After firing Barry Odom following four seasons in Columbia, Missouri is looking for a new head football coach. You can find our full hot board here; however, we will also bring you a more in-depth look at each candidates by profiling one every day during the search.
Current position: Charlotte head coach
Age: 34
Head coaching experience: four years
Salary: $700,000
Buyout: $250,000
Of all the names on Missouri’s hot board, Will Healy might be the least-known among casual fans. The 34-year old has only spent one season in any coaching role for an FBS team — at Charlotte. His career record of 20-26 doesn’t exactly jump off the page.
But what Healy lacks in experience, he makes up for in energy. And while his name may not generate a lot of buzz for most, those who have followed his meteoric rise seem to have come away impressed.
Healy has taken an unconventional path to this point. He broke into the coaching profession as an assistant at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He spent six seasons there, first as the quarterbacks coach, then as the receivers coach. Then, after the 2015 he got his first head coaching gig, albeit at one of the worst jobs in the country in Austin Peay. When Healy took over, Austin Peay had lost 16 games in a row. The Governors had gone 1-34 in the three seasons combined prior to Healy’s arrival and had just one winning season out of the past 13 — in 2007.
Healy struggled upon his arrival to Austin Peay, going 0-11 in 2016. But the following season, he led the Governors to an 8-4 record, which tied the most wins in program history. Three of the four losses came against FBS teams. Healy won the Ohio Valley Conference and FCS national coach of the year awards as a result.
Austin Peay went 5-6 in 2018, but is now in the FCS playoffs for the first time in program history this season. Meanwhile, Healy made the jump to the FBS ranks when he accepted the head coaching position at Charlotte last offseason. He’s orchestrated a similarly miraculous rebuild there, but done it more quickly.
Charlotte joined the FBS ranks in 2015 and failed to record a winning record in each of its first four years afterward. The 49ers had a record of 12-36 over that span. This season, however, the team finished the regular season 7-5 in Healy’s first year. Charlotte accepted its first bowl bid in program history, to the Bahamas Bowl.
Healy’s announcement of the bowl selection to the Charlotte players shows another of his appealing qualities: he’s charismatic and energetic. Three times this season, videos of Healy addressing or celebrating with his players have gone semi-viral on Twitter.
Healy’s teams have been characterized by strong offenses, particularly on the ground. Charlotte ranks 27th in the nation in rushing this season, averaging more than 210 yards per game. The 49ers average 31.6 points per contest, which ranks 46th. The 2017 Austin Peay team set program records for rushing touchdowns, total touchdowns, yards per rush, yards per game, total offense and total points.
Additionally, while Healy hasn’t had much of a chance to prove his recruiting chops at the FBS level, he attracted the top-ranked class in the FCS to Austin Peay in 2017. In a 2018 story about Charlotte hiring Healy, Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports called Healy “an elite recruiter, communicator and program promoter, cut from the energetic CEO mold of Dabo Swinney and P.J. Fleck.”
The question with Healy, of course, is whether a leap to Missouri would be too big too fast. Five years ago, he was coaching wide receivers at Chattanooga, and as of just two years ago he had never been part of an FBS staff. If athletics director Jim Sterk and Missouri turn toward Healy, it would be a risk, but if Healy is able to do what he has done at Austin Peay and Charlotte, the rewards could be rich.
