyer said to him.
“‘The Heisman Trophy winner, right?’ He says yeah. He says, ‘Don’t look at anything. Don’t read anything on him. Don’t read his background. Talk to him. Talk to the human being.’”
And after a discussion, Bowling Green had their man.
“Eddie is someone who cares about people, values personal growth and development. He defines himself by his ability to adapt, adjust, and have success in every aspect of his life,” said van der Merwe.
Over the weekend, George made the move back to Ohio, the state where he won a Heisman Trophy, and took the reins as the Falcons new head coach.
His path to Bowling Green is a feel-good story that everyone can celebrate, especially as George, who never wanted to coach, elevated a program to a championship.
Yet what’s most interesting is that George, who left an HBCU program for a job at a PWI, hasn’t been vilified for doing exactly what Deion Sanders did when he left Jackson St for Colorado.
They both had similar experiences but Deion was the biggest name in recent years to make the jump from an HBCU to an FBC program, and he was ripped by many in the HBCU community for it.
They said “he wasn’t SWAC” and accused him of pimping HBCUs and using Jackson State as a stepping stone to get to a bigger program.
But Deion, like Eddie George, left the program in better shape than when he first started and they both finished their HBCU careers with winning records and conference titles.
And they both sought to mold the lives of young men through mentorship, financial literacy and education.
“I did not come into the profession seeking to become a coach at a Power Five school, NFL, none of that. I just came in with the mindset to develop young men holistically,” said George.
Yet the celebratory reaction George received is in stark contrast to the hatred Deion received, and that’s interesting to see.
Is it because George is quieter than the big personality of Sanders or because Tennessee State didn’t play in an HBCU conference?
Was it the way Sanders left Jackson St for Colorado or maybe it’s colorism as George is light skinned and Deion is dark skinned.
The answer is a combination of everything above.
Sanders, like George, should have simply been appreciated and applauded for bringing a losing program back to prominence. Instead, there was a stream of bitterness interjected into the moment.
Coach Prime took the scrutiny and has turned Colorado around in two seasons, yet remains a lightning rod for ridicule.
Now George will have his chance to elevate a program with only two winning seasons in the last ten years.
Let’s see if the chasm in reactions continues.
