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Twenty-five years after Anthony Lynn left college, the Chargers head coach has earned his degree. He will walk at UNLV’s graduation Saturday, receiving his bachelor’s degree after leaving Texas Tech six hours short to sign as an undrafted free agent with the Broncos.

“Football’s always been my number one priority, and sometimes that’s good and sometimes that’s bad,” Lynn said, via Ricky Henne of the team website. “I chose football over my education then. I did that a few years later when I had the chance to go back. I chose football over education. This time, I thought no more excuses. I need to go back and get it done. I started investigating it in 2014, [and] I didn’t do it in 2015 because I was applying to be a head coach. I didn’t want to do both. In 2016, the same thing. In 2017, I said it’s now or never . . . and then I became a head coach.”

Lynn, the first member of his family to attend college, spent the past year finishing his degree. Most of his work was done online, though he did travel to Las Vegas in recent months to meet with his professors.

Mission accomplished.

“It was 2014 and I was with the Jets, and Dave Szott, a really good friend of mine, talked about how he went back 15 years later and how he finished,” Lynn said. “His wife was with him, and I remember she looked at me and she said, ‘Coach, you should do the same. There is no reason why you shouldn’t do that. No excuses.’ That kind of gave me a little push and inspired me to go back.”