FCS shocker: On heels of historic playoff run, ETSU's Randy Sanders stepping down
After the most successful season in school history, Randy Sanders is walking away from college football.
Sanders, a Morristown, Tennessee, native, announced his retirement Monday after he guided East Tennessee State University into the third round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
Sanders announced his retirement midday Monday, stunning folks. Sources told FootballScoop that Sanders' athletics director, Scott Carter, had engaged his head football coach in discussions for a contract extension late this fall, but Sanders "just said let's talk about that after the season."
The Buccaneers, who closed out an historic, 11-2 campaign in Saturday’s loss at perennial FCS power North Dakota State, had earned the No. 8 national seed after they opened their season with a win at Football Championship Subdivision and Southeastern Conference resident Vanderbilt, then produced a 10-win regular season that included Sanders’ second Southern Conference championship in four years at the helm of the Johnson City-based program.
Sanders, who posted a 26-16 ledger in his four seasons atop the Bucs' program, quickly revived ETSU football to new levels of on-field success at the same time the school also opened a gleaming new multi-million dollar stadium.
Sanders and his staff proved adept at finding transfer players, including numerous contributors from the FBS ranks, to infuse the ETSU roster with greater depth and talent.
Sanders’ retirement brings to a close an enduring coaching career, one that includes national championship titles at his alma mater, the University of Tennessee in 1998, and on Jimbo Fisher’s 2013 Florida State staff. Sanders’ first-ever game as Tennessee’s offensive play-caller came in the Fiesta Bowl at the conclusion of the 1998 season, replacing David Cutcliffe after Cutcliffe’s departure to become head coach at Ole Miss. Coincidentally, the Vols defeated Florida State in that game – and it’s the last year that Tennessee won an SEC title.
Sanders, now 56, stayed on as the Vols’ play-caller for the next seven seasons.
Sanders also owns a seven-year stint as an assistant coach at Kentucky, including four of those seasons as the Wildcats’ offensive coordinator.
