 MacIntyre at a fundraiser in 2013 | |
| Current position | |
|---|---|
| Title | Defensive analyst |
| Team | Mississippi State |
| Conference | SEC |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | (1965-03-14)March 14, 1965 (age 60) Miami, Florida, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1984–1985 | Vanderbilt |
| 1987–1988 | Georgia Tech |
| Position | Defensive back |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1990–1991 | Georgia (GA) |
| 1992 | Davidson (DC) |
| 1992 | Plattling Black Hawks |
| 1993–1996 | UT Martin (DC) |
| 1997–1998 | Temple (DC) |
| 1999–2000 | Ole Miss (WR) |
| 2001–2002 | Ole Miss (DB) |
| 2003–2006 | Dallas Cowboys (DB) |
| 2007 | New York Jets (DB) |
| 2008–2009 | Duke (DC) |
| 2010–2012 | San Jose State |
| 2013–2018 | Colorado |
| 2019 | Ole Miss (DC/S) |
| 2020–2021 | Memphis (DC) |
| 2022–2024 | FIU |
| 2025–present | Mississippi State (DA) |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 58–89 (college) |
| Bowls | 0–1 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 1Pac-12 South Division (2016) | |
| Awards | |
| AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year (2009) FCA Grant Teaff National Coach of the Year (2012) Pac-12 Conference Coach of the Year (2016) Walter Camp Coach of the Year (2016) Home Depot Coach of the Year (2016) AP Coach of the Year (2016) Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award (2016) Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award (2016) CBS Sports Coach of the Year (2016) SB Nation Coach of the Year (2016) AFCA Region 5 Coach of the Year (2016) Get in the Game Impact Award presented by the Maxwell Football Club (2018) Rod Carew Leadership Award (2018) | |
George Michael MacIntyre (born March 14, 1965) is an Americanfootball coach who serves as a defensive analyst forMississippi State. He previously served as the head football coach atFIU.
MacIntyre began his coaching career in 1990 as agraduate assistant atGeorgia. From 1992 to 2002, MacIntyre held various assistant coaching positions atDavidson,UT Martin,Temple, and Ole Miss. From 2003 to 2007, MacIntyre was an assistant coach in theNational Football League (NFL), first as defensive backs coach of theDallas Cowboys from 2003 to 2006 and then in the same position with theNew York Jets in 2007. MacIntyre returned to college football as defensive coordinator forDuke from 2008 to 2009. His defenses produced two of the best seasons statistically the Blue Devils had achieved. In 2009, theAmerican Football Coaches Association recognized MacIntyre asFBS Assistant Coach of the Year.
Hired bySan Jose State in 2010, MacIntyre became a head coach for the first time in his career. As San Jose State head coach from 2010 to 2012, MacIntyre coached a program that improved from a one-win season in 2010 to a 10–2 record in 2012. San Jose State also earned its first-everBCS Top 25 ranking and firstbowl game invitation since 2006.
At Colorado, MacIntyre led the Buffaloes to the first Pac-12 South Division Championship in school history in2016. He was named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year and won multiple national awards includingWalter Camp Coach of the Year in 2016. However, MacIntyre was fired after the 2018 season, when Colorado started the season 5–0 only to end the season on a seven-game losing streak. Since then, MacIntyre was a defensive coordinator, first at Ole Miss in 2019 then at Memphis beginning in 2020.
Born in 1965 inMiami, Florida, MacIntyre is one of two sons of former football coachGeorge MacIntyre and Betty MacIntyre. The MacIntyre family lived in many places throughout theSouthern United States, as his father was ascout for theUniversity of Miami from 1964 to 1967, defensive coordinator of theUniversity of Tampa (Tampa, Florida) in 1968,defensive back coach atClemson University (Clemson, South Carolina) from 1970 to 1972, and assistant coach forVanderbilt University (Nashville,Tennessee) from 1973 to 1974.[1][2][3] In 1975, George MacIntyre took his first head coaching position withUT Martin and became offensive coordinator forOle Miss (theUniversity of Mississippi) in 1978. From 1979 to 1985, George MacIntyre was head football coach ofVanderbilt University.
Mike MacIntyre attendedBrentwood Academy inBrentwood, Tennessee near Nashville and playedquarterback anddefensive back on the football team.[4][5] After graduating from Brentwood in 1984,[6] Mike MacIntyre played college football at Vanderbilt, which was coached by his father, for two seasons as afree safety. After his father resigned, he transferred toGeorgia Tech, where MacIntyre earned a bachelor's degree inbusiness management in 1989.[7][8] For a year after graduating from Georgia Tech, MacIntyre worked as a logistics manager atMicros Systems.[9]
Enrolling at theUniversity of Georgia in 1990, MacIntyre became a graduate assistant with theGeorgia Bulldogs football team, a position he held for two seasons, including the1991 Independence Bowl championship season.[10][7] At the end of 1991, MacIntyre completed his master's degree in education with an emphasis on sports management.[7] MacIntyre then became adefensive coordinator: atDavidson College (then inDivision III) in 1992, During the summers of 1992 and 1993, MacIntyre served as the head coach and offensive coordinator for the Plattling Blackhawks in Germany.[11] He then went on to theUniversity of Tennessee at Martin from 1993 to 1996, andTemple University from 1997 to 1998.[7] (George MacIntyre had been the head coach of UT Martin football from 1975 to 1977.)
From 1999 to 2002, MacIntyre coached at theUniversity of Mississippi (Ole Miss), starting as thewide receiver coach then in 2001 the defensive secondary coach. MacIntyre actively helped recruitPatrick Willis to Ole Miss; Willis would become anAll-Pro linebacker in theNFL. Ole Miss won theIndependence Bowl in 1999 and 2002 and was the runner-up of the2000 Music City Bowl. In 2001, Ole Miss ranked fifth nationally in defensive for allowing 161.3 yards per game.[7]
MacIntyre would then spend five seasons in the NFL starting in 2003: as thedefensive backs coach of theDallas Cowboys underBill Parcells until 2006, then in 2007 in the same position with theNew York Jets. In 2008, Mike MacIntyre returned to college football as the defensive coordinator forDuke, and in his first season with Duke, the Blue Devils allowed 67.4 fewer yards and 9.8 fewer points per game than in 2007.[12] His defenses produced two of the best seasons statistically the Blue Devils had achieved.[13] In the 2008 season, the Duke defense allowed the lowest total points per game in 20 seasons and they kept three opponents to less than 10 points (first time Duke had done that since the year 1976).[14] In 2009, theAmerican Football Coaches Association recognized MacIntyre asFBS Assistant Coach of the Year.[15]
On December 16, 2009, MacIntyre became the new head coach of theSan Jose State Spartans football team, a member of theWestern Athletic Conference (WAC), afterDick Tomey retired.[16] The Spartans had just come off a 2–10 record in 2009 and had only three winning seasons since 1993, and athletic director Tom Bowen planned on making a full 85 scholarship athletes available to the football team, asAcademic Progress Rate penalties limited yearly scholarships to between 67 and 72.[17][18]
Local media considered MacIntyre to be a smart hire despite his inexperience as a head coach.[17] MacIntyre has stated that he chose to be the head coach to inspire success in the student-athletes and praised his father George MacIntyre for improving the struggling football programs UT Martin and Vanderbilt as coach.[19] He also planned on dropping thespread offense and expand recruiting rather than rely onjunior college transfers.[18] San Jose State completed the 2010 season 1–12.[20] However, MacIntyre expressed optimism that the team would improve in 2011 given that the team would have 85 athletes on scholarship next season.[21]
In 2011, the Spartans finished 5–7.[22] Unlike the previous season in which MacIntyre had only six weeks of recruiting time, MacIntyre had a full term of recruiting.[23] The coach also commented shortly before the first game of 2011 that his players benefited by learning his playbook throughout 2010 despite the one-win season.[24] Then with the longest losing streak of Division I football, the Spartans lost 13 games in a row starting in 2010 until beatingNew Mexico State on September 24, 2011.[25] San Jose State averaged 190 rushing yards per game by then, a marked improvement from years past.San Jose Mercury News columnist Jon Wilner credited MacIntyre's experience coaching in theSEC, a conference Wilner wrote was "all about running between the tackles."[26]
The next week, San Jose State won its second in a row and ended a 16-game road losing streak with a 38–31 victory overColorado State; that win marked the first time since 2008 San Jose State won two consecutive games and first non-conference win since 2002.[27] San Jose State's homecoming game on October 14, 2011, was nationally televised as part ofESPN'sCollege Football Friday Primetime, and San Jose State rallied to beatHawaii 28–27, the team's third win in four games.[28] That win led to speculation that San Jose State would qualify for abowl game.[29][30]
In January 2012, MacIntyre accepted a contract extension through the 2017 season.[31]Scout.com ranked MacIntyre's 2012 recruiting class the best of the WAC.[32] In July, he speculated that San Jose State could contend for a WAC championship this year.[33] San Jose State began the 2012 season 4–1, the best start since the2006 New Mexico Bowl championship season (the single loss coming from the 2012 PAC-12 and Rose Bowl Champion Stanford with a final close score of 17–20.)[34] The Spartans finished the regular season with a six-game winning streak and a 10–2 record —only two years removed from a 1–12 season—and for the first time in school history the Spartans earned a final end-of-season BCS ranking (#24).[35] The Spartans also finished the regular season with a #24 ranking in both the AP Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll. The Spartan offense averaged 42 points per game. In 2012, they broke or tied 36 football records (school records and conference records).[36] In 2012, MacIntyre was recognized by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes with the Grant Teaff National Coach of the Year Award for his San Jose State programs performance on and off the field.[36] MacIntyre made $450,000 per year as head coach of the Spartans.[13]
On December 10, 2012, theUniversity of Colorado announced that it was hiring MacIntyre to replace coachJon Embree, who was fired after two seasons. Originally signed to a five-year contract, MacIntyre is the 25th full-time coach for theColorado Buffaloes football program. On September 2, 2013, MacIntyre won his opening game overJim McElwain and rivalColorado State on a neutral field atSports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver. His positivity and decision-making during the game were praised.[13] Coming off a 1–11 season in2012, Colorado posted a 4–8 record in2013. On February 20, 2014, the University of Colorado Board of Regents extended MacIntyre's contract through the 2018 season.[37] Colorado then went 2–10 in2014 and 4–9 in2015.
Everything came together for Colorado in 2016. On October 22, Colorado became bowl eligible for the first time since 2007 after beatingStanford 10–5. Two weeks later, they clinched their first winning season since 2005 with a 20–10 victory over UCLA. On November 26, 2016, MacIntyre led the Buffaloes to a 27–22 victory over Utah, clinching the first Pac-12 South Division Championship in school history.[38] MacIntyre was named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year for 2016[39] after the Buffaloes were picked to finish last in the division prior to the season. He was awarded theWalter Camp Coach of the Year Award becoming the second Colorado coach to earn the award,[40] on a team led by his first recruiting class, assembled just weeks after his hire.[41] He was also awarded the ESPN Home Depot Coach of the Year Award, the FWAA/Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award, Associated Press (AP) Coach of the Year Award, the CBS Sports Coach of the Year Award, the SB Nation Coach of the Year Award, the 2016 AFCA Region 5 Coach of the Year Award, and the Bobby Dodd Trophy - National Coach of the Year Award.[42] The Bobby Dodd Trophy was given to MacIntyre for his team's on and off the field performance, including their strong academic progress rate and community outreach work.[43] MacIntyre's father, George MacIntyre, previously won the Bobby Dodd Trophy in 1982.[43]
On January 10, 2017, MacIntyre signed a 5-year, $16.25 million contract with Colorado that would have seen him under contract with the Buffaloes through the 2021 season.[44] As it turned out, MacIntyre's tenure in Boulder crested at that point. In 2017, the Buffaloes crumbled to 4–7, including 2–7 in Pac-12 play–a mirror image of the previous season in conference play.
In 2018, the Buffaloes started out the season 5–0 with wins against rivals Colorado State, Nebraska, Arizona State, and UCLA.[45] On November 18, 2018, MacIntyre was fired as the head coach after a six-game losing streak.[46]
In December 2018, MacIntyre was named Defensive Coordinator at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). The Ole Miss defense improved, holding opponents to less overall points per game and approximately 100 fewer rush yards per game in 2019 than 2018. They moved up significantly in run defense (from No. 116 in 2018 to No. 42 in 2019 for rushing yards per game), in scoring defense (from No. 113 in 2018 to No. 59 in points per game), and held nine teams to under 30 points (having only done so three times the previous year).[47][48][49][50] The Ole Miss total defense improved almost 40 NCAA ranking spots in 2019 compared to 2018.[50] MacIntyre was nominated for the Broyles Award (given to the best assistant coach in the country).[51]
Following the 2019 season, Ole Miss head coach Matt Luke was not retained; MacIntyre briefly took on the duties of head coach in the interim period between Luke's termination and the hiring ofLane Kiffin as head coach. Kiffin did not choose to keep MacIntyre on staff, and in January 2020, MacIntyre was named the defensive coordinator at Memphis.[50]
On December 9, 2021, MacIntyre was named FIU's new head coach replacingButch Davis.[52] FIU fired MacIntyre following the 2024 season.[53]
MacIntyre married the former Trisha Rowan in 1989. They have three children, one daughter and two sons. Their eldest son, Jay, played for MacIntyre at Colorado as a slot receiver. Mike MacIntyre is a Christian. In a conversation with the Denver Post about coaching, MacIntyre spoke about his Christian faith by stating, "The way my family and I have been able to do it is through our relationship with Jesus Christ and our faith and to be able to stay positive and realize there's hope."[54] In the same article, MacIntyre's wife, Trisha, said, "Through the process, we've found a rock to stand on. The rock of our faith is what we've learned to stand on, so the waves that come at us from every direction, whether it's good or bad, don't toss us the way they would if we weren't standing on something permanent. And, of course, that is a journey of faith".[54] MacIntyre is involved in the organization of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.[55] Following the 2012 football season leading San Jose State to a 10-win season and top 25 ranking, he received the Fellowship of Christian Athletes National Coach of the Year Award.[36]
MacIntyre has been involved with Be the Match Registry, at San Jose State and Colorado. The Be the Match Registry connects patients and bone-marrow donors to help save lives.[56] MacIntyre has been responsible for 1,600 registrations leading to eight lives saved. In 2018, Be the Match CEO presented MacIntyre with the Rod Carew Leadership Award.[57] Also in 2018, MacIntyre was presented the Get in the Game Impact Award presented by the Maxwell Football Club for his work with Be the Match Registry.[58] MacIntyre and his wife have also hosted multiple ovarian cancer walk community outreach event to raise money for ovarian cancer research.[59][60]
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose State Spartans(Western Athletic Conference)(2010–2012) | |||||||||
| 2010 | San Jose State | 1–12 | 0–8 | 9th | |||||
| 2011 | San Jose State | 5–7 | 3–4 | T–4th | |||||
| 2012 | San Jose State | 10–2 | 5–1 | 2nd | Military* | 21 | 21 | ||
| San Jose State: | 16–21 | 8–13 | *Did not coach bowl game | ||||||
| Colorado Buffaloes(Pac-12 Conference)(2013–2018) | |||||||||
| 2013 | Colorado | 4–8 | 1–8 | 6th(South) | |||||
| 2014 | Colorado | 2–10 | 0–9 | 6th(South) | |||||
| 2015 | Colorado | 4–9 | 1–8 | 6th(South) | |||||
| 2016 | Colorado | 10–4 | 8–1 | 1st(South) | LAlamo | 15 | 17 | ||
| 2017 | Colorado | 5–7 | 2–7 | 6th(South) | |||||
| 2018 | Colorado | 5–6 | 2–6 | 6th(South) | |||||
| Colorado: | 30–44 | 14–39 | |||||||
| FIU Panthers(Conference USA)(2022–2024) | |||||||||
| 2022 | FIU | 4–8 | 2–6 | T–9th | |||||
| 2023 | FIU | 4–8 | 1–7 | 9th | |||||
| 2024 | FIU | 4–8 | 3–5 | T-6th | |||||
| FIU: | 12–24 | 6–18 | |||||||
| Total: | 58–89 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
| |||||||||
