Former Austin Peay and Charlotte head coach Will Healy is back in the FCS. East Tennessee State (Southern) has chosen Will Healy to lead the program following the departure of Tre Lamb to Tulsa (American). Healy was the Georgia State running backs coach for the 2024 season.
Healy spent 7 seasons from 2009 through 2015 as the wide receivers coach at Chattanooga. He was named the head coach at Austin Peay for the 2016 season and went 0-11 in his first season. That all changed in 2017 as the Governors went 8-4 overall and 7-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference to finish in 2nd place. Healy went 5-6 overall and 3-5 in 2018 and then departed to take the head coaching position at Charlotte. Healy went 13-21 overall at Austin Peay and helped build the foundation that led to the school’s first conference title in four decades under Mark Hudspeth in 2019. The Governors won a share of another title in 2022 and then won the United Athletic Conference’s inaugural championship in 2023.
Healy started his Charlotte tenure with a winning campaign in 2019 finishing 7-6 and a Bahamas Bowl appearance. The 49ers dropped to 2-4 in 2020 and rebounded to 5-7 in 2021. The 2022 season started with three losses including a 41-24 defeat at home to William & Mary. Charlotte won the fourth game against Georgia State but four more losses in a row sent them to 1-7 overall and led to Healy’s firing. He went 15-24 overall and 10-14 in Conference USA in his 3+ seasons with the 49ers. For his career, Healy is 28-45 overall and 20-28 in conference games.
Healy will take over for Tre Lamb who went 7-5 in his lone season with the Buccaneers. Prior to Lamb, George Quarles went 6-16 overall and 3-13 in the Southern Conference but was fired after two years. ETSU’s most recent FCS Playoff appearances came in 2018 (First Round) and 2021 (Quarterfinals) under Randy Sanders.
Photo Credit to Austin Peay State University Athletics