Ray Lewis wants a head coaching job at FAU, but Charlie Weis Jr. is still the leader: sources

FAU football, which rose to national relevance under Lane Kiffin, has declined over the past five seasons under Willie Taggart and the recently fired Tom Herman. The Owls’ new coaching search may be the most interesting of this year’s coaching carousel.

And things got a little more interesting this week, when Miami’s Ray Lewis announced he would love to be the Owls’ next coach, a source briefed on Lewis’ thinking said Wednesday.

The 49-year-old Lewis, a 13-time Pro Bowl linebacker, has observed the model of what Deion Sanders has done to transform Colorado football over the past two years and is expected to present a plan to the Owls’ leadership in the coming week. for how he would do something similar at FAU.

Lewis’ longtime friend, fellow Pro Football Hall of Famer Cris Carter, is the Owls’ executive director of player engagement and is expected to be a good resource for Lewis. A major hurdle for Lewis is that, unlike Sanders, he has no previous college coaching experience.

“Ray really wants it,” the source said of Lewis’ thinking. Lewis lives five minutes from the FAU campus. “He really wants it.”

However, Lewis is not considered a serious candidate at this time, according to a source involved in the coaching search.

The frontrunner for the FAU vacancy is offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., according to multiple sources involved in the search. from Ole Miss. The 31-year-old son of former Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis, who lives half an hour from Boca Raton, is the play caller for a popular Rebels program and runs the nation’s No. 2 offense, rated at 7, 58 yards per play.

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The younger Weis was Kiffin’s former offensive coordinator at FAU and knows the program well. According to sources involved in the search, he has strong support from some key FAU people. Kiffin has strong influence at FAU and will push Weis for the job, these sources said. Financially, Weis — who makes $1.65 million at Ole Miss — might have to take a pay cut to return to FAU, but a source briefed on the matter said he doubted that would prevent Weis from taking the job to want.

Other expected candidates for the FAU job

Georgia Tech offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner perhaps makes more sense for the Owls. The 43-year-old helped Tech go from No. 11 in the ACC to No. 3 last year. In 2022, the year before he was hired in Atlanta, Georgia Tech ranked last in the ACC in red zone offense. His offense is No. 2 in the ACC in red zone TD percentage.

Penn State assistant head coach/co-OC Ja’Juan Seider is a renowned coach with deep local ties and is expected to gain some attention. The 47-year-old Belle Glade, Florida, native was a star quarterback at Florida A&M and is well-connected in South Florida. Players really respond to him. He was also a key assistant at Happy Valley, at Marshall and West Virginia.

UCF offensive coordinator Tim Harris Jr. has spent his entire coaching career in the state. He was a four-time NCAA All-American at Miami and then spent five years as a successful high school coach in South Florida at Booker T. Washington High in Miami before spending seven seasons at FIU. He has since coached at Miami and UCF, where he has produced the Big 12’s most productive offense at 6.76 yards per game.

UNLV offensive coordinator Brennan Mariona former Miami Dolphins member who lived in Boynton Beach, not far from the Owls campus, could be an intriguing option. He proved to be a great offensive coordinator in two stops at the FCS level before spending two outstanding seasons turning the Rebels into a winning program. Last year, he led the Rebels to No. 6 in the country in third down offense and No. 8 in red zone offense, despite his starting QB going down early and having to turn to an unproven freshman in Jayden Maiava , which went on to win Mountain. West Freshman of the Year Award. This year, after Maiava left for USC, the Rebels rank sixth in the country in scoring at 39.9 points per game.

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FSU defensive backs coach Pat Surtain could play a role at his alma mater Southern Miss, but he has strong ties here as well. He played in the NFL for 10 years before becoming a top high school coach in South Florida. The 48-year-old spent one season with the Miami Dolphins as an NFL assistant before joining the FSU staff in 2023.

Georgia assistant head coach Todd Hartley39, spent three years coaching in South Florida on the Canes’ staff. He is someone Kirby Smart has leaned on as he takes the program to the next level since Hartley’s return to Athens in 2019. Southern Miss also has a lot of interest in Hartley due to its head coaching vacancy.

Duke defensive coordinator Jonathan Patkea protege of Manny Diaz who was on Miami’s staff, is a rising star at defensive coordinator. He has had a strong debut season in Durham and could also feature.

Miami’s defense shuts down coach Jason Taylor. The Pro Football Hall of Famer, who spent five seasons as a high school assistant at powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas, is a legendary figure in South Florida. In 2007, Taylor won the NFL’s prestigious Walter Payton Man of the Year honors and has been an excellent addition to the Canes staff over the past two seasons.

— Chris Vannini contributed to this report

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