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BOCA RATON – Never one to shy away from unconventional moves, FAU coach Lane Kiffin hired 24-year-old Charlie Weis Jr. to be his new offensive coordinator, Kiffin confirmed on Wednesday.
The hiring will make Weis the youngest current coordinator at the FBS level, and likely the youngest coordinator in modern college football history.
Weis will also coach the quarterbacks.
The move also means that Weis may finally get to coach in a game at FAU.
An early member of Lane Kiffin’s staff as the tight ends coach a year ago, Weis jumped to the Atlanta Falcons about a month after his hiring – before FAU even started spring practice.
Weis served as an offensive assistant for the Falcons, whose season ended last weekend with a loss to Philadelphia. Steve Sarkisian, the coach who replaced Kiffin as Alabama’s offensive coordinator the championship game that capped the 2016 season, was the Falcons’ offensive coordinator this season.
After completing the hiring process earlier this week, Weis immediately hit the recruiting trail.
FAU has yet to formally announce Weis’ hiring and it remains unclear when the Owls plan to make such a formal announcement. According to his initial contract, Weis was only scheduled to make $50,000 per year as the Owls’ tight ends coach. He should receive a significant salary bump this time around.
After Weis’ departure last year, FAU hired Clint Trickett to coach the tight ends, and Trickett is still a member of the Owls’ staff.
Last season Kiffin brought Kendal Briles and the Baylor offense to FAU. Perhaps realizing that Briles would be gone after one season, Kiffin began taking a larger role in play calling, even signaling in plays late in the season, as a means of mastering Briles’ offense.
Following the season Briles’ accepted the offensive coordinator position at Houston, creating the opening for Weis.
Other than those few weeks last season, Weis doesn’t have much experience with the Baylor offense, but he did spend the last three seasons studying under two of the best offensive minds in football – Kiffin and Sarkisian.
Weis spent two seasons as an offensive analyst for Alabama while Kiffin was the Tide’s offensive coordinator before Kiffin, and Weis for that matter, accepted the job at FAU.
He is also the son of Charlie Weis, who was the offensive coordinator for three New England Patriots Super Bowl victories and spent five seasons as the head coach at Notre Dame.
The Owls recently completed their most successful season in program history, winning their final 10 games to finish with an 11-3 record, a Conference USA championship and a Boca Raton Bowl title.
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