Who has the best chance of becoming the Charlotte 49ers’ head coach? New candidates emerge
The field of candidates for the Charlotte football head coaching job remains wide open.
Athletic director Mike Hill has begun the search to find the fourth head coach in the history of this young Niner program. He’s said Charlotte is considering a range of candidates, looking for someone with a proven track record of developing talent and leading collegiate teams at a high level.
Longtime bookmaker Adam Thompson compiled a list of the 10 likeliest candidates for the position at Charlotte, which continues to see more contenders. Six of these 10 coaches’ odds of becoming the Niner head coach range between +400 and +850, with their implied probabilities between 10 and 20%.
Here are Bookies.com’s top 10 candidates to become the Charlotte head coach:
Kerwin Bell, Western Carolina head coach (+400)
The 59-year-old head coach has the best odds to become the next leader at Charlotte.
Bell, who guided Valdosta State to the 2018 NCAA Division II national championship, has been a collegiate head coach for 16 seasons. The former Florida Gators’ quarterback — Bell was the SEC Player of the Year in 1984 — led Jacksonville University for nine seasons before helping turn Valdosta into an unbeaten national champion.
He leads the candidates with +400 odds, which means a bettor would get a return of $400 on a $100 wager, and a 20% chance of getting the job.
Chris Weinke, Georgia Tech offensive coordinator (+425)
The former Carolina Panthers quarterback is another top candidate for the Charlotte job.
Weinke, 52, was drafted by the Panthers in the fourth round of the 2001 NFL Draft and played for them through 2006. He spent his first six years out of high school playing professional baseball, suiting up for various minor-league affiliates before stepping away for college football at Florida State, where he won the Heisman Trophy.
Currently associate head coach at Georgia Tech, Weinke has been a football coach since 2010, starting at IMG Academy. He was an offensive analyst at Alabama from 2017-19 following a season as quarterbacks coach of the NFL team formerly known as the St. Louis Rams, and spent two years at Tennessee prior to joining the Yellow Jackets.
Weinke has +425 odds, and 19.1% implied probability, of becoming the next Charlotte coach.
Joe Cox, Ole Miss co-offensive coordinator (+475)
The Charlottean and two-time All-Observer Player of the Year remains in the mix.
Cox, who turns 38 next Wednesday, is the Observer’s fourth-ranked quarterback in the history of Charlotte high school football. The Independence alum was the statewide Gatorade player of the year in 2005 and went on to play four seasons at Georgia.
The former Charlotte tight ends coach began his career in the Queen City, joining the offensive staff at Mallard Creek in 2013 and helping lead the Mavericks to back-to-back state championships. He became the tight ends coach at Colorado State, coached wide receivers at South Carolina and spent the 2021 season with the Niners before working under Nick Saban for two seasons at Alabama.
Currently in his first season as the tight ends coach and co-offensive coordinator at Ole Miss, Cox ranks third with +475 odds and 17.4% probability of getting the job.
Tre Lamb, East Tennessee State head coach (+500)
Lamb, 35, is another young offensive candidate.
Formerly the head coach at Gardner-Webb from 2020-23, Lamb led the Runnin’ Bulldogs to back-to-back appearances in the Division I FCS playoffs before taking over at East Tennessee State. The Buccanneers are currently tied for second in the Southern Conference at 6-5 overall.
The Calhoun, Georgia, native who played quarterback at Tennessee Tech has the fourth-best odds, at +500, with the implied probability of getting the Niner job at 16.7%.
Pep Hamilton, former NFL coach (+750)
Hamilton, 50, was the Houston Texans’ offensive coordinator in 2022 and has an extensive career coaching in the NFL and college.
The Charlottean and West Charlotte graduate played quarterback at Howard University, where he began coaching as the Bison quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator. He went on to coach in the NFL on the staffs of the New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers, Chicago Bears, Indianapolis Colts and Cleveland Browns, while making stops at Michigan and Stanford.
Most recently, Hamilton served as head coach and general manager of the XFL’s DC Defenders in 2020, before getting back into the NFL with the Los Angeles Chargers and Texans.
Hamilton has the fifth-best odds, at +750, with an 11.8% chance.
Tim Brewster, Charlotte interim head coach (+850)
There’s still a chance that Charlotte’s current leader stays on the sideline beyond these two games.
While unlikely, Brewster has the sixth-shortest odds of the candidates at +850 (10.5% implied probability). Hill confirmed the interim head coach’s interest in the role and that he is being considered.
Brewster, 64, was an All-Big Ten tight end at Illinois and has been coaching for nearly 40 years since. This stint as Charlotte’s interim is his first at the helm of a program since the longtime NFL and college assistant guided Minnesota from 2007-10.
Clayton White, South Carolina defensive coordinator (+1,000)
The 46-year-old North Carolinian is in the running for his first head coaching job.
White, a Dunn native and former two-way football star at Triton High in Harnett County, played three seasons in the NFL after a four-year career at N.C. State. He started coaching in 2003 as the defensive backs coach at Sanderson High in Raleigh and has been the Gamecocks’ defensive coordinator for the past four years.
He’s tied for the seventh-best odds at +1,000, with a 9.1% chance.
Tony Gibson, N.C. State defensive coordinator (+1,000)
Gibson, 52, has been the Wolfpack’s defensive coordinator since 2019.
The longtime college assistant has made a number of stops since playing at Division II Glanville State in West Virginia, including as associate head coach at both Michigan and Arizona. He was on the coaching staff at West Virginia University from 2013-18, including the last five as the Mountaineers’ defensive coordinator.
Gibson is tied with White at +1,000 odds and a 9.1% implied probability of getting the Charlotte job.
Steve Wilks, former Panthers head coach (+1,800)
While a long shot, there’s a chance that Wilks becomes the next head coach at Charlotte.
Wilks, the 55-year-old Charlottean, has been working with the 49ers in a volunteer advisory role this season. The former Carolina Panthers interim head coach and West Charlotte graduate is a longtime coach in the NFL and college, most recently as defensive coordinator in San Francisco in 2023 as he helped guide the 49ers to Super Bowl LVIII.
Wilks has +1,800 odds and a 5.3% chance of getting the job.
Bill Clark, former Alabama Birmingham HC (+1,800)
The 56-year-old is another candidate to return to a head coaching role.
Clark, who was at the helm of UAB from 2014-21, was a high school coach in Georgia and Alabama before eventually becoming a head coach at Jacksonville State, his alma mater, for the 2013 season. He was named Conference USA Coach of the Year following his 2017 season with UAB.
Clark is tied with Wilks for the ninth-best odds of becoming Charlotte’s head coach, at +1800 and 5.3% implied probability.
