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East Tennessee State University

will-healy-headshot

Will Healy

ETSU Director of Athletics Dr. Richard Sander announced on Dec. 12, 2024 that Will Healy will be the school’s new Head Football Coach. Healy, who will be the 21st head coach in program history, comes to Johnson City after spending the past two seasons as an Assistant Head Coach at Georgia State (2024) and UCF (2023). Healy also has experience as the Head Coach at Austin Peay (2016-2018) and Charlotte (2019-2022).

Prior to his two seasons as an Assistant Head Coach at the FBS level, the Chattanooga, Tenn., native engineered a remarkable turnaround at Austin Peay. In his second season as head coach in 2017, he led as the Governors to an 8-4 mark, an 8-1 record versus FCS opponents and a program-record seven Ohio Valley Conference wins—after Austin Peay had won only one football game in the previous four years combined.
 
In addition to being named OVC coach of the year in 2017, he received the Eddie Robinson Award by STATS as the top FCS coach in the country. His 2017 recruiting class was rated No. 1 in the country by 247Sports.

Healy took over at Charlotte in 2019, and in his first season, he guided the 49ers to the first winning record and postseason bowl invitation (the Bahamas Bowl against Buffalo) in program history while producing the school's first All-American (defensive end Alex Highsmith).

The following season, he led Charlotte to a win over Duke for the program's first victory over a Power 5 opponent.

Healy's coaching career began in 2009 in his hometown as the quarterbacks coach at Chattanooga. He spent seven years (2009-15) on the Mocs' staff, switching to coach wide receivers in 2010 and also working as passing game coordinator and recruiting coordinator. He produced consecutive recruiting classes rated the best in FCS football.
 
While with the Mocs, Healy helped develop quarterback Jacob Huesman into a three-time Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Year and second-team FCS All-American and also worked with quarterback BJ Coleman, who eventually became a seventh-round pick of the Green Bay Packers in the 2012 NFL Draft.

After originally attending the Air Force Academy in 2003, Healy transferred to Richmond, where he was the starting quarterback as a senior for the Spiders' 2008 FCS national championship team. 

Healy graduated from Richmond in 2008 with a degree in rhetoric and communication studies.
 
He and his wife Emily (Broyles) are parents of Eli and Wynn.