Despite never having coached football at the college or high school level, former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis has apparently been proposed for the job at Florida Atlantic University.
FAU recently fired second-year coach Tom Herman. The former Texas head coach compiled a 6-16 record in two seasons with the Owls.
Given the doubts that arise about who might be interested in taking charge, ESPN’s Adam Schefter says Lewis has “emerged as a candidate” to head to Boca Raton.
But Schefter’s report was followed by another report from Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger, who tweeted: “Pretty strong reporting from people involved in the FAU coaching search regarding ESPN’s report that Ray Lewis is a coaching candidate: “It is not an event.”
Schefter specifically said Lewis would follow Deion Sanders’ model to Colorado, but that’s not exactly true.
Before coming to Colorado, Sanders had accumulated several years of experience as a head coach and assistant coach in Texas high school football. He then jumped to Jackson State University, an HBCU, and coached there for three seasons before moving to Boulder.
Former Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis has emerged as a candidate for the FAU coaching job.
By all indications, Lewis does not have the same experience. After retiring from the NFL in 2013, Lewis joined ESPN as a contributor to its NFL coverage.
After being fired by ESPN, he moved to Fox Sports 1 in 2017, but was fired again shortly after. Since then, Lewis has been largely out of the public eye.
Lewis was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 2018 after compiling one of the best careers ever for a linebacker at the professional level.
He holds the NFL record for most combined tackles (2,059) and most solo tackles (1,568) in a career, as well as most solo tackles in a season.
Lewis won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award twice in 2000 and again in 2003. With the Ravens, he won Super Bowl XXXV in the 2000 season and Super Bowl XLVII in the 2012 season in the last game he played.
Beyond his football accolades, Lewis is also known for a very public murder trial after a Super Bowl party in Atlanta in 2000.
Lewis and two members of his entourage were charged with murder and assault after a fight broke out with another group of people, leading to the stabbing deaths of two men.
Two weeks after the trial, Lewis reached a deal with the Fulton County district attorney that led to his murder charges being dismissed in exchange for testimony against two members of his entourage accused of committing the stabbing.
Lewis was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018 as one of the sport’s greatest.
He won two Super Bowls during his career, including his last game in 2013.
Lewis pleaded guilty to misdemeanor obstruction of justice and admitted to giving a misleading statement to police the morning after the murders.
He was sentenced to 12 months of probation and fined $250,000 by the NFL, believed to be, at the time, the largest fine imposed on an NFL player for a non-substance abuse offense. .
The two members of Lewis’ entourage said they acted in self-defense. At trial, the jury acquitted the two men of all charges.
Four years later, Lewis reached an out-of-court settlement with the families of the two victims.