Charles Kelly, head coach at Jacksonville State
Photo: AlabamaBeachBoy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Charles Kelly

Charles Kelly went 14–⁠7 as a head coach, 2025–⁠2026, at Jacksonville State. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 4–⁠2); by them his record is 13–⁠7.

Record
14–⁠7 career
Seasons
2
Schools
1
Final AP top 10
0 seasons
Born
Sep 8, 1967
Alma mater
Auburn
Best season
2026 5–⁠2

Season by season

Wins and losses each seasonfinal AP rank above★ national titleline: the team’s Elo at season’s end, best 1542 in 2026
SeasonSchoolRecordConference finishBowlAP final
2025Jacksonville State9–⁠5T–1stSalute to Veterans Bowl W
2026Jacksonville State5–⁠2 (Wikipedia: 4–⁠2)

Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.

How his teams did

Kind of gameGamesRecord
Against rivals43–⁠1
Conference games1110–⁠1
Bowls and playoffs11–⁠0
Decided by 8 points or fewer138–⁠5
At home109–⁠1
On the road93–⁠6
At neutral sites22–⁠0
As our Elo’s favorite1813–⁠5
As our Elo’s underdog31–⁠2

His own 21 games on file, 2025–⁠2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.

Against other head coaches

CoachRecordTheir schoolsGames
Jerry Mack 2025–⁠20262–⁠1Kennesaw State3

Charles Kelly’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.

Most-faced opponents

OpponentGamesRecord
Kennesaw Stateseries32–⁠1
Middle Tennesseeseries22–⁠0
Georgia Southernseries21–⁠1
Florida Internationalseries21–⁠1
Delawareseries11–⁠0
Murray Stateseries11–⁠0
Western Kentuckyseries11–⁠0
Eastern Kentuckyseries11–⁠0

National title staffs

Every title staff

The champions’ staffs from 1990 on, as the schools listed them that season: Staff lists: Drew Hoover’s how-many-rings (MIT), from the schools’ media guides and staff pages. Roles as the source words them.

Career

YearsTeamJob
1990–⁠92Central HS (AL) high schoolAssistant coach
1993AuburnGraduate assistant
1994Jacksonville StateRunning backs coach
1995Jacksonville StateDefensive backs coach
1996Jacksonville StateOffensive coordinator
1997–⁠98Jacksonville StateDefensive coordinator
1999Henderson StateDefensive coordinator
2000–⁠01Eufaula HS (AL) high schoolDefensive coordinator and linebackers coach
2002–⁠03Nicholls StateDefensive backs coach
2004–⁠05Nicholls StateDefensive coordinator
2006–⁠07Georgia TechSpecial teams coach
2008–⁠09Georgia TechCornerbacks coach
2010–⁠12Georgia TechDefensive backs coach
2012Georgia TechInterim defensive coordinator
2013Florida StateSpecial teams and linebackers coach
2014–⁠17Florida StateDefensive coordinator
2018TennesseeSpecial teams and safeties coach
2019–⁠22AlabamaAssistant defensive coordinator and safeties coach
2023ColoradoDefensive coordinator and safeties coach
2024AuburnCo-defensive coordinator and safeties coach
2025–presentJacksonville StateHead coach

Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.

Coaching tree

Worked under

Charles Kelly
Worked under (13)
Head coachTeamYearsHis job
Terry BowdenAuburn1993Graduate assistant
Patrick NixHenderson State1999Defensive coordinator
Daryl DayeNicholls2002–⁠03Defensive backs coach
Jay ThomasNicholls2004–⁠05Defensive coordinator
Chan GaileyGeorgia Tech2006–⁠07Special teams coach
Jon TenutaGeorgia Tech2007Special teams coach
Paul JohnsonGeorgia Tech2008–⁠122008–⁠09: cornerbacks coach; 2010–⁠12: defensive backs coach; 2012: interim defensive coordinator
Jimbo FisherFlorida State2013–⁠172013: special teams and linebackers coach; 2014–⁠17: defensive coordinator
Odell HagginsFlorida State2017Defensive coordinator
Jeremy PruittTennessee2018Special teams and safeties coach
Nick SabanAlabama2019–⁠22Assistant defensive coordinator and safeties coach
Deion SandersColorado2023Defensive coordinator and safeties coach
Hugh FreezeAuburn2024Co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach
Coached under him (5)
CoachWith him
Brian WilliamsJacksonville State, 2025–⁠26: defensive coordinator
Clint TrickettJacksonville State, 2025: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach
Lawrence DawseyJacksonville State, 2025–⁠26: wide receivers coach
Maxwell ThurmondJacksonville State, 2025–⁠26: special teams and running backs coach
Taylor HousewrightJacksonville State, 2025: tight ends coach; 2026: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach

From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.

Pay

YearSchoolJobContract pay
2017Florida Statedefensive coordinatorbonuses up to $150,500$858,000 USA Today
2016Florida Statedefensive coordinatorbonuses up to $146,333$833,000 USA Today
2015Florida Statedefensive coordinatorbonuses up to $90,833$583,000 USA Today
2014Florida Statedefensive coordinatorbonuses up to $90,833$500,000 USA Today

USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–⁠17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.

Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.

How he coached

Kelly’s teams went for it on 27% of fourth downs and on 49% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 40% of plays and took 25.7 seconds a play, 2025–⁠2026.

SeasonWent for it on fourthWhen the model said goPass rateSeconds a playEPA a play
2025 14 g29 of 115 25%47%36%25.4+0.07
2026 7 g13 of 41 32%55%48%26.3+0.10
All 21 g42 of 156 27%49%40%25.7+0.08

His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.