College Football Rumors: FIU, Mike MacIntyre Agree on HC Contract

AP Photo/Ted S. Warren

Florida International University has reportedly hired Mike MacIntyre as its new head football coach.

According to ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg, the Miami school and MacIntyre came to an agreement early Thursday morning and that the hiring is expected to become official later in the day.

MacIntyre served as the defensive coordinator at Memphis for the past two seasons, but he also has extensive head coaching experience at both San Jose State and Colorado.

The 56-year-old MacIntyre is set to replace Butch Davis, who was not offered a contract extension by FIU after going 1-11 this season.

While Davis’ tenure at FIU started off well with an 8-5 record in 2017 and 9-4 mark in 2018, the former Miami and North Carolina head coach had a losing record in each of his final three seasons and went 24-32 overall.

MacIntyre has an impressive history of turning around struggling programs, which is likely why he was Florida International’s choice.

When MacIntyre arrived as the head coach at San Jose State in 2010, the Spartans were coming off three consecutive seasons with a .500 record or worse and had reached only one bowl game in the previous 19 seasons.

San Jose State struggled to an overall record of 6-19 in his first two seasons, but MacIntyre went 10-2 in 2012 and helped the Spartans reach the Military Bowl.

That led to Colorado hiring MacIntyre, and he once again worked his magic there.

Before he was hired, the Buffaloes finished with a losing record in seven straight seasons and reached a bowl game only once during that time. After three more losing seasons to start MacIntyre’s tenure, Colorado went 10-4 in 2016 and played in the Pac-12 Championship Game.

MacIntyre was named both the Associated Press Coach of the Year and the Pac-12 Coach of the Year for his efforts.

Colorado fired MacIntyre after back-to-back losing seasons in 2017 and 2018, leading to him becoming the defensive coordinator at Ole Miss in 2019 and at Memphis from 2020-21.

At FIU, the Miami native will look to return the Panthers to the level they occupied early in Davis’ tenure when they reached three consecutive bowl games from 2017-19.