Mental health has been an increasing challenge for diverse segments of the U.S. population. Focused attention and research has helped to identify characteristics that provide insight into the complexities of mental health within U.S. society. Looking at the available research on mental health and college students, one specific population, former African American collegiate football players currently working as collegiate football coaches, may hold important information about mental health issues specific to African American collegiate football players. This qualitative research explored the lived experiences of former African American football players who are currently collegiate football coaches, and their views toward mental health treatment from the time they were a player to now as a coach. Samuolis et al. (2015) expressed that mental illness is a growing concern among college aged students. From stress and anxiety to depression and drug abuse, college student mental health issues are fueling a rise in suicides and diminished well-being that affects academic performance and quality of life (Jones, 2019). Studies on mental health have depicted that mental illness is prevalent across college campuses and despite the increased cases of mental health issues many college students are not seeking help for their mental illnesses nearly as often as they should be (Hayes et al.,2020). Despite a surge in the number of college students seeking mental health treatment, there are still many untreated mental health disorders within student populations (Lattie et al., 2019). The unspoken culture of football is to not display any forms of weakness, whether it be physical or mental, so psychological well-being is sometimes overlooked in the sport. DeLenardo and Terrion (2014) stated that the mentality of "sucking it up" reflects what is described as the "pain principle": a learned pattern, that teaches them to deny their authentic physical or emotional needs and develop health problems as a result (p.51). Being that football players were taught to not display any signs of weakness; this research sought to provide a platform for former African American football players who are now collegiate coaches to tell their stories of how they potentially dealt with mental health issues during their playing careers but, suppressed what they were experiencing as a result of the culture of the sport. Years of collisions, injuries, head trauma and other issues are all factors that can cause mental health issues in college football players (Pike, 2021). The researcher sought to explore if former African American collegiate football players who are now collegiate coaches acknowledge the mental health issues that can arise as a result of playing football or do they continue to suppress mental health because that is what they were taught to do as a player. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]