Southern University reportedly set to hire Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk as next head coach

Marshall Faulk is headed to Southern University.

The HBCU struck a three-year deal to make Faulk its next head coach on Wednesday afternoon, according to multiple reports. It marks Faulk’s first head coaching job in college football. Faulk, 52, spent this past season on staff with Deion Sanders in Colorado as the team’s running backs coach.

Faulk, who spent three seasons dominating at San Diego State, was the No. 2 overall pick in the NFL Draft in 1994. He spent 12 seasons in the league, splitting time with the Indianapolis Colts and St. Louis Rams before he retired after the 2005 campaign.

He finished his career with more than 12,000 rushing yards and 136 total touchdowns. He was the NFL’s MVP in 2000, when he racked up 1,359 yards and a league-high 18 rushing touchdowns. Faulk, who won a Super Bowl with the Rams, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011.

Faulk is a New Orleans native, too, and will now get to take over in Baton Rouge roughly 90 minutes outside of his hometown.

Faulk joined Sanders’ staff this past offseas in what was his first coaching job in football since retirement. He spent time as an analyst with the NFL Network after his playing career ended, but he was suspended and later dismissed amid a sexual harassment scandal in 2017. Faulk was one of three Hall of Famers on the Colorado staff this season, along with Sanders and Warren Sapp. The Buffaloes hold just a 3-8 record entering Saturday's regular-season finale with Kansas State. A win against the Wildcats would match the worst season in the Sanders era to date, though they are coming off a 9-4 campaign last season with Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter and Sanders' son, Shedeur Sanders, on their roster.

Southern has gone just 1-10 this season, and has lost nine straight headed into Saturday’s regular season finale against Grambling. The program fired coach Terrence Graves after a 1-6 start in October. Faulk will now be the fifth different head coach to lead Southern since Dawson Odums left in 2020.