NC State Defensive Coordinator Tony Gibson is a Finalist for the Charlotte Head Coaching Job

According to Hunter Bailey of the Charlotte Observer, NC State Defensive Coordinator Tony Gibson is a finalist for the Head Coaching job at Charlotte, along with Bobby Petrino and Tim Brewster.

Petrino (63 years old) has previously been a head coach at Louisville (2x), Arkansas, Western Kentucky, and Missouri State most recently (2022). He is currently the Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach at Arkansas.

Tim Brewster (64 years old) is the Tight Ends Coach for Charlotte, and is serving as the Interim Head Coach currently, after Biff Poggi was fired on November 18th. He has been coaching in college since 1989, but his only head coaching experience was at Minnesota from 2007-10.

Last December, NC State did what they could do to prepare themselves for this very scenario, giving Gibson a new 3-year contract, paying $1.5 annually. At the time of the signing of the new deal, Gibson was the highest paid Defensive Coordinator in the ACC, and the 9th highest paid nationally.

While the subject of this piece has been the open head coaching position at Charlotte, it is worth noting that it wouldn’t be shocking to see Gibson be a finalist for the West Virginia Head Coaching job, which opened up yesterday after the firing of Neal Brown.

While his name has been linked to other HC jobs in this cycle already, I’d imagine Tony Gibson will be among those called by Wren Baker in the coming days.

Gibson is a West Virginia native and served as Mountaineers DB’s coach from 2001-07 and the DC from 2014-2018. https://t.co/WnaRkOtUHW

— Jordan Crammer (@JordanCrammer) December 1, 2024

Gibson has never been a head coach before, but has ties to West Virginia. Not only is it the state of his birth, but he also has served as an assistant coach at West Virginia in different roles there over two different stints. His first stint at West Virginia was from 1999-2007, serving as the Defensive Coordinator (1999-2000) and Defensive Backs Coach (2001-07). After spending time at Michigan, Pitt and Arizona, Gibby went back to West Virginia, and was there for a second stint from 2013-18. In that time, he served as the Safeties Coach (2013), Linebackers Coach (14-18) and Defensive Coordinator (14-18).

Gibson has been in Raleigh since 2019, leading NC State’s Defense to a Top-25 nationally in Total Defense in 2021-2023.