http://www.thestate.com/sports/college/a...21244.html

Quote:It’s the end of an era.

Mike Ayers is retiring after 30 years as Wofford College head football coach.

Quote:Ayers was second on the active list for FCS victories and also second in tenure, behind only Jimmye Laycock, who just finished his 38th season at William & Mary. Ayers is third on the all-time wins list, behind Laycock and Roy Kidd, who had 225 wins at Eastern Kentucky from 1978-2002. With a victory earlier this season at home against Chattanooga, Ayers passed longtime (1989-2012) coach and good friend Jerry Moore of Appalachian State (215 wins) to become the all-time leader in the Southern Conference.

Ayers, a native of Georgetown, Ky., was a two-way starter at linebacker (all-district) and offensive tackle at Georgetown College, where he also played baseball as a catcher and competed in wrestling and gymnastics. He served in the Marines and then began his coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater in 1974. He joined the staff at Newberry in 1976, Richmond in 1979 and Wofford in 1980. Ayers went to ETSU in 1983, was named head coach two years later and then returned to take over the Wofford program in 1988.

Ayers inherited a team that was 1-10 the previous year and had scored just 87 points all season. Wofford won half its games in Ayers’ first campaign and made the NCAA Division II playoffs in 1990. The Terriers moved up to Division I and joined the Southern Conference in 1997.

First class coach and an even better human being. He was at the helm of the Terriers during their transition from NAIA to DII to DI-FCS.

Great coach and an impressive career.

Don't know much about Wofford but I do know that they're a tiny private school that always seems to have a great FCS football program, and that's really hard to pull off.