The NC A&T football coaching search has an interesting combination of names –

It’s been two weeks since NC A&T parted ways with head coach Sam Washington, and many eyes have been on East Greensboro.

Several names have surfaced as possibilities for the opener as North Carolina A&T football prepares to move to the Colonial Athletic Association starting next season.

The most prominent of them is Jim Caldwell, a former ACC and NFL head coach. Multiple sources indicate the school is interested in the former Indianapolis Colts and Detroit Lions head coach, who also spent much of the 1990s at Wake Forest in the ACC. Caldwell still has ties to the Triad area.

Another name that has been floated around is Jerry Mack. Mack currently serves as the running backs coach at the University of Tennessee, where he also serves as the recruiting coordinator. Although his previous position was as offensive coordinator at Rice University, he has head coaching experience at an HBCU and completed a successful stint at North Carolina Central from 2014-2017. His NCCU program won three MEAC titles in his first three years, including an outright title in 2016, including a 3-1 record against A&T during that span. According to sources, Mack is said to be interested in the job.

Outside of Mack and Caldwell, a couple of former NC A&T assistants have reportedly been contacted about the job.

That includes longtime A&T running backs coach and current Fort Valley State head coach Shawn Gibbs. Gibbs went 8-2 in his first season as head coach when he took over the SIAC program after a decades-long tenure in which he mentored All-American running backs such as Tarik Cohen and Jah-Maine Martin.

Another former NC A&T assistant on the radar is Courtney Coard. A member of Rod Broadway’s tree, Coard spent years at A&T and under Washington before taking over as Trei Oliver’s defensive coordinator at North Carolina Central, his alma mater.

Sources say preliminary interviews have begun as the program looks to move toward its future in a coaching environment that moves much faster than it did more than a decade ago, when AD Earl Hilton brought in Rod Broadway to revive the program and usher in a decade of prosperity. . Whoever is hired will likely have a high bar set, as Washington’s tenure ended with a 31-15 record, two MEAC titles and two HBCU national titles.

There is an interesting combination of names in the NC A&T football coaching search