College Football Coach Fired After 18 Seasons
Rick Stockstill is no longer the head coach of the Middle Tennessee State football team.
A longtime college football head coach has been fired. On Monday, the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football team announced they have relieved Rick Stockstill of his duties as head coach. Stockstill has been the head coach of the Blue Raiders since December 2005 and posted a 113-111 record in 18 seasons. The move comes after Middle Tennessee finished the 2023 season with a 4-8 record.
"This is one of the most difficult days in my tenure, but one I feel is necessary in our aspiration to compete and win championships," Middle Tennesee Director of Athletics Chris Massaro. "I appreciate everything Rick, his wife Sara, and their family have done the last 18 years for MTSU Athletics, our football program, and, more importantly, our student-athletes. Because of his leadership, our student-athletes have performed at a high level in the classroom, have dedicated time and energy to supporting our community and have given us countless hours of dedication to being successful on the football field. I want to thank Coach Stockstill for his professionalism, character and dedication, and wish him well in his future endeavors."
Middle Tennessee Has Fired HC Rick Stockstill
— CFB Nation 🏈 (@TheCFBNation) November 28, 2023
Stockstill Was The HC For The Blue Raiders Since 2006 w/ A Record Of 113-111 #GoCFB #CollegeFootball #BLUEnited pic.twitter.com/KaQJ7KKy3i
In his 18 seasons with the Blue Raiders, Stockstill recorded one 10-win season (2009) and led the team to the Sun Belt Conference Championship in 2006. Stockstill also won the Conference USA East Division title in 2018 and has led the program to 10 bowl game appearances. He is also a two-time winner of the Sun Belt Coach of the Year Award (2006, 2009) and a winner of the Conference USA Coach of the Year Award (2018).
"Over the first decade or longer than that, Coach Stock had a really good record against the conference opponents," Massaro told reporters on Monday, per the Murfreesboro Daily News Journal. "The last five years we were 16-22 in conference. This wasn't just this year, and I tried to emphasize that with the players when we met with them. There's an erosion in our football program. I want (the move) to say we're not satisfied. We want to win championships. This is a wake-up call."
Before joining Middle Tennessee, Stockstill was an assistant coach at Bethune-Cookman, UCF, Clemson, East Carolina and South Carolina. He played college football at Florida State from 1977 to 1981 and was an All-American quarterback under coach Bobby Bowden.