Rick Stockstill, the football coach at Middle Tennessee, was fired, the school announced on Monday. What you should know is as follows:
For eighteen seasons, Stockstill guided the Blue Raiders. After Mike Gundy of Oklahoma State, Kyle Whittingham of Utah, and Kirk Ferentz of Iowa, he held the fourth-longest tenure of any active FBS coach.
Stockstill, 65, had an overall record of 113-111, including a 4-6 record in bowl games. This season, MTSU had a 4-8 record (3-5 in Conference USA), its lowest season loss total since 2012.
Since sharing the Sun Belt championship in 2006, Stockstill’s rookie season, MTSU has not won a conference title.
For what reason is MTSU changing?
Amidst challenging circumstances, Stockstill established a reliable and strong program despite the focus on professional sports in Nashville and the activities of MTSU students and other college football supporters. After the 2018 season, however,
which marked the end of the period in which son Brent Stockstill was the team’s standout quarterback, Stockstill’s program suffered. That year, in the Conference USA title game, the Blue Raiders lost to UAB 27-25 after blowing a late lead. This was the program’s first opportunity to win an outright conference title since winning the Ohio Valley in 1992. Since then, Middle Tennessee has gone 26-34.
There has been speculation that the team’s quarterback coach, Stockstill Jr., may one day succeed his father. This suggests a completely different course. — Columnist Joe Rexrode from Nashville
What they say
Athletic director Chris Massaro stated in a press release that “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.” “I am grateful for all that Rick, his spouse Sara, and their family have done for MTSU Athletics, our football team, and, above all, our student-athletes over the past eighteen years. His guidance has allowed our student-athletes to perform
have performed exceptionally well in the classroom, given their time and effort to help our community, and devoted countless hours to helping us succeed on the football field. I’d like to express my gratitude to Coach Stockstill for his professionalism, morality, and commitment and wish him luck in all of his future undertakings.
