Troy head football coach Larry Blakeney, who has led South Alabama’s Sun Belt Conference rival for a quarter-century, will retire at the end of the 2014 season. Blakeney told his players of his decision after the team’s Sunday practice and was scheduled to make the announcement official at a news conference Monday.
A Long Run at Troy
Blakeney is the second-longest tenured active head coach in the Football Bowl Subdivision, behind only Virginia Tech’s Frank Beamer. He has an overall record of 175-109-1.
A graduate of Auburn, Blakeney coached high school football before spending more than a decade as an assistant at Auburn. He became Troy’s head coach in 1990, as the school prepared to move from Division II to what is now the Football Championship Subdivision.
As an FCS program, Troy made seven playoff appearances in eight seasons under Blakeney, including an undefeated regular season in 1995. Troy moved up to the FBS in 2001 and defeated Mississippi State that fall.
In 2004, Troy beat No. 17 Missouri 24-14 at Veterans Memorial Stadium in a Thursday night game televised on ESPN2, before the largest crowd in school history.
“We don’t have to beat them 365 days,” Blakeney told the Associated Press after that game. “We just have to beat them for one 60-minute segment of history. For that one 60 minutes, Troy was better than Missouri.”
Troy also defeated Oklahoma State at home in 2007. Blakeney’s teams have won eight conference championships, including five straight Sun Belt titles from 2006 through 2010, and he received the Sun Belt’s 10th Anniversary Most Outstanding Head Coach award. Players from his program who went on to the NFL include DeMarcus Ware, Osi Umenyiora, Leodis McKelvin, Jerrel Jernigan, Sherrod Martin, Levi Brown, Cameron Sheffield and Jonathan Massaquoi.
Recent Struggles
Troy has not had a winning season since 2010. The Trojans went 3-9 in 2011 and are 14-27 since the end of the 2010 season.
Troy is 0-5 this season, its first 0-5 start since 1982. The losses include a defeat against Abilene Christian.
History With South Alabama
South Alabama is 0-2 against Troy with Blakeney as head coach. Last season in Troy, the Jaguars rallied to take the lead with under a minute remaining before Troy won the game in the final seconds.
Before the 2012 season, Blakeney publicly objected to South Alabama’s unclassified status in 2009 and 2010. That status allowed South Alabama players to compete in all five of their years in the program rather than having to redshirt one season.
Troy athletic director John Hartwell will lead the search for Blakeney’s successor.
