Former Tennessee Titans star Eddie George is taking his talents from on the field to the sideline as the new coach of Tennessee State University’s football team.
According to a report from ESPN, the TSU Tigers’ former coach, Ron Reed, was told over the weekend that his contract wouldn’t be renewed, making room for the Titans legend to step in. He’s expected to be formally announced on Tuesday. As of Monday afternoon, he’s made no comments on the news on social media or through any other means.
Since retiring from the NFL in 2004, George hasn’t garnered coaching experience. He has, however, obtained a number of TV appearances and movie roles. Recent notable opportunities include TV series Shooter, Ballers and NCIS: Los Angeles. He was also quite the character on SWV’s reality show, SWV Reunited, which was featured on WE tv for two season from 2014-2015. His hiring at the HBCU is reminiscent of Deion Sanders recently being brought on to coach at Jackson State University in Mississippi. While their associations with the historically Black schools are positive things, some have wondered, including fellow former NFL great Keyshawn Johnson, why it’s so easy for retired NBA stars to end up coaching teams without prior experience, but legends like George and Sanders end up having to go the college route first.
Someone very excited about the news, though is George’s wife, Tamara “Taj” Johnson-George, who is one-third of R&B group SWV. She hasn’t spoken out about the news, but she did repost an InstaStory from singer Tiffany Monique congratulating the couple on the coaching job.
The two have been married since 2004 and share two children. The have a son together named Eriq Michael George and the former football star has son Jaire from a previous relationship.
It’s certainly big news for the George family, as well as the TSU tigers, who are looking forward to something different from the 60-69 record obtained under previous leadership.