Rick Stockstill
Richard Wilson Stockstill[2] (born December 23, 1957) is an American football coach. He is the head coach for the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football program. Stockstill was a Florida State quarterback under coach Bobby Bowden from 1977 to 1981. On December 12, 2005, Stockstill was hired as the 14th head coach of the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders.[3][4]
 Stockstill at 2018 C-USA Kickoff | |
| Current position | |
|---|---|
| Title | Head coach |
| Team | Middle Tennessee |
| Conference | C-USA |
| Record | 94–92 |
| Annual salary | $901,504 (2019)[1] |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | December 23, 1957 Sidney, Ohio |
| Playing career | |
| 1977–1981 | Florida State |
| Position(s) | Quarterback |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1983–1984 | Bethune-Cookman (OC/QB) |
| 1985–1988 | Central Florida (AHC/WR) |
| 1989–1992 | Clemson (QB) |
| 1993 | Clemson (PGC/QB) |
| 1994–1995 | Clemson (co-OC/WR) |
| 1996–1998 | Clemson (WR) |
| 1999–2002 | Clemson (WR/RC) |
| 2003 | East Carolina (OC/QB) |
| 2004 | South Carolina (WR/RC) |
| 2005 | South Carolina (TE/RC) |
| 2006–present | Middle Tennessee |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 94–92 |
| Bowls | 2–6 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 1 Sun Belt (2006) 1 C-USA East Division Title (2018) | |
| Awards | |
| 2x Sun Belt Coach of the Year (2006, 2009) 1x C-USA Coach of the Year (2018) | |
Early life
Stockstill was born in Sidney, Ohio, on December 23, 1957. However, he grew up in Fernandina Beach, Florida. He was inducted into the Fernandina Hall of Fame in 2006. He attended Florida State University and was a three-year letterman there as a quarterback where he was team captain and earned honorable mention All-America honors in 1981 under Coach Bobby Bowden.
Coaching career
Stockstill served as an assistant at numerous locations for 24 years prior to getting his first head coaching job. He began at Bethune–Cookman University as an offensive coordinator and later went on to coach wide receivers at the University of Central Florida. For the 1989 season, Stockstill began a long stint as a wide receivers and quarterbacks coach with the Clemson Tigers, where he stayed until 2002. He served under coaches Danny Ford, Ken Hatfield, Tommy West and Tommy Bowden while at Clemson. Stockstill also worked under coaches Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier at South Carolina after working one season for East Carolina University as an offensive coordinator.
Middle Tennessee
In 2006, Stockstill got his first head coaching job at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. In his first season, Stockstill led the Blue Raiders to the program's second bowl game as well as a share of the Sun Belt Conference title. He was later that year named the conference coach of the year. The 2007 and 2008 seasons saw the Blue Raiders take a small step back with back-to-back 5–7 seasons. However, in 2009, Stockstill and the Blue Raiders went 10–3 and won the New Orleans Bowl, which was the second bowl victory in school history. Again, Stockstill was named conference coach of the year for the 2009 season. The Blue Raiders went to another bowl in 2010, and they finished the season 6–7 after losing the GoDaddy.com Bowl.
After the successful 2009 season, he turned down several offers from other schools, including Conference USA's East Carolina[5] and Memphis,[6] citing that it was not the right time to leave the Blue Raiders.[7] Despite an overall record slightly above .500, Stockstill is 14-50 against teams with eventual winning records, of which a record of 4-25 is coming against non-conference opponents. Stockstill has led MTSU to eight bowl games in 13 years, winning two.
As of the end of the 2018 season, Rick Stockstill is tied with Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald as the sixth most tenured head coach in Division I FBS.
Personal life
Stockstill and his wife, the former Sara Fleischman, have a son, Brent, and a daughter, Emily. His son Brent was awarded a scholarship to play football at the University of Cincinnati beginning in the fall of 2013 but was released to play under his father at MTSU.[8] Brent was the Blue Raiders' primary quarterback for the 2015 through 2018 seasons,[9] culminating with an appearance in the 2018 New Orleans Bowl.
Head coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (Sun Belt Conference) (2006–2012) | |||||||||
| 2006 | Middle Tennessee | 7–6 | 6–1 | T–1st | L Motor City | ||||
| 2007 | Middle Tennessee | 5–7 | 4–3 | T–2nd | |||||
| 2008 | Middle Tennessee | 5–7 | 3–4 | T–4th | |||||
| 2009 | Middle Tennessee | 10–3 | 7–1 | 2nd | W New Orleans | ||||
| 2010 | Middle Tennessee | 6–7 | 5–3 | 3rd | L GoDaddy.com | ||||
| 2011 | Middle Tennessee | 2–10 | 1–7 | 8th | |||||
| 2012 | Middle Tennessee | 8–4 | 6–2 | T–2nd | |||||
| Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (Conference USA) (2013–present) | |||||||||
| 2013 | Middle Tennessee | 8–5 | 6–2 | T–2nd (East) | L Armed Forces | ||||
| 2014 | Middle Tennessee | 6–6 | 5–3 | 2nd (East) | |||||
| 2015 | Middle Tennessee | 7–6 | 6–2 | T–2nd (East) | L Bahamas | ||||
| 2016 | Middle Tennessee | 8–5 | 5–3 | 3rd (East) | L Hawaii | ||||
| 2017 | Middle Tennessee | 7–6 | 4–4 | T–3rd (East) | W Camellia | ||||
| 2018 | Middle Tennessee | 8–6 | 7–1 | 1st (East) | L New Orleans | ||||
| 2019 | Middle Tennessee | 4–8 | 3–5 | T–5th (East) | |||||
| 2020 | Middle Tennessee | 3–6 | 3–4 | 5th (East) | |||||
| 2021 | Middle Tennessee | 0–0 | 0–0 | (East) | |||||
| Middle Tennessee: | 94–92 | 71–45 | |||||||
| Total: | 94–92 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
References
- Berkowitz, Steve. "NCAA Salaries:NCAAF Coaches". sports.usatoday.com. USA Today. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
- http://catalog.mtsu.edu/mime/media/23/3158/2017_AdministrativeStaff.pdf
- "Stockstill to coach Middle Tennessee". Associated Press. Murfreesboro, TN: ESPN. December 12, 2005. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
- "MT names Stockstill new Blue Raider Head Football Coach". MT Media Relations. December 12, 2005. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
- Anderson, Reggie (January 20, 2010). "Former Clemson and USC Assistant Stockstill Staying At Middle Tennessee". WLTX. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
- Stukenborg, Phil (November 17, 2009). "Tigers to talk to MTSU's Rick Stockstill about vacancy". Retrieved January 28, 2011.
- "Stockstill stays at MTSU, won't pursue East Carolina opening". Nashville City Paper. January 19, 2010. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
- Kreager, Tom (February 5, 2013). "Siegel QB, son of MTSU coach, to sign with Cincinnati". Murfreesboro (TN) Daily News Journal. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
- "Stockstill father-son duo going into last season at MTSU". USA Today. AP. August 1, 2018. Retrieved December 15, 2018.