Robert Carr Wells Jr. (born April 10, 1968) is an American politician,

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are no laws that limit a number of times a person can ...

and former college football coach. He was the head football coach at

Savannah State University ) , established = , closed = , type = Public historically black university , parent = University System of Georgia , academic_affiliation = Space-grant , endowment ...

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...

for the 2008 and 2009 seasons. Wells unsuccessfully sought the Constitution Party's nomination for President of the United States in the 2012 presidential election. He ran as an independent in the 2016 presidential election. He was a candidate in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries.

College football career

Wells played football at Furman University, playing fullback and wide receiver. He was a member of the 1988

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

national championship team.

Coaching career

Wells coached football from 1990 to 2009. He began his career as an assistant coach at Greer (S.C.) High School (1990–1995). He served as head coach at C.E. Murray High School Greeleyville, SC (1995–1997). He moved to the University of South Carolina as a graduate assistant for four seasons. Wells worked with the defensive backs (1998-1999) and middle linebackers (2000). Wells moved on to become the defensive coordinator at

South Carolina State University South Carolina State University (SCSU or SC State) is a public, historically black, land-grant university in Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States. It is the only public, historically black land-grant institution in South Carolina, is a memb ...

in 2002. As the Bulldog's defensive coordinator (2002–2005) Wells' defense attained numerous national rankings and a

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern and the Mid-Atlantic United States. It participates in the National C ...

championship (2004). In 2006, Wells was hired as the General Manager for the Augusta Spartans Arena Football Team where his duties included coaching, player personnel decisions, player development, team travel, fund raising and media relations. Wells' final position before joining Savannah State was as the defensive coordinator and football marketing director for one season at

Benedict College Benedict College is a private historically black college in Columbia, South Carolina. Founded in 1870 by northern Baptists, it was originally a teachers' college. It has since expanded to offer majors in many disciplines across the liberal arts ...

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is List of municipalities in South Carolina, the second-largest ...

Savannah State

Wells was hired as head football coach on . In his first season as head coach, the team saw as many victories as the previous four seasons combined. Wells resigned his position on January 28, 2010 citing personal reasons. He subsequently filed a lawsuit against SSU for

reverse discrimination Reverse discrimination is a term for discrimination against members of a dominant or majority group, in favor of members of a minority or historically disadvantaged group. Groups may be defined in terms of ethnicity, gender identity, nationality ...

, alleging that his resignation as head coach was forced. The lawsuit was settled in November 2011.

Head coaching record

Presidential bids

2012

On November 21, 2011, Wells announced his candidacy for President of the United States in the 2012 general election. He initially stated that he would run as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

, saying "Our party system is broken. We need a third option". In December, he became a candidate for the presidential nomination of the Reform Party. In January 2012, Wells withdrew his bid for the Reform Party nomination and announced that he would instead seek the presidential nomination of the Constitution Party. At the Constitution Party National Convention, Wells received 58 of 402 votes (14.39%) for the party's presidential nomination, which was won on the first ballot by former U.S. Congressman

Virgil Goode Virgil Hamlin Goode Jr. (born October 17, 1946) is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 5th congressional district of Virginia between 1997 and 2009. He was initially a Democrat, but b ...

2016

Wells announced on November 3, 2012, that he would run for President of the United States again in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

as an independent candidate. On July 17, 2013, he held a conference call to address a variety of accusations by his former campaign managers. On September 24, 2013, Wells announced that he would discontinue campaigning as an independent candidate and would instead seek the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party. On March 9, 2016, a press release on Wells' website claimed that Wells is no longer running as a Democrat, but as an independent once again. Wells never attempted to get his name on the ballot in any state.

2020

In 2018, Wells filed with the

Federal Election Commission The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency of the United States whose purpose is to enforce campaign finance law in United States federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Cam ...

to run for President in the 2020 Democratic Party primary. He filed in person at the office of Secretary of State Bill Gardner to enter the New Hampshire Democratic primary on November 13, 2019. He then went on to get on the ballot in the Texas and Louisiana Democratic primaries.

Personal life

Wells holds both a master's degree in adult education from the University of South Carolina (2000) and a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in health and

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorat ...

from Furman University (1990).

References

External links

Official 2020 presidential campaign website

Official 2016 presidential campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Robby 1968 births Living people American athlete-politicians North Carolina Constitutionalists Furman Paladins football players People from Jefferson County, Georgia Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) Savannah State Tigers football coaches South Carolina Gamecocks football coaches South Carolina State Bulldogs football coaches Candidates in the 2012 United States presidential election 21st-century American politicians Candidates in the 2016 United States presidential election Candidates in the 2020 United States presidential election University of South Carolina alumni Georgia (U.S. state) Democrats North Carolina Independents Reform Party of the United States of America politicians North Carolina Democrats