Pete Thamel broke the news tonight on Twitter, Charlotte 49ers Director of Athletics, Mike Hill has landed on Tim Albin to be the fourth head coach for the program, replacing Biff Poggi (6-16). Albin's Ohio Bobcats won a MAC conference championship earlier today, the programs first since the 1960's, in dominating fashion over Miami (OH) 38-3. That win gives the Bobcats three straight 10 win seasons under Albin. I feel its important to note, after the 2023 season Albin's team was pillaged in the portal, losing 13 players to Power 4 programs, all they did is reload and win. That screams two things: coaching and player development, two things you love to see.
Charlotte's search feels like it lasted 2 months, but it's conceivable that the agreement was a handshake deal earlier in the week, which is why you saw candidates leak they turned down the job. We'll never know, and I can live with that. It'd be an entirely different story if Charlotte landed on someone that hasn't coached a game in two weeks, and I'm glad that's not a story that'll be written. Kudos to Mike Hill and staff, on paper this looks like a no-brainer and exactly what many (including myself) wanted — an experienced coach with a winning history.
Tim Albin, who had two years remaining on his deal with Ohio, was earning $700,000 per year, plus incentives. While we don't know the terms just yet, (an FOIA for the MOU/contract has been submitted), I would think Charlotte's floor for the deal is $1,000,000 annually, which is what Poggi was receiving. It will also be important to see the assistant salary pool as well. If Charlotte can be around $2,500,000, that will be a reasonable increase for assistants.
Albin's history is a long, and successful one. He played at Northwestern Oklahoma State, became a graduate assistant there before moving into an OL/OC role, eventually becoming the head coach. During his three years, his teams went 5-5, 7-3 (#21 in coaches poll), 13-0 and won an NAIA Championship. Albin left and joined Frank Solich's staff at Nebraska for 4 seasons, before Solich was dismissed by the Cornhuskers. He went on to spend 1 season at North Dakota State in 2004 as their OC, and the Bison went 8-3, before he rejoined Solich at Ohio. From 2005-2018 he was the OC/RB coach, before being promoted to Associate HC and OC/RB coach from 2019-2020 until he took over for the Bobcats.
Albin clearly has a winning pedigree, something that Charlotte's program hasn't had in a coaching hire to date. While there are no sure things when it comes to hiring coaches, it sure as hell doesn't hurt to hire someone that's won. This Niner is excited for what the future holds, and the two biggest hires in my eyes on: Defensive Coordinator and Strength & Conditioning. December should be a highly entertaining month, and it'll start fast for Albin as the transfer portal officially opens on December 9th (until then the only players allowed to officially enter are those where coaching changes have occurred).
