Charlotte AD Mike Hill fired Brad Lambert after losing to FIU 42-35 on Saturday.
“We’ve decided to make a change in our football program,” said Hill. “It is a decision I made after an opportunity to assess my first football season here. It’s about the trajectory of the program and putting us in the best position for the future. We elected to make this decision now so that we could begin the search immediately.”
Lambert had made some too-little-too-late changes in the program to try to turn things around. Those changes helped turn one of the worst teams in the league into a mid-standings squad that is 4-4. The defense had been much improved but the offense not named Benny LeMay was iffy.
Lambert will coach the finale against FAU, a game in which Lane Kiffin’s Owls will look to reach the 6-win mark and become bowl-eligible.
This is firing-season. Kansas, Louisville, Colorado, and Bowling Green have already made coaching moves with an eye on filling those spots before the various coaches are picked over. Les Miles was already hired in Lawrence, marking one of the quickest changes in recent memory.
Charlotte is an interesting job, in a nice region for recruiting but without overwhelming donor and financial support. Charlotte had one of the lower league salaries according to the USA Today coaching salary database.
| Nat’l Rank | School | Coach | Base salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 75 | NT | Seth Littrell | 1,425,000 |
| 79 | UTSA | Frank Wilson | 1,100,000 |
| 81 | FAU | Lane Kiffin | 1,000,000 |
| 84 | FIU | Butch Davis | 945,000 |
| 86 | UAB | Bill Clark | 900,000 |
| 92 | WKU | Mike Sanford Jr. | 800,000 |
| 93 | MTSU | Rick Stockstill | 802,004 |
| 95 | Marshall | Doc Holiday | 762,570 |
| 97 | LT | Skip Holtz | 700,000 |
| 98 | UTEP | Dana Dimel | 700,000 |
| 101 | ODU | Bobby Wilder | 654,667 |
| 104 | CHAR | Brad Lambert | 625,000 |
| 111 | USM | Jay Hopson | 500,000 |
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