Tennessee State Football

Eddie George turned back the clock to his playing days when seeking advice on whether he should accept the Tennessee State football head coaching job.

Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk noted the four-time Pro Bowler decided to accept the position after speaking with his former Tennessee Titans head coach Jeff Fisher.

"I was still very lukewarm on the idea of taking the opportunity," George said. "I was probably at a 30 percent chance I would do it at that point … I said, 'Hey man, I want to talk to you about this. Listen to this ridiculous idea: I just got approached with this opportunity to coach at TSU.'"

Fisher told George he believes the running back "would be awesome," which convinced George to accept the job.

"Jeff drafted me in 1996," George said. "We went on an amazing run here in Tennessee. And he knows how to push my buttons. I tell you I was ready to run through a brick wall when I got off the phone with him. I said, Let’s do it."

George was a Heisman Trophy winner at Ohio State and entered the NFL as a first-round pick of the Houston Oilers in the 1996 NFL draft.

He played nine years in the NFL for the Oilers/Titans and Dallas Cowboys, eight of which came with Fisher as his head coach. George was the 1996 Offensive Rookie of the Year and helped lead the Titans to the Super Bowl during the 1999 campaign.

Tennessee State announced the hiring on Tuesday:

The Tigers were just 2-5 during their most recent season and haven't made the FCS playoffs since 2013. George is replacing Ron Reed, who was with the school since 2010.

He is the latest in a line of former NFL players who accepted head coaching positions in the FCS.

Ed McCaffrey became the head coach of North Colorado in December 2019, and Jackson State notably hired Deion Sanders to become its head coach.

While George does not have head coaching experience, he is familiar with the state of Tennessee from his playing days and figures to resonate with recruits given his NFL career.

Longtime Tennessee Titans running back Eddie George will take over as head coach at Tennessee State, according to Brett McMurphy of Stadium.

The Tigers are playing Southeast Missouri in their final game of the season Sunday afternoon, having gone 2-4 so far. The spring season replaced the traditional 2020-21 season for FCS programs amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

George, who played collegiately at Ohio State, has no coaching experience. 

Rod Reed is currently the head coach of the Tigers, a role he has held since 2009. A TSU alum, Reed was the inaugural defensive coordinator for East Texas Baptist from 2000-03, the same position he held upon his arrival to Tennessee State in 2003. 

George, a four-time Pro Bowler and the 1996 AP Offensive Rookie of the Year, played for the then-Houston Oilers following his selection with the No. 14 overall pick and subsequently had immediate success upon the franchise's relocation to Tennessee.

He earned his Pro Bowl nods in the four seasons following relocation from 1997-2000. The final year resulted in his only All-Pro selection, as he led the league in rushing attempts (403) with a career-high 1,509 yards and 14 touchdowns. He also posted 458 receiving yards and four touchdowns that season.

He spent the final year of his career with the Dallas Cowboys, appearing in 13 games in 2004—the only time in his nine-year career that he did not start all 16 games. 

While he hasn't spent his post-football years coaching, George earned his MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management and appeared on Broadway in a production of the musical Chicago. 

Tennessee State quarterback Demry Croft was arrested and reportedly charged with six felony counts of rape and two counts of sexual battery on Monday. 

Mike Organ of the Nashville Tennessean reported the news, noting the charges are related to the report of a rape that occurred on Dec. 1. Croft was booked in jail for approximately four hours on Monday before he was released on $50,000 bond.

"Due to federal and state student privacy laws, no further comment can be made at this time," Tennessee State said in a statement that acknowledged the school was aware a student-athlete was arrested. "However, the University takes seriously any allegation of sexual misconduct that may affect our campus community."

Organ cited Tennessee State crime logs and noted the rape was reported on April 4.

According to the report, university police led the investigation and presented evidence during a grand jury process that Organ pointed out "can take months."

Croft transferred to Tennessee State from Minnesota, and Andy Greder of the Pioneer Press reported he was suspended from the team when he was on the Golden Gophers. Croft said he was "falsely accused of damaging a door" when he was at Minnesota, adding that "video clearly shows my innocence."

He started four games for Tennessee State during the 2018 season and was expected to compete for the starting job in 2019.