When Eddie George use to put on that two-tone blue on Sundays for the Tennessee Titans, he was revered and thought of as one of the best Titans players ever. He is getting ready to put on blue again, but this time as a coach. Per multiple reports, Eddie George is going to be named the new head coach of Tennessee State University (TSU) at the conclusion of the season, supplanting Rob Reed as the head coach.
As the new began to spread, the first reaction by many was that of shock. Despite his storied career at Ohio State University and with the Tennessee Titans, he has never been a head coach. In fact, many never even saw this move coming. No one knew he was even interested in coaching, let alone being considered for taking over at Tennessee State. But alas, he will be the coach and get to run the show for his first coaching stint in his post-NFL career.
After the shock has worn off, that is when the real questions start to come. The first one is who is going to surround him as his staff. There are some rumors out there as to who will join him at Tennessee State University so far, but no one is for certain currently. Coaching decisions as far as down and distance seem easy when you’re a player, but within the game, those decisions have to be made in a split second.
Can Eddie do that and will he have the support around him to do so? Only time will tell. Deion Sanders at Jackson State jumped into coaching at the collegiate level, but the difference is he had the experience at least as an offensive coordinator at a high school before becoming the head coach of the Jackson State Tigers. Jackson State, like TSU is a Historically Black College and University (HBCU).
Another question with George is the time commitment. He has committed time to being a player and he has also committed time to being an analyst, but does he have the time to commit to being a head coach? Coaching is the ultimate time commitment and while George may very well have the time commitment to do so, it is yet to be determined whether he will be able to commit time to recruiting, coaching and film study among other things that coaching at the college level entails.
There are many questions surrounding George being a head coach for the first time post-NFL, but one thing cannot be denied: the excitement of him being the head coach at Tennessee State is up. We saw this same excitement with Deon Sanders when he became the head coach of Jackson State and we immediately saw it pay dividends with his first recruiting class. We shall see if George can bring that same type of energy and talent in as he embarks on his journey as a head coach at a HBCU.
 at the conclusion of the season, supplanting Rob Reed as the head coach.){kind=link}