According to the website Sportrac.com, Tashard Choice earned a little more than $3.5 million during his 6-year NFL career. The former Cowboys, Bills and Colts running back lasted a little longer than the average player in the NFL, along the way earning a good bit of money -- not enough to live on for the rest of your life, but certainly more than you or I earn in six years.
Out of the game at 29 years old, Choice had to find something else to do with his time. And like so many former players -- but not many former players of his caliber -- Choice decided to get into college football coaching, which meant taking the lowest job on the totem poll and then grinding his way up.
Well, the former Georgia Tech running back just moved one rung up.
Choice dipped his toe in the coaching waters by working with the Cowboys during OTAs and minicamp in 2016, then worked for North Texas as a quality control assistant in 2017, assisting with the running backs.
On Friday, Choice was announced as North Texas’s full-time running backs coach.
Truly thankful. I want to thank God first and foremost because He is the reason why I do everything. I want to thank @SethLittrell my brother and the entire coaching staff full of God fearing men. My family who I love dearly and the players which give me a chance to coach them. https://t.co/mXnsl1yuJN
— Coach Choice (@coachchoice) January 5, 2018
Choice got the job because of the work he did with Jeffrey Wilson, who finished second in Conference USA by running for 1,215 yards and 16 touchdowns in just 11 games. Wilson was a senior in 2017, so Choice’s job now will be to develop rising sophomores Nic Smith and Evan Johnson, who combined to carry 181 times for 923 yards and nine touchdowns during the Mean Green’s 9-5 campaign.