North Carolina State doesn't care about coaching history, it seems. What the school wants in its new head coaching search is a big name, no matter whether the person can be a good coach or not. This is where former Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson comes in.
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, Wilson interviewed for the head coach vacancy at the first college he attended, NC State. He was drafted by the Seahawks in 2012 out of Wisconsin, but he began with the Wolfpack.
The leap from player to analyst to head coach would seemingly be one that would set Wilson up for failure. First of all, NC State isn't exactly known for being a top football school, and no matter whether Wilson can recruit based on his name, does he actually know anything about running a college football program? Maybe not.
Former Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson interviewed for the head coach job at North Carolina State
But again, the Wolfpack doesn't care. The school also reportedly interviewed Philip Rivers. He is also a former Wolfpack quarterback, but at least Rivers has coaching experience, albeit at the high school level. He would have an inkling of what he needs to do to prepare a team to win.
Rivers, of course, is a future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback who came out of retirement last season to try to help the Indianapolis Colts win a few games after starting QB Daniel Jones had been injured. Rivers failed in his quest, but mostly because of physical limitations. He still proved he has the intelligence to get an offense lined up correctly.
Of course, what we are concerned about here is the former Seattle Seahawks guy. Wilson is still the best quarterback in franchise history, and while he left after the 2022 season under bad circumstances (that is what happens when a player goes to ownership to try to have a coach and general manager fired), he still left a lot of long-lasting and positive memories.
After bouncing around the league for the last several years, he was hired by CBS to be a studio analyst before football games. He has always been a good talker, and that ability was expected to make him an easy watch when talking about the sport. It has. He has been good as an analyst.
He would likely be better served by sticking with that gig for a while and not jumping at the potential opportunity to coach the North Carolina State football team. Going from player to analyst to failed football coach isn't a path that anyone should want. It could soon be the journey that Russell Wilson is on, though.
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