Second FCS School Wants to Hire Michael Vick as Head Coach

It seems there's competition for the surprising college head coaching candidate.

Michael Vick is an unexpected name in the college football coaching cycle / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Monday brought the surprising revelation that Michael Vick, the former Pro Bowl NFL quarterback who spent nearly two years in federal prison back in the 2010s, was a head coaching candidate in this year's college football hiring cycle. Specifically, Vick revealed he interviewed with Norfolk State for their open position. Hours later, ESPN's Adam Schefter unveiled a second FCS school interested in his talents: Sacramento State.

"Sacramento State is in discussions to hire former Pro-Bowl QB Mike Vick as its new head coach, per sources," Schefter wrote on X. "Sacramento State plans to move up to FBS, is building a new stadium and has over $50 million in NIL. Sacramento State would build an experienced coaching staff around Vick that is in line with the new frontier of college football."

As noted by the insider, the Hornets are currently in the FCS but are fully planning on making the leap to FBS in the near future. Last week, head coach Andy Thompson resigned after going 11–14 in two years at the helm; they finished 3–9 in 2024 as part of the Big Sky conference.

Vick is, obviously, an interesting candidate. He comes with the controversy of his federal indictment for his role in a dog fighting ring in the 200s and has never formally coached football. But the allure of a former NFL star proved to be quite powerful in recruiting when it came to Deion Sanders and schools around the country are hoping to replicate that success by hiring similarly famous, retired players to run the program.

Sanders will be the first to tell you he's one-of-one. It is time to see if that's true in the college coaching realm, and Vick may be one of the very first experiments. Either at Sac State or Norfolk.

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