Will Healy had a coaching story everyone wanted to love. He transformed one of the worst FCS programs at Austin Peay, winning national coach of the year honors in 2017. Then he landed the Charlotte 49ers job a few weeks shy of his 34th birthday.
Healy was young, engaging and charismatic. He created "Club Lit" to celebrate wins during a strong debut season in 2019 in which the 49ers went 7-6 and reached the Bahamas Bowl. He even generated some attention, albeit premature, for Power 5 vacancies. But the hype around Healy ultimately didn't translate onto the field, as Charlotte went 2-4 during the shortened 2020 season and 5-7 last fall.