Coach Russ? Seahawks Great Wilson Interviews for College Job

Former Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl champion quarterback Russell Wilson has interviewed for the head coaching vacancy at NC State, where he spent three of his four collegiate seasons.

After announcing his retirement ahead of the 2026 NFL season, Wilson has taken up broadcasting as a regular analyst for CBS Sports.

Now, it appears that he is in competition with another former Wolfpack quarterback, Philip Rivers, in the search for the program's next head coach.

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Wilson, 38, played at NC State from 2008 to 2010. In his third season in Raleigh, Wilson led the ACC in completions, passing yards and touchdowns before transferring to Wisconsin for his final collegiate season.

The Seattle Seahawks drafted Wilson, who also briefly considered a professional baseball career, at No. 75 overall in the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft.

From there, Wilson quarterbacked the Seahawks for 10 seasons, making the Pro Bowl in nine times in that span. He captained Seattle to its first Super Bowl win in 2013 and took home the revered Walter Payton Man of the Year award in 2020, his second-to-last season in the Pacific Northwest before joining the Denver Broncos.

Wilson saw his playing career come to an end after going winless in three starts last season for the New York Giants, who eventually gave up his starting job to rookie first-rounder Jaxson Dart.

Though he possesses a sharp knowledge of the game and a notoriously-infectious leadership spirit, Wilson does not have traditional coaching experience since he is so recently removed from playing.

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Rivers, however, has spent six years in retirement coaching at St. Michael Catholic High School, briefly interrupted by a one-year stint with the Indianapolis Colts last season where he, too, went 0-3 as a starting quarterback.

Rivers, 44, did clarify that he would like to finish the current high school season before potentially taking the NC State job, which likely pushes the Wolfpack's search into this upcoming offseason.

Wilson would have to leave his post as an analyst to make an unprecedented jump from the media into coaching with no formal experience.