ATLANTA – Reggie Bush can’t believe it has been 20 years since his last season in college football. The 2005 Heisman Trophy winner still looks like he could take the field and race for a highlight-reel touchdown but he has hard time accepting that it has been two decades since USC was last playing for the national championship.
As he watches 39-year-old Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman lead the Irish back to the title game, the 39-year-old Bush says he has been having his own dreams of one day leading USC back to the success he achieved as a player.
“I would love to come back and be the head coach of USC at some point and help lead USC to a national championship,” Bush said. “Lately, man, I've just been really having this urge inside of me to get out and coach because it's in me. And it's been something I've been thinking about a lot and actually talking to people about.”
It isn’t just talk. Bush said he talked to Sacramento State about their head coaching position. Sacramento State also talked to Michael Vick, who ended up being named the head coach at Norfolk State. Vick, like Bush, had no prior coaching experience but that hasn’t stopped other former NFL players like Deion Sanders (Colorado) and Eddie George (Tennessee State) from becoming the head coach of a college football program.
“I actually spoke to some people over at Sacramento State for the head coaching job when that came up,” Bush said. “I spoke to some people over there about coaching and it's definitely something that I want to do. The same way Kirby Smart, a former player from Georgia, came back to coach his team to a title, I would love to do that as well at USC. I think that'd be a tremendous story, a tremendous comeback story. I think I have what it takes. I got the passion. And a lot of these kids grew up watching our era and watching our teams.”
Bush spoke before the College Football Playoff National Championship where he teamed up with Modelo to host a group of fans – officially dubbed "Team Modelo" – at the game in Atlanta.
Being a pitchman is nothing new for Bush but he will be taking his acting chops to the next level this year when he co-stars in Happy Gilmore 2 alongside Adam Sandler and Christopher McDonald, who plays Shooter McGavin.
“I'm very excited for when the movie drops and I've been patiently waiting, not really talking about it, I just I want to surprise people,” Bush said. “I just want to pop up on people and but yeah, man, it was an amazing opportunity. Adam Sandler is just an amazing person. Getting a chance to work alongside him was a true experience that I'll never forget. My man was directing, producing, coaching and acting as well. He does it al. I love being able to work around people like that because it motivates me and I want to work around the best.”
While Bush didn’t want to say too much about his role in the movie, he did say it’s not a small cameo part and he acted alongside not only Sandler and McDonald, but also Ben Stiller and Bad Bunny.
“I auditioned for the role,” Bush said. “This wasn't a role that was given to me. I actually auditioned for it and worked for it. (Sandler) loved my audition tape. It was definitely something that I'm just so proud of myself for even attempting and taking seriously and putting in the work, and getting the role, which is something that not a lot of people get to experience. I got a chance to talk trash to Shooter McGavin in the movie. Just to even stand next to Shooter McGavin, was awesome. Without giving away too much, man, I think you're going to love it. You're going to laugh your ass off.”
Bush’s first major movie role and interviewing for a college football head coaching job highlight what has been a great nine months for him, which began on April 24, 2024 when Bush got his 2005 Heisman Trophy back. Bush is hopeful that at some point this year USC will gain back the 2005 BCS National Championship trophy they won 20 years ago and the 14 victories the Trojans were forced to vacate during the NCAA’s sanctions against USC for what they deemed at the time as “improper benefits” Bush received while in school.
“I'm extremely optimistic,” Bush said of getting the crystal ball trophy and wins back. “I'm the one that's out here still fighting the fight in trying to make sure that everything is restored, not only to me, but to USC as well. With the return of the Heisman Trophy, the return of our national championship should have been part of that as well. But, for whatever reason, this is something that I'm still having to fight over but I'm not going to give up until we get everything back.
“I made that promise to my teammates when they came to support me at the College Football Hall of Fame induction, a bunch of my teammates showed up and it was like a family reunion all over again. Those are my brothers and I still want to honor them through going and getting our national championship back, which should have never been taken away from us to begin with. We deserve our place in history and to be recognized as one of the greatest teams ever to come through college football.”
While Bush is focused on getting USC back the national championship trophy they won 20 years ago, he’s also focused on getting into coaching later this year with an eye towards helping USC get a new national championship in the future. He believes he can instantly help USC not only recruit but keep the best players in Southern California, which hasn’t always been the case with local prep stars such as Jayden Daniel, C.J. Stroud and Bryce Young leaving the region to star elsewhere.
“There's a lot of guys I’ve talked to from Jayden Daniels to C.J. Stroud who grew up watching us at USC,” Bush said. “All these guys are from L.A., from our area and they grew up watching USC. I would love to just be able to coach, recruit, and just give my experience and knowledge to all these guys. We got to own L.A., man. We got to get back to owning L.A.”