This college coach's contract is unlike any other

On the football field in the NFL, Marshall Faulk did things that conjured comparisons to Barry Sanders and that sometimes never had been done before.

He's taking a similar approach to his new contract in his first-ever collegiate head coaching job.

Hired recently at storied HBCU program Southern University, Faulk has an attractive base compensation.

But Faulk has, well, room to run with the incentives portion of his deal with the Jaguars.

As noted by Sportico and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, TV stations, Faulk's deal contains a clause that guarantees him 20% of all monies Faulk is able to raise for the Southern football program and athletics department.

His base pay is $400,000. But the New Orleans, Louisiana, native basically has no ceiling on what he's able to earn atop the guaranteed salary in his three-year deal at Southern, which is guaranteed to pay at least $1.2 million per various reports on terms of the deal.

Faulk raises $100,000 from area businesses? Boom, that's a $20,000 bonus.

Crank those efforts into a million-dollar windfall for Southern? Tack on another $200,000 to that $400,000 base salary.

The possibilities seemingly are endless for the first-time head coach and former San Diego State All-American.

Elsewhere in his new program, Faulk is seeking to make a number of crucial hires. 

He's working to finalize a deal with Todd Lyght to run the Southern University defense. Lyght is a former Notre Dame legend who played alongside Faulk with the St. Louis Rams; additionally, Lyght has enjoyed a lengthy coaching career that's included stops at his alma mater, Oregon and the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles.

Faulk also is seeking to hire Curtis Johnson to be part of his staff, again lending additional home-state roots to the Southern program. Johnson also is a New Orleans native who's coached parts of five decades and at all levels of football -- high school, college and the NFL.

Johnson has his most NFL experience with the New Orleans Saints with three different stints in the organization with various roles. A former standout player at Idaho, Johnson also coached for the Chicago Bears and, most recently, with the Houston Roughnecks of the XFL/UFL. Collegiately, Johnson has coached for his hometown Tulane Green Wave, as well as Power Conference stops at California, the Miami Hurricanes and SMU.

Faulk spent this past season as a first-time collegiate assistant coach. He was the running backs coach in the Colorado Buffaloes program coached by former NFL star Deion 'Coach Prime' Sanders.

While Southern's full 2026 schedule still is being finalized, the Jaguars have a money-game against Big 12 Conference program Houston on Sept. 12 and will, of course, close the regular season with their annual rivalry tilt against Grambling.