Chris Oliver, Dale Carson, Justin Carrigan
UTPB is close to hiring its first football coach.
Athletics director Steve Aicinena confirmed Monday that the school has narrowed its inaugural coaching search to three finalists — Lindsey Wilson University head coach Chris Oliver, former Valparaiso head coach Dale Carlson and Tarleton State offensive coordinator Justin Carrigan. Oliver interviewed in Odessa on Monday, Carlson is scheduled to interview on campus Tuesday, and Carrigan’s interview is scheduled for Wednesday.
Aicinena said one of them could be offered the UTPB job as early as Thursday.
“We’re hoping to come to closure by the end of the week,” Aicinena said. “I don’t know if we’re going to know by Friday, but that’s our intent. We’ll get all three people in by Wednesday, meet with the (search) committee on Thursday and make an offer either Thursday night or Friday.
“We are really excited to be at this stage and have all this stuff happening,” Aicinena added. “It’ll be really exciting to make the announcement.”
Aicinena declined to provide contact information for any of the three finalists, saying he felt uncomfortable doing that because only one of them had interviewed.
UTPB plans to field its first football team in the fall of 2016, and Aicinena said the Falcons will compete in the Lone Star Conference of NCAA Division II. One of the three finalists has extensive experience within the LSC, although he has yet to serve as a head coach.
Carrigan, a 1998 graduate of Carrollton Turner High School, was a two-time all-conference safety for Angelo State in San Angelo and has worked on the coaching staffs at Midwestern State in Wichita Falls and Tarleton State in Stephenville. Carrigan has spent the last five seasons at Tarleton State and the last three as offensive coordinator, with the Texans gaining at least 4,000 total yards apiece in 2012 and 2013 and amassing 5,228 total yards during a 5-5 season in 2014.
“He has not been a head coach yet,” Aicinena said, “but seems to have a whole lot of promise.”
UTPB’s other two finalists, along with having head-coaching experience, also have started college programs before. Carlson started the NCAA Division III program at Trine University in Indiana, working there from 1995-2002, and then started the NAIA program at Ohio Dominican University, where he was head coach from 2003-09.
In 2013 Carlson was fired as the head coach at Valparaiso, a Football Championship Subdivision program in Indiana, after compiling a 3-40 record in four seasons. He spent last season as the assistant head coach at North Park University, a Division III school in his native Chicago, and has a career college head-coaching record of 111-124-1, also making stops at Lakeland College in Wisconsin and Taylor University in Indiana.
Oliver, a 2003 graduate of Ohio State University and former student-assistant coach for the Buckeyes, worked under Carlson at Ohio Dominican from 2003-08. Oliver served as offensive coordinator from 2006-08, with the Panthers leading the NAIA in total offense and reaching the national quarterfinals in 2007.
Oliver was hired to start the program at Lindsey Wilson, an NAIA school in Kentucky, in 2009. Oliver has compiled a 33-23 record in five seasons with the Blue Raiders, who are coming off a 10-3 campaign that ended in the national quarterfinals.
“This is a very unique situation and a very unique opportunity, and it’s not for everybody,” Aicinena said. “Not everybody would embrace the challenge to start the program from scratch. Two of these folks have had that experience and have been successful, and they’ve been involved in more than one place where that’s happened.”
Aicinena said Monday’s interview with Oliver was an “all day” engagement in which the candidate was shuffled from one meeting to another. The visit included a lunchtime meet-and-greet with community members at the JBS Public Leadership Institute Presidential Museum & Leadership Library on campus, and Aicinena said the same is scheduled for Carlson and Carrigan from 11 a.m.-noon Tuesday and Wednesday.
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