Southern University decided barely midway through Year 2 that it needed a reset from Terrence Graves after the program opened the 2025 season 1-6.
Though Graves guided the Jaguars to a SWAC Championship game-appearance and eight-win season in 2024, Southern has been searching for his replacement since late-October.
While interim head coach Fred McNair has been in consideration for the job, numerous sources tell FootballScoop that Southern officials are zeroing in their search on Marshall Faulk and a deal is expected to be reached soon.
A New Orleans, Louisiana, native, who's been beloved in his home state throughout his career due to his community-minded and philanthropic efforts, Faulk is finishing his first season as running backs coach for Deion Sanders at Colorado.
A College Football and Pro Football Hall of Famer, Faulk starred at San Diego State in his collegiate career and then shined first for the NFL's Indianapolis Colts before he won a Super Bowl and was named NFL MVP with the then-St. Louis Rams.
Sources tell FootballScoop that Southern University, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has offered the job to Faulk, who could potentially coach his final game at Colorado Saturday at Kansas State.
The Buffaloes are just 3-8, will not be going to a bowl game and have dropped their last four games by a combined 113 points.
If Southern finalizes a deal with Faulk, he will become the latest in a recent trend of former college and pro stars almost directly leaping into head coaching positions.
Super Bowl-winning quarterback Trent Dilfer went from a Nashville-area private high school to the FBS UAB Blazers job four years ago, though Dilfer was fired midseason this year.
Additionally, Faulk has been working for the most visible of those ex-NFL stars turned head coaches in Sanders, who guided FCS program Jackson State to school-record success before taking over at Colorado prior to the 2024 season.
This year also marks the coaching debuts of Michael Vick at Norfolk State and DeSean Jackson at Delaware State.
Southern's next head coach will be the program's fourth full-time leader since 2021, when Jason Rollins was hired to replace Dawson Odums after Odums' eight-year, 59-win run. Odums left after that 2020 season to take over at Norfolk State.
Southern concludes its season Saturday against rival Grambling in the historic, 52nd-annual Bayou Bay Classic in New Orleans at the Caesars Superdome.
Afternoon update> Sources tell FootballScoop this deal will become official in the coming days. Marshall Faulk is returning to Louisiana.