Michael Vick and Norfolk State gave HBCU football something Saturday night that was hard to find during his first season: visible evidence of growth.
I was at Vick’s coaching debut against Towson in August 2025. The day felt like an event. ESPN’s First Take brought Stephen A. Smith and Cam Newton to campus. Then came a nationally televised Thursday night game.
Once the football started, Vick looked like a fish out of water.
He did not have a headset. His security guard tripped while following him. Norfolk State looked overmatched in a 27-7 loss. The program was learning how to carry the attention surrounding its famous new coach.
Michael Vick acknowledged afterward that the night had not gone smoothly. Unfortunately for Norfolk State, the season did not get much smoother.
The Spartans defeated Division II rival Virginia State 34-31 the following week. Even that victory required overtime and a field goal. It became Norfolk State’s only win of the year.
What followed was a literal reality show. BET’s The Coach Vick Experience documented a season in which nearly everything went wrong.
There were predictable blowouts against programs with greater resources. There were also close conference losses that Norfolk State could not finish. The Spartans lost their final 10 games and finished 1-11.
“From when the clock struck triple zero at the end of last season, I just knew that my love for the game had to come out in a different way,” Vick said Saturday.
He changed parts of his coaching staff and overhauled the roster. Tory Woodbury, his associate head coach and special teams coordinator, left to become the head coach at Winston-Salem State.
Michael Vick settles into the coaching pocket
That made Saturday’s opener an interesting measuring stick.
The biggest change was visible before kickoff. Michael Vick looked comfortable. He appeared more settled in pregame, more certain coming out of halftime and more in control after the game.
The difference reminded me of the latter stages of his NFL career. Once Vick became more comfortable operating from the pocket, he produced some of his best football. On Saturday, he finally looked comfortable in the coaching
pocket.
Perspective still matters. Winston-Salem State was a Division II program with a first-year coach, a first-time starting quarterback and numerous new pieces. Norfolk State should have controlled that matchup. It did more than that.
The Spartans won 56-0, produced 457 yards and held WSSU to 106. They rushed for 306 yards, scored on eight consecutive possessions and recorded their first shutout since 2019. This was what a higher-classification team is supposed to do against an overmatched opponent.
It was also Norfolk State’s first season-opening victory since 2018 and its first 50-point performance since 2021.
“I thought today was, you know, a testament to the hard work that we’ve been putting in since January, all throughout the spring, over the summer,” Vick said. “We just stressed, like, you know, doing it our way and wanting to impose our will on our opponent.”
Michael Vick understood the moment better, too. He did not treat the result as proof that every problem had disappeared.
“Last year, you know, I didn’t really know how to express that, if that makes sense,” Vick said. “This year, I knew coming back it was going to be a different type of love. It was going to be a different type of affection. It was going to be a different type of approach, you know, from my standpoint.”
That different approach showed Saturday. His players looked prepared. His staff adjusted without having film of Woodbury’s WSSU system. Most importantly, Norfolk State played with the confidence of a team that expected to dominate.
Norfolk State faces bigger tests after dominant start
Now comes the real test. Norfolk State travels across town to face Old Dominion before visiting Virginia six days later. Both are FBS programs. Vick still has not defeated a Division I opponent as a head coach, and nothing about one victory over a Division II team defines this season.
“When you know you got to wait 365 days in order to prove yourself again, in order to do it all over again, then you take those 365 days and you use it wisely,” Vick said.
Still, progress has to begin somewhere. Michael Vick entered 2026 with one career coaching victory. He now has two and sits one win away from tripling the total he carried out of his first season.
That line might sound playful, but the improvement was real. Saturday did not prove that Vick has solved college football. It showed that he no longer looked overwhelmed by it.
“Foot on the gas,” Vick said. “Foot on the gas moving forward.”
After 1-11, Norfolk State will gladly take that step forward.