What Mike Furrey learned from being a head coach at DII Limestone
Climbing the coaching rankings from DII to the FBS is one that’s becoming more and more common in college football.
The latest comes with newly hired South Carolina wide receivers coach Mike Furrey who just finished his second two-year stint as head coach of DII Limestone (Gaffney, SC). While it’s a big jump going from coaching in the South Atlantic Conference to the Southeastern Conference, Furrey is confident that his unique perspective has him well prepared for this new challenge.
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“There’s really two things that I learned (at Limestone) that I’m really excited about. One, coming from DII and then the other, coming from being a head coach,” said Furrey. “Having experience as a head coach, to me, allows you to become a great assistant because you just kind of have an idea what you want your assistants to do. Take some burden off you, do your job, keep your office clean, look good, be presentable, get your players ready — all those good things. Those are things that I’m excited about that I get to do knowing what (Shane Beamer’s) expectations are because of that chair.”
Whether it be Brian Kelly going from DII Grand Valley State to being a two-time coach of the year in FBS. Or, Curt Cignetti going from DII Indiana University of Pennsylvania to turning JMU into a powerhouse and now taking over at Indiana. Or even new James Madison coach Bob Chesney, who was questioned going from DII Assumption to winning five straight Patriot League titles at Holy Cross, there’s a long list of examples of DII coaches who’ve had success as they climbed the ladder. But unlike those examples, the beauty with Furrey’s hire is that he just needs to worry about coaching one position and not an entire program.
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“When you talk about coming from DII, you’re talking about a 205-man roster that you had to manage. My wife actually said this the other day, she’s actually excited for me, not to take a break, but to be able to focus on one job with 13-14 players. Not 30 jobs with 205. I think the value of going through all of those 30 jobs has taught me the academic side, the financial aid side, how important the scholarship side is, the dormitories, the meal plans, all that good stuff. There’s a lot of knowledge in there that I think helps towards the recruiting part and understanding that. Obviously building a roster but at the same time there’s a lot of things that I’ll take with me that (has me) grateful that I’ll be able to present to our players and continue to make them the best that we possibly can.”
In addition to bringing four years of head coaching experience from the DII level, Furrey also spent two seasons as a head coach at Kentucky Christian (NAIA), three seasons as a wide receiver coach at Marshall, and four seasons as a wide receiver coach in the NFL with the Chicago Bears. Combined that with his eight years of playing in the NFL, which includes leading the NFC with 98 receptions in 2006 with the Detroit Lions, and you have a guy who truly has seen it all.
