The former Heisman winner took an unconventional journey to Bowling Green, going from football retiree to business owner to Broadway actor before finding his way back onto the field.
If you’re a football fan in the state of Ohio, you know the name Eddie George.
A former Heisman Trophy winner with the Ohio State Buckeyes, George went on to a long and productive NFL career with the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans, finishing as one of the franchise’s all-time greats, eventually getting his jersey number retired in 2019.
After walking away from the sport in 2005, George pursued several other avenues, looking to take advantage of everything his football career gave him— and he indeed had a very unique and productive post-game journey over the decades. However, as happens to a lot of former players, the gridiron eventually called back to him.
In 2021, Tennessee State contacted George regarding their head coaching vacancy and George agreed to interview. George turned out to be the right man for the job, finishing his tenure with a 24-22 overall record (13-12 in conference) over four seasons and winning a share of the conference title in 2024.
George was due to return to the Tigers in 2025 after being interviewed for multiple promotions— including one for the Chicago Bears head coaching vacancy— but Scot Loeffler’s late resignation at BGSU presented a unique opportunity.
George, with the express support of former BG head coach Urban Meyer, was tabbed as the main man and arrived in Bowling Green on March 10th, immediately going to work installing his culture.
Hustle Belt had the opportunity to catch up with George in early May after spring camps, talking over the phone for a one-on-one interview lasting about a half-hour.
The contents of that interview are presented below, lightly edited for clarity:
Hustle Belt: So how have you settled into the new job?
Eddie George: I’m taking it one day at a time. I’m just enjoying the atmosphere here at Bowling Green, enjoying getting to know the kids, really establish relationships with them, number one… with the staff. Also, just campus-wide, getting to know the campus partners and understanding their role and what they play and seeing how we can really build the championship, professional atmosphere around our football program first and seeing what’s needed and then going from there.
It’s been a wonderful adjustment and it’s been one that— how can I say it?— it’s different because I’m out of my comfort zone as far as being outside of Nashville for 30 years.
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When I first took over at Tennessee State, I was familiar with the area, familiar with the school; it wasn’t too far from my house. It wasn’t far from my son’s high school where he played ball at the time. But this is uprooting and coming back home, so to speak, in the shadows of Ohio Stadium and Ohio State, and being placed in the MAC in a very good conference. And it’s been awesome.
How familiar were you with Bowling Green? Just to follow up on that.
Oh very familiar. I mean like I said, I played at Ohio State. We played against Bowling Green my freshman year. I’m very familiar with the coaches that have come through Bowling Green over the years. I’m a big college football buff. So it was not foreign to me at all about Bowling Green and the history here and the teams that they have here, the teams that they’ve had in the MAC. It’s awesome ball that’s played here, and and some really great coaches that have coached in this conference, so very familiar with the conference.
Where do you think the teams’ strengths currently are right now? Is there anywhere you think they can improve going into the season? Anyone we should look out for?
I think overall, we’re always looking to improve the roster. We look at, with the loss last year… of course the production that they got out of the tight end position with Harold Fannin Jr., it’s going to be missed.
Owen Fink/BGSU Athletics
You look at the roster, the offensive line is pretty intact. Quarterback has to be addressed because you’re losing the starter from last year’s team. And you’re losing pretty much the whole front seven [on defense], so you have to replace them. A really good group of guys that that played really well last year, you know, three straight bowl games, 7-6 last year. Two of the losses came to FBS opponents that were in the Top 25— one played the playoffs in Penn State— and lost to both of those teams by a touchdown or less.
So there’s a lot to replace here. I don’t look at this as a rebuild, but more or less a re-tweak of finding the right bodies, getting the right recruits in the building that fit the culture and that can help us win ball games next season.
All right. Speaking on that, what systems will be running at BG?
Defense is gonna be, you know, like a 4-2-5 defense. Quarters-based, you know, with more of a four down front. It’ll be multiple where you could see some odd structure to it occasionally, but really, it’s the mentality that we’re, you know, taking away one aspect of an offense and forcing them to play one-handed.
Offensively, we’ll have elements of a spread, but more or less we’re trying to establish a downhill run game. And again, it will be multiple in terms of how we do things, where we have some RPOs, we’ll have some pro-style elements to it as well and really to put our kids in the best position to be successful. So we’ll be running that this fall with some tweaks along the way.
What is the message that your staff and yourself are sending to the players as you ramp up towards the season?
It’s all about discipline and development and having discernment to know when to apply the discipline in various points and holding each other accountable to the standard that we’re creating.
It’s a layered deal. You know, where we’re constantly harping on the culture and that’s what you allow and what you continue to emphasize. So I’m emphasizing all the small habits that we have to create to represent and be a championship football team versus just going out there hoping that we become one.
You know, it’s how we respond, how we act, how we behave, what we demand— how do we think on a day-to-day basis? — and how we challenge each other to meet, to reach that that point of of being a champion and then those things, those championship habits will result in a holding up a a trophy at the end of the year. So there’s a lot of work that needs to be done. I think our kids understand that.
What attracted you to this specific job, which made it more desirable than maybe other opportunities you might have had?
Oh, well the line of vision.
We have an awesome president in Rodney Rogers, who has an entrepreneurial spirit, who’s really responsible for the admissions here at BGSU campus-wide. I think this freshman class has been the biggest class ever at BGSU. He continues to thrive when other schools are having issues in terms of admissions. His vision is to use the athletic footprint— football leading the way— to tell the story of Bowling Green State University.
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Our AD Derek van de Merwe has been phenomenal. Van de Merwe shares the same vision. Very entrepreneurial, gives me the the resources that I need to be successful. We’re constantly talking about growing this program, and how do we grow it through our leadership through community-driven process. It’s been phenomenal.
And of course, for me, it’s coming back to Ohio roots, having played at Ohio State, knowing the state, knowing how football’s played here… it comes with a great deal of cache of coaches that have come through here from Dino Babers to Urban Meyer, Scot Loeffler… coaches that have been extremely successful in the coaching business. That’s those things [that] appeal to me and it seemed like a wonderful opportunity.
This question is from Central Michigan head coach Matt Drinkall. What are some of your most significant memories of MAC football?
My significant memories other than playing against Bowling Green State… My freshman year, there was a hard fought game and we know that anytime you wanna play anybody out of the MAC, it’s going to you wouldn’t have your hands full. Because they’re tough, they’re physical and they’re resilient and that’s pretty much my first-hand experience dealing with a MAC football team up close and personal.
But over the years I’ve watched MAC football on Wednesday and Thursday nights. I love ball. Again, there’s been some great coaches in this conference and some great teams that have beaten, you know, powerhouse programs up the country. So again, this is not foreign to me in terms of what this conference offers.
All right, time to move on to some more unique personal questions here, get out of the general.
You arrive at Bowling Green after coming up from Tennessee State. It’s a fairly unique program in the college football ecosystem, as I’m sure you know. TSU is an HBCU which sits outside of the normal traditional conferences like the MEAC and the SWAC. What was the experience of coaching there specifically like? How do you feel it prepared you for coaching at BG?
Oh, without question, Tennessee State was [a] training ground for me in terms of coaching.
Things weren’t always easy. It was pretty challenging on a lot of different fronts, but that’s what allowed me to be in this position today. I have a great deal of gratitude for Tennessee State and what it provided me, they gave me the opportunity to be a head coach and to solve a lot of issues during that particular time which sharpened my sword as a head coach. Having to do more with less at times, having to dig a little bit deeper to get the kids to stay focused on what mattered most played a huge factor in how my coaching philosophy has really morphed and changed and evolved.
Without Tennessee State, I wouldn’t be here. And I’m so grateful that I had the opportunity to coach at that great university.
Just to follow up on that really quick, how familiar were you with the HBCU culture before being hired on [at TSU]?
How familiar? Very familiar.
Again, I grew up loving football. I’m very familiar with the players and the coaches have come through HBCUs. You know, there are, I want to say 20 or 25 or so Hall of Famers in the NFL that have come through HBCUs. Aeneas Williams to Richard Dent to Walter Payton to Jerry Rice… The list goes on and and you have great respect for coaches like John Merrick and Eddie Robinson, [Archie] Cooley, you know, those coaches are legendary in all of college football. I’m a huge college football fan and HBCU football is definitely in the fabric of college football. When it comes to great players, we have coaches and great programs.
Alright, you’re part of the Heisman fraternity. You won the award with Ohio State back in 1995. This is granted you a number of opportunities, but the one that most modern college football fans that are younger than you and I would point out to immediately as starring in the Nissan Heisman House commercials; Derek Van de Merwe even joked about it in your introductory press conference.
What is it like being a member of that fraternity? And you know, kind of how does the Heisman House campaign work into that?
Well, that’s part of the fraternity like you mentioned. Been a Heisman Trophy winner now for 30 years and when I won it that night, Archie Griffin told me “it only gets better with time” and I said “there’s no way you can get better than that actual moment of winning it.” But it does.
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You have an opportunity to always be known as a Heisman trophy winner. No matter where you go, you’re always associated with it. It’s probably one of the most elite, prestigious, and smallest fraternities in the country. You only have a small window to get it done to be considered or become a winner, and it’s a lifetime.
The Heisman House speaks to that, you know, as far as the camaraderie and the relationships that are built through the years… I won in ‘95 and I have a very unique relationship with guys that won it after me and before me. So it’s really is a brotherhood and fraternity… to share with generations throughout.
Speaking of acting opportunities, something a lot of fans might not know about you is that you’re a thespian.
You’ve had starring roles in multiple productions, most notably as Billy Flynn in Chicago on Broadway. What got you into acting? Was it something you were interested in pre- football? What was performing on Broadway like?
It was awesome.
Well, I acted shortly after my playing career. Long story short, became interested in becoming an actor and got a lot of inquiries about being in various shows. So I began to study in theater and started working with productions like you said. Othello and Julius Caesar and of The Whipping Man, A Raisin in the Sun, Top Dog/Underdog… Various pieces in community theater, as I was interested in winning a Tony and going on Broadway.
So I was able to audition for the role of Billy Flynn in 2016, got it and did an eight-week stint on Broadway in New York City, and then shortly thereafter did the touring company for two-and-a-half years. That was just an awesome experience. Every night was game night, was like a Super Bowl… And the energy that was felt in the theater, you could feel it as an actor. You just ride on that wave. So it was awesome feeling to go through that.
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Do you think there’s any parallels between acting and football?
There are some. There’s a team element. I mean it’s very physical. Both art forms are very physical; you’re just not getting beat up by someone on the stage with you— although that can happen. You know, it requires so much of you to be vulnerable, very real in real time.
You know, you make a mistake on the field, you have to continue to press through it and through the next play. Whereas the same thing happens in theater, you mess up a line or a blocking, you improvise and you just keep the story moving and you have to move beyond it. So those same principles apply.
In terms of discipline? Knowing your role. And you get to know your role as an athlete, know who you are on the field. If you’re the quarterback, linebacker, receiver, tight end, you have a specific job you have to do, and the same thing holds true on stage: everybody’s depending on you. So there are definitely parallels when it comes to football and theater.
What was one of the first autographs you got as a kid? And what do you remember about that moment?
The first autograph I got as a kid… it was Michael Jackson’s.
Wait, really?
Yeah. He walked in my neighbor next door neighbor’s house in Philadelphia because they were on tour at JFK [Stadium] at the time and their bodyguard was the son of our next door neighbor. [Our next door neighbor] cooked this huge meal and it was supposed to be a secret, and my mom and I were coming in from the store and we looked over and the van pulled up and we’re looking… And I see Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 walking in this house right next door to us, and we’re like, “what!?”
We couldn’t believe it.
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Then Mom gets on the phone, tells everybody. And before you knew it, the whole block was full of people. Helicopters flying around, news vans talking about Michael Jackson in the neighborhood. Kids coming up wanting to meet him. It was just crazy. It was a crazy day, so that was my first time meeting Michael and getting an autograph.
What is the most miserable you’ve ever been as a coach on the field? And conversely, what is your happiest moment as a coach (on or off field)?
I had a tough loss my second year against Lane College. That was a very tough loss, how we lost in overtime against a team that on paper, we should have won.
It was a great coaching moment at the same breadth because I was able to dig a little bit deeper into the psyche of this team and and what we really needed to be and who we were going to be at that point in time— and to change my entire coaching philosophy at that particular time to go from being more of a player’s coach that’s laid back to more of a disciplinarian in terms of “this is how we going to do things, this is how I’m going to be understood.”
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Greatest moment as a coach? Last season, winning the co-OVC championship with Tennessee State. To see how far we’ve come from that moment [against Lane College] to hoisting up the trophy— the first time it’s been done in 25 years… Was this awesome feeling, you know? Locker room was filled, filled with cigar smoke. Enjoying the moment, living in it, breathing in it, loving it… it’s been awesome.
What is something you get way too competitive about outside of football?
UNO, Phase-10 and chess. And golf… pretty much everything I compete. But mainly UNO, Phase-10 and golf.
What is it about the card games that get you going?
You just gotta win. You know, just setting up your your wild cards, your draw twos and holding them for the right moment. When to stifle somebody or to close out a game, you know, that’s that’s what makes it so competitive. I’ve been that way since I was a teenager.
What is a time in your life you thought was really challenging but you feel proud now of the way that you responded to it?
Well, it was a couple of them. One was when I played with Ohio State and fumbled twice against Illinois my freshman year and then, two, three years later, won the Heisman Trophy.
The other one is when I retired from football in 2005 and didn’t know what I was going to do next… I was able to act, build businesses, become a head coach in over, gosh, a 30-year period and had the different lives and everyone of them has trained me for this moment. So I’m very proud of that.
If there is one thing a person should know about Eddie George, what would you say that is?
I would say… I’m someone that will persist without exception, and that’s everything that I’ve I’ve chosen to do and what God has allowed me to do in my life. I would definitely say that, you know I’ve taken on a lot of different challenges and failed a lot; done a lot. But every failure has led me to success in some form or fashion.
Avery Zuercher/BGSU Athletics
Thanks to Vincent Briedis, Avery Zuercher, Owen Fink and Daniel Carlson of BG Athletics for their help in setting up the interview and gathering media.
At the end of the interview, we gave George the opportunity to ask a question to the next interview subject. Our next interview in this series is with Massachusetts head coach Joe Harasymiak, who looks to lead the Minutemen into a new era of their FBS history. You can find out what question Coach George has for our next subject in the next edition!