Gardner-Webb names alum McCray football coach

Jan 28, 2013 - 3:11 PM Boiling Springs, NC (Sports Network) - Carroll McCray has made his way back to Gardner-Webb University.

The Big South Conference program announced Monday that the 1983 graduate has been hired as head football coach.

McCray, who posted a 5-6 record last year in his only season as the head coach at Division II North Greenville University, replaces Ron Dickerson Jr., who stepped down earlier this month following two seasons and a 7-15 record.

McCray was the head coach at Austin Peay from 2003-06, compiling an 11-33 record. He also was associate head coach of Mercer's fledging program in 2011 and was an assistant coach at Furman, Mississippi State, Samford, South Carolina and Appalachian State.

He is the first alumnus to serve as the Runnin' Bulldogs' head coach since Woody Fish did so from 1984-1996.

"Our focus with this search was to quickly identify and target an experienced coach who has an understanding of this university and its football program," Gardner-Webb athletic director Chuck Burch said. "We have found that coach in Carroll McCray. He is a man of impeccable character and a person we are confident is an outstanding fit here at Gardner-Webb."

A native of Monroe, N.C., McCray was a three-year letter-winner on the offensive line at Gardner-Webb under coach Tom Moore in the early 1980s. As a senior in 1982, McCray and the Runnin' Bulldogs finished with a 7-3 record to tie the program record to that point for senior college wins and posted the team's first winning mark since 1977.