NORFOLK, VA (WTKR)- There's a little bit of a rivalry going on this week, possibly not just on the football field, but under the roof of the Vick residence.
While Michael is the head coach at Norfolk State, his wife, Kijafa, is a Hampton graduate.
"She's got this tee-short she keeps flagging in my face and is like 'you'll be wearing this,'" Vick smiled during his weekly press conference Tuesday. "But at heart she really doesn't want me to wear it."
Just an example of the rivalry that is the Battle of the Bay, as Norfolk State gets set to head across the water to Hampton for the 64th edition of the showdown. Of course, Mrs. Vick has her husband's best interest at heart, but while this may be Vick's first match-up with the Pirates as a head coach, it's certainly not the Newport News native's first experience with the clash. That dates back to his childhood, as his Pop Warner coaches would take a group of players to the game each year.
"To see these teams go back and forth, I couldn't really pick who I was going to root for," Vick recalled. "I liked everything about both teams always felt like it could be an opportunity one day."
He knows who he's rooting for now. Saturday sees one of the Peninsula's greatest athletes take his own team to his old stomping grounds. The head coach said Tuesday that he's grateful to be a head coach in the 757 and views Norfolk as his home as well, being a stone's throw from where he grew up.
"To be able to take my 115 guys over there to play a football game really means a lot," he said. "Outside of wins and losses, it's something we can always say we experienced together, we enjoyed and hopefully we came out on the winning side of things."
The aura surrounding the Battle of the Bay is felt in the locker room as well. The two squads have split their match-ups since 2021 and the home team has not been victorious in the series since 2015. Hampton took last year's match-up, 37-7, at Dick Price Stadium, with the Spartans last winning back in 2023 on Hampton's home field.
"Hampton versus Norfolk State was something I grew up on," Spartans' senior defensive back and Hickory High School product Corey Chapman said. "To me, right now it's just another opportunity for me and my guys to go out there and win a game."
"It's always been strong," added Norfolk State junior punter Noah Tracey. "It's been big and ever since I came here, I heard about it before getting off the plane. To know that's one of our big rivalries is massive."
Both the Spartans and Pirates enter Saturday's meeting with 1-4 records and on three game losing streaks. They're looking for a spark and the green and gold aims to make this weekend a turning point in their season with the bulk of their schedule yet to come.
"I think this game's pivotal in what's to come in the future, especially coming into conference play," Tracey noted. "Overall I think this is going to be a big game for us."
"Have some bragging rights at the end of the day, because that's what it really boils down to," Vick added. "For sure, we want to be able to brag when it's all said and done."
Hampton addresses the media Wednesday afternoon.
Norfolk State and the Pirates kick off at 4 p.m. Saturday at Armstrong Stadium.
