FIU to hire Mike MacIntyre as fifth football coach in school history Thursday afternoon
Miami native Mike MacIntyre is set to be introduced as FIU’s new football coach Thursday afternoon.
MacIntyre, who had been defensive coordinator for the Memphis Tigers the past two years, was named the National Assistant Coach of the Year at Duke in 2009, the National Head Coach of the Year at San Jose State in 2012 and the National Head Coach of the Year at Colorado in 2016.
A former free safety and punt returner at Georgia Tech, MacIntyre, 56, was born in Miami, but he played his high school ball in the Nashville area.
His father, George MacIntyre, was a Miami Hurricanes scout at the time Mike was born.
George went on to become Vanderbilt’s head coach from 1979 to 1985, and his son followed him into the coaching profession.
Most of Mike MacIntyre’s career has been spent on defense. The exception was his brief time as Ole Miss wide receivers coach, including the 2000 season, during which quarterback Eli Manning was a freshman backup.
At FIU, MacIntyre inherits a program that has hit bottom with 17 consecutive losses to FBS teams.
Then again, that clearly does not faze MacIntyre.
At San Jose State in 2010, he inherited a 2-10 team. The Spartans had earned winning records just three times in the previous 16 years. Yet, MacIntyre — after going 1-12 and 5-7 in his first two years — led the Spartans to a 10-2 record in 2012. One of the Spartans’ losses that year was 20-17 to 21st-ranked Stanford.
Even though MacIntyre had signed a five-year contract extension with San Jose State in January of 2012, the suddenly-hot coach left for a bigger job less than one year later.
On Dec. 10, 2012, MacIntyre signed a five-year contract with Colorado, which was coming off a 1-11 season.
At Colorado, MacIntyre needed three losing seasons — 4-8, 2-10 and 4-9 — before the turnaround came. In 2016, MacIntyre led Colorado to a 10-4 record, the Buffaloes’ most wins in15 years and the program’s first Pac-12 South Division crown.
Less than two weeks after that season was over, MacIntyre signed a five-year, $16.3 million contract extension.
MacIntyre got fired, however, before he could finish that contract. He went 5-7 overall and 2-7 in the Pac-12 in 2017, and he had identical records in 2018, leading to his dismissal.
For the past two years, MacIntyre has been the defensive coordinator at Memphis, where the Tigers WENT 8-3 in 2020 and 6-6 this year.
Beyond his time as a head coach, MacIntyre also coached defensive backs for four years with the Dallas Cowboys and one season with the New York Jets.
MacIntyre also did two stints at Ole Miss, coaching receivers and defensive backs from 1999 to 2002 and serving as defensive coordinator in 2019.
His Ole Miss defense improved from allowing 36.2 points in the prior year to 26.5 points in his season.
However, when head coach Matt Luke was dismissed, new Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin did not retain MacIntyre on his staff.
MacIntyre and his wife, Trisha, have three children: Jennifer, Jay and Jonston.
As for MacIntyre’s playing career, he was a quarterback and safety at Brentwood High in Tennessee. He played two seasons for his father at Vanderbilt before transferring to Georgia Tech, where he earned a degree in business management.
Two years later, in 1991, he earned his Master’s degree in education with an emphasis on sports management from the University of Georgia.
MacIntyre will become FIU’s fifth head coach, following Don Strock, Mario Cristobal, Ron Turner and Butch Davis.
This story was originally published December 9, 2021 at 7:04 AM.