Ravens Insider: Ravens legend Ray Lewis reportedly emerges as college coaching candidate

[ExtremeRavens]

Ravens legend and Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis is being floated as a college football coaching candidate.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Wednesday morning that the 49-year-old is in the mix to be Florida Atlantic University’s next football coach. However, CBS’ Matt Zenitz reported shortly after that it’s “highly unlikely” and there has been no direct communication between Lewis and FAU, which fired coach Tom Herman on Tuesday after he went 6-16 in two seasons.

Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger posted on X that folks involved with the coaching search said pretty bluntly, “It’s not happening.”

Lewis, who retired in 2013 after winning two Super Bowl titles in 17 seasons with Baltimore and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018, has no previous coaching experience. He has worked as an NFL analyst for ESPN and wrote a New York Times bestselling memoir.

If Lewis were to make the leap into coaching — at FAU, which is located in Boca Raton, Florida, and near where Lewis grew up in Miami, or elsewhere — he would be following a precedent set by Colorado coach and fellow NFL legend Deion Sanders. Sanders was hired to coach at Jackson State in 2020 and led the Tigers to consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference titles. He left in 2022 to coach in Boulder and this season has led Colorado to an 8-2 record, a No. 16 ranking and in the mix for a Big 12 Conference championship.

Unlike Lewis, however, Sanders had multiple high school coaching gigs before moving to the college ranks. Even if Lewis doesn’t wind up coaching, Ravens fans still might gush at the thought of his legendary pregame speeches regularly finding their way into a college program.

Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at scohn@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn.

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