CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (ESPN CLARKSVILLE) – Reports that Austin Peay State University’s (APSU) head football coach Will Healy is a candidate for the South Alabama head coaching job have been floating around Twitter.
Hearing #AustinPeay's Will Healy has a pretty good shot at landing the #SouthAlabama HC job. Healy is a terrific story. Only 32 yrs old. His team smashed a 29-game losing streak this year, in his second season and he led them to an 8-win year w/ 3 of his losses to FBS programs.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) December 6, 2017
FOX Sports reporter Bruce Feldman tweeted the rumor Wednesday afternoon.
ClarksvilleNow.com/ESPN Clarksville has reached out to APSU Athletics for comment. Calls were not immediately returned.
Healy was hired in 2015 in the hopes of ending the Govs’ losing streak. After an 0-11 campaign, the team started the 2017 season with close back-to-back losses to FBS opponents, leaving the program with a 29-game losing streak. A 69-13 victory over Morehead State on September 16 began a turnaround that saw the Governors finish 8-4 overall and 7-1 (second place) in the OVC. The eight total wins tied the school record established by the 1977 OVC Championship team, while the seven Conference wins were the most in program history.
Along the way the team snapped a 21-game OVC losing streak and a 45-game road losing streak; the Govs finished the year with four road victories, which was more than the program won in the previous nine years combined.
Healy, a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award, also led the team to its first three-game winning streak against Division I opponents since 1980, its first regulation shutout since 1980 and its first win over a nationally-ranked opponent since 2009.
Healy is the third Austin Peay coach to be named OVC Coach of the Year, joining Bill Dupes (1964) and Boots Donnelly (1977).