College Football Nation: Charlie Weatherbie

East Carolina coach Skip Holtz said he has not received an offer from South Florida yet.

Dan Enos is the guy at Central Michigan, but is he ready to be a head coach? He says he’s ready to lead a team that's a cut above everyone else in the Mid-American Conference.

UNLV has already started installing a new offensive scheme that will be more multiple than in the past.

Troy players are excited for offensive coordinator Neal Brown’s move to Texas Tech.

Former ULM coach Charlie Weatherbie is up for a Florida high school coaching job.

Marshall is hoping to capitalize on the excitement surrounding new head coach Doc Holliday with an increase in ticket sales.
Missouri players don’t claim to know the history of Navy, but the Academy’s history is certainly one to be appreciated.

Could the Big Ten’s attempt at expansion trickle down to Middle Tennessee?

Boise State and Idaho have put football in the state of Idaho back on the map.

Air Force is relying on its seniors to help pull them through during the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl.

TCU coach Gary Patterson is proud of the Mountain West’s 3-0 bowl record so far.

Former Louisiana-Monroe coach Charlie Weatherbie has applied for the head coaching position at Nicholls State.
1. The longer the University of South Florida investigates head coach Jim Leavitt’s altercation with special teams player Joel Miller, the more uneasy that Leavitt and the Bulls coaching staff becomes. It would seem as if the quicker the university makes a decision, the smaller the effect on recruiting. If Leavitt stays, no worries. If the university forces him out, mid-January is not a good time to make a coaching change.

2. Ran into UConn coach Randy Edsall as we exited the No. 1 Huskies’ 80-68 women's basketball defeat of No. 2 Stanford at the XL Center in Hartford on Wednesday night. Edsall’s Huskies play South Carolina in the Papajohn’s Bowl on Jan. 2. Edsall said UConn must stop big plays and make the Gamecocks drive the length of the field. Good news: South Carolina’s minus-3 turnover margin. Bad news: UConn allowed a 67.1 completion percentage. The Huskies must make more plays than that.

3. Todd Berry returns to an FBS head coaching position at Louisiana-Monroe, which means a former Army coach is replacing a former Navy coach (Charlie Weatherbie). It’s surprising that Berry got a second chance after going 5-35 at Army from 2000-03. Ball State coach Stan Parrish needed 21 years to get another head coaching job after going 2-31-1 at Kansas State. Parrish’s Cardinals went 2-10 this season.

Non-AQ coaches continue to fall

December, 1, 2009
12/01/09
10:30
AM ET
The round of coach firings, dismissals, retirements, and resignations for the non-AQ should be coming to a close pretty soon.

Akron’s J.D. Brookhart was relived of his duties last Friday, Marshall’s Mark Snyder resigned on Sunday and in a little bit of a surprise, Louisiana-Monroe announced Monday that Charlie Weatherbie would not have his contract renewed.

By my count, there’s only one coach, maybe two, that should be concerned: North Texas’ Todd Dodge and Arkansas State’s Steve Roberts. Both fell way below expectations this year and during several years prior. I think Dodge is in more trouble than Roberts, but here’s a rundown of the coaching carousel:

OUT

David Elson, Western Kentucky (0-11, 0-7 Sun Belt; vs. Arkansas State)

Tommy West, Memphis (2-10, 1-7 C-USA)

Mike Sanford, UNLV (5-7, 3-5 MWC)

Dick Tomey, San Jose State (2-9, 1-6 WAC; at Louisiana Tech)

J.D. Brookhart, Akron (3-9, 2-6 MAC)

Mark Snyder, Marshall (6-6, 4-4 C-USA)

Charlie Weatherbie, Louisiana-Monroe (6-6, 5-3 Sun Belt)

IN

Larry Porter, Memphis (LSU RB coach)

Willie Taggart, Western Kentucky (Stanford RB coach)

WORRIED

Todd Dodge, North Texas (2-10, 1-8 Sun Belt): Dodge lost his final regular season game last week to finish the year 2-10. He’s 5-31 in his three years with the program and the competitiveness of the Mean Green has been hit and miss. They lost their last three games by a score, but all of those losses came to teams with losing records. However, three years is not a long time for a coach. Dodge hasn’t gotten all of his recruits in place and at least offensively, there’s a lot of talent returning.

Steve Roberts, Arkansas State (2-7, 1-4 Sun Belt): Arkansas State beat North Texas last week and should defeat Western Kentucky this week to earn a 4-8 overall record, which is a far cry from what many were expecting. This spiral started last season when the team needed a win for a bowl and the Red Wolves haven’t gotten out of the funk. Arkansas State hasn’t had a winning season since 1995, but it has had three 6-6 seasons during Roberts’ eight-year tenure.

SAFE

Mike Price, UTEP (4-8, 3-5 C-USA): UTEP AD Bob Stull said Price was safe before the beatdown of Marshall, but that solidified it. Even though UTEP underachieved this season, it still showed flashes of being a potential contender in Conference USA. Price will get one more year to see if he can turn the program around.

Mike Locksley, New Mexico (1-11, 1-7 MWC): Obviously, this was not an ideal season for New Mexico, but I said all along that Locksley needed just one win to keep his job and he got it against Colorado State. However, a sub-.500 record won’t cut it next year especially with the PR nightmare Locksley put the university through this season. He’ll need to show big improvement in 2010 to stay safe.

Greg McMackin, Hawaii (6-6, 3-5 WAC; vs. Wisconsin): A lot of credit goes to McMackin for the turnaround his team has performed in an attempt to save its season. The Warriors still need one more win for a bowl berth, but they were left for dead after a six-game losing streak through the middle of the season. The Warriors have won four in a row with Wisconsin coming to town.

George O’Leary, UCF (8-4, 6-2 C-USA): A lot of people wanted O’Leary fired after last season not only for the poor results on the field, but also some of the drama off of it. But Central Florida has rallied around its embattled coach and come up with an eight-win campaign and a bowl berth. The defense has been fantastic and O’Leary should be praised for getting the program back on track.
The fate of North Texas coach Todd Dodge is still up in the air after the Mean Green finished 2-10.

The Western Athletic Conference is hoping that it doesn’t have a repeat of 1996.

Navy is trying to forget upset loss to Hawaii and focus its attention on the Commander-in-Chief game against Army.

Tulsa tries to fix its problems after its first losing season since 2004.

Middle Tennessee is confident that it will go to a bowl at 9-3, but which bowl is still up in the air.

Louisiana-Monroe coach Charlie Weatherbie could be on his way out after a disappointing finish to the season.

Boise State coach Chris Petersen knows his Broncos are on the brink of a BCS bowl berth.

The resignation of Marshall coach Mark Snyder stunned his players.

Former Memphis running back Larry Porter has high hopes for the Memphis head coaching postion.
Posted by ESPN.com’s Graham Watson

Both Troy coach Larry Blakeney and Louisiana-Monroe coach Charlie Weatherbie can remember last year's 51-yard field goal attempt like it was yesterday.

The ball from Troy kicker Sam Glusman seemingly stayed in the air for hours as it approached the crossbar and decided the game. A bounce forward and Troy wins. A bounce backward and Louisiana-Monroe has the upset.

The ball bounced off the crossbar and back into the field of play, giving ULM a 31-30 win. It’s lone bright spot in a 4-8 season. It gave Troy its only loss in conference play.

The missed kick was the final mistake in a series miscues by the Trojans. They missed three field goals in the game, turned the ball over twice and allowed a safety.

“Before that field goal at the end, we’d missed two field goals and given up a safety,” Blakeney said. “I’m not trying to make excuses, but that’s 11 points right there.”

This weekend’s game has more at stake than a year ago. Both teams are unbeaten in Sun Belt play and atop the conference standings. Troy has a one game lead because ULM stepped out of conference last week to play Kentucky.

The game against the Warhawks always presents an interesting challenge. Although Troy has won two of the past three games, ULM has made the game interesting in the second half.

“They’ve got a lot of strike power and I think the scheme that they offer is one that gives everybody problems because it’s a little bit unique and different,” Blakeney said. “And they’re good enough in the special teams that they can match you up. So, we feel like we’ve got to play our best game and I guess that’s the way it ought to be if you’re going to lead the league going into this part of the season.”

Troy and ULM rank first and second in the conference in scoring. The Trojans have the league’s best total offense, but Louisiana-Monroe ranks second in the conference in total defense.

“I’m hoping we can stay in the game with them, they’re a darn good football team,” Weatherbie said. “They’re a team that I think is as good as any team in our conference. They were picked to win this conference.”

While ULM still has five conference games remaining and Troy has four, this game will give the winner a great shot at the Sun Belt title and the New Orleans Bowl. Troy already has beaten Arkansas State and Middle Tennessee, two of the top competitors in the league, and ULM has a win over the Red Wolves as well. The only other team that could challenge for the league title is Florida Atlantic.

Troy has been one of the hottest teams in the country the past month and a half. After losing its first two games, the Trojans have rattled off five consecutive wins. But Blakeney doesn't want his team to get too confident. That was part of the problem a year ago.

“We’ve got a chance to be pretty good,” Blakeney said. “We’ve gotten better every week since we left the Florida Gators [after Week 2]. We’ve won five straight and gained a little confidence. Everything seems to be going a little bit better. But you can’t take a breather or you’ll wind up getting beat, especially against these guys. They’ve always been very good no matter where we play. It’s always been a tough game.”

Posted by ESPN.com’s Graham Watson


Louisiana-Monroe coach Charlie Weatherbie said he thought his team would have a chance to be pretty good back in the spring, and so far the Warhawks have delivered with their best start since joining the FBS.

However, tonight’s game against Arkansas State will give Weatherbie a true gauge of how good his team really is.

“Arkansas State was picked No. 2 coming out of preseason and a very, very good football team,” Weatherbie said. “Should have beaten Troy, which is picked to be the No. 1 team in the conference. They should have beaten Troy a couple weeks ago at home and they’re a great football team.”

The game will be a battle between the Sun Belt Conference’s best offense and one of the league’s best defenses.

The Warhawks are averaging 418.60 yards per game and 33.40 points per game. They also have the league’s best rushing offense at 208.6 ypg.

Arkansas State has the league’s top rushing defense, top scoring defense and ranks second in total defense.

For both of these teams, a win means keeping pace with undefeated Troy, which already has defeated Arkansas State and Middle Tennessee, two of the top challengers for the Sun Belt title. Louisiana-Monroe plays the Trojans at the end of the month. The Warhawks beat Troy 31-30 last year, one of only four wins a year ago.

“You’ve got to win this game,” Arkansas State quarterback Corey Leonard told the Jonesboro Sun. “You’ve got to win every conference game from here on out if you want to solidify at least a share of the conference. I have a feeling if we win out, we’ll have a share of it. If we don’t, I don’t see Troy losing twice.”
Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson

Safety Greg James and wide receiver Darrell McNeal have returned to Louisiana-Monroe after missing this past spring while on suspension for an undisclosed violation of team rules.

"They violated team rules, but they have complied to do the things they needed to do to get back on the team," coach Charlie Weatherbie told the Monroe News-Star. "I think they're excited about being back."

McNeal was the team's leading receiver last season with 51 catches for 558 yards and four touchdowns. He also had 21 rushes for 40 yards and four scores. He led the team in scoring with 50 points and was third on the team in all-purpose yardage as a kick and punt returner.

James led the team with three interceptions and was fifth on the team with 61 tackles.

BACK TO TOP