William Livingston Healy (born January 16, 1985) is an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
coach. He was the head coach at the
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte or simply Charlotte) is a public research university in Charlotte, North Carolina. UNC Charlotte offers 24 doctoral, 66 master's, and 79 bachelor's degree programs through nine coll ...
in
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most popu ...
from 2019 to 2022. At the time of hire on December 4, 2018, he was the 2nd youngest football coach in Division 1 football. In just his second season at
Austin Peay
Austin Peay (June 1, 1876 – October 2, 1927) was an American politician who served as the 35th governor of Tennessee from 1923 to 1927. He was the state's first governor since the Civil War to win three consecutive terms and the first to die i ...
, Healy spearheaded one of the most remarkable turnarounds in college football history. Coming into the 2017 season with just one win in the last four years, Healy guided the Governors to an 8–4 mark, including an 8–1 record against Football Championship Subdivision competition. Austin Peay tallied seven OVC victories – the most conference wins in program history.
Playing career
Healy, a native of
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020 ...
, was an all-state quarterback at
Boyd-Buchanan School where he still holds the Chattanooga-area career passing record (7,700+yds). After signing a football scholarship at Air Force coming out of high school, he then transferred to The
University of Richmond to play
quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Am ...
for
Dave Clawson and
Mike London
Michael Wilson London Sr. (born October 9, 1960) is the current head football coach for the William & Mary Tribe football program at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. He is a former defensive back and associate head coa ...
. The Spiders went on to win the FCS National Championship in 2008, Healy's senior season, with the game being played in his hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. He then started his coaching career for coach
Russ Huesman
Russell Frederick Huesman (born January 28, 1960) is an American football coach and former player. He was named head football coach at the University of Richmond on December 14, 2016 after spending eight years as head coach of the University of T ...
at The
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2009.
Coaching career
Early coaching career
After spending his first season at the
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga as the quarterbacks coach for record-setting quarterback B. J. Coleman, Healy moved to the
wide receivers coaching position. He spent six more years at Chattanooga, with titles of recruiting coordinator and passing game coordinator. As the recruiting coordinator, Healy manufactured back-to-back top recruiting classes in FCS football.
Austin Peay
Healy was announced as the 19th head coach at Austin Peay State University
on December 20, 2015.
His 2016 recruiting class was ranked top 5 in FCS football, followed by the #1 ranked class in 2017 according to 247sports.
During the 2017 season, a cbssports.com article asserted that "Will Healy is doing a miraculous job at Austin Peay.". Healy's Governors finished the season 8–1 in the FCS with its only FCS loss to Jacksonville State. The 7–1 mark in the OVC set a school record for Austin Peay and ties the most wins ever in a season. These accomplishments garnered Healy with the OVC Coach of the Year Award and the Eddie Robinson Award by STATS for the FCS National Coach of the year."
Charlotte 49ers
On December 5, 2018 Healy was announced as the
Charlotte 49ers second head football coach. After achieving the program's first winning and bowl season, Healy's contract was altered to extend his terms of service with a slight raise and additional achievement bonuses for himself and his staff.
2019 season
On August 29, 2019, Healy recorded his first win as the head coach of Charlotte in a 49–28 victory against
Gardner–Webb. On September 14th, he recorded his first career victory over a
Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponent with a 52–17 win against
UMass
The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...
. Healy would record his first
C-USA win against
North Texas on October 26th. Healy and the 49ers both would reach bowl eligibility for the first time following a home victory over
Marshall on November 23 in his first season at the helm.
2021 season
On September 3, 2021, Healy would record both his and the program's first win over a
Power 5 opponent with a 31 to 28 win over the
Duke Blue Devils
The Duke Blue Devils are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina. Duke's athletics department features 27 varsity teams that all compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Associatio ...
.
2022 season
Charlotte fired Healy on October 23, 2022, after a 1–7 start to the season. Offensive line coach
Peter Rossomando
Peter Rossomando (born April 7, 1972) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the eleventh head coach at NCAA Division I FCS member Lamar University, named on December 10, 2022. He served as the interim head coach at Uni ...
took over as interim head coach.
Head coaching record
References
External links
Charlotte profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Healy, Will
Living people
1985 births
American football quarterbacks
Austin Peay Governors football coaches
Charlotte 49ers football coaches
Chattanooga Mocs football coaches
Richmond Spiders football players
Sportspeople from Chattanooga, Tennessee
Players of American football from Tennessee