(STATS) – Austin Peay desperately needed a coach who could bring success to the FCS program when it hired Will Healy three years ago.
Too much success has the Ohio Valley Conference school searching for a new coach again. Charlotte announced the hiring Healy as its new coach on Tuesday.
“In my first conversation with (athletic director) Mike Hill, I told him that I would walk to Charlotte to talk to him about this job,” Healy said. “This is a special place – a young football program with tremendous university leadership located in a first-class city. We can recruit and develop excellent student-athletes here and we can compete at a very high level.”
Healy was 13-21 in three seasons at Austin Peay, which is a considerable improvement from the struggles of previous years. After a winless first season in 2016, Healy helped turn the Governors around in his second season, stopping a 29-game losing streak and a run of 46 losses in 47 games with an 8-4 record and a second-place finish in the OVC. Healy won the 2017 STATS FCS Eddie Robinson Award, honoring the national coach of the year.
Austin Peay finished 5-6 this season, although it was considered a disappointing record for a veteran team. Still, it was the school’s first back-to-back seasons of at least five wins since 1984 and ’85.
Healy arrived at Austin Peay after spending seven years as an assistant coach at Chattanooga. He was a quarterback and team captain on Richmond’s 2008 FCS championship-winning team.
Charlotte, which was 22-48 in its first six seasons under the only coach in program history, Brad Lambert, was likely attracted to Healy’s boundless energy and vision and recruiting prowess. The 49ers were 5-7 this season.
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