BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (CentreColonels.com) – Tony Joe White has been named the head football coach at Birmingham Southern, Director of Athletics Kyndall Waters announced on Monday. White becomes the sixth football coach in program history after spending the last nine seasons as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Centre.
White has guided the Colonel offense to four consecutive record-breaking seasons, snapping the program record for points and total offense in four straight years.
Centre ranked 13th in Division III in both total offense and scoring, averaging 508.6 yards and 42.6 points per game. The Colonels also sat 13th in the country in passing offense, tallying 332.4 yards per game through the air. Centre finished with at least 35 points in nine of 10 games this season, including five games with at least 45 points.
Under White's tutelage, quarterback Devin Hayes ranked seventh in the nation in passing yards with a single-season school record of 3,148 passing yards this year. Hayes set single-game school records with 527 passing yards and seven passing touchdowns against Rhodes this season.
White and the Centre offense recorded at least 500 yards of total offense in eight games since the start of the 2015 season, including five games with 600-or-more yards.
The Colonels tallied 703 yards in a 66-28 rout of Rhodes in week nine, their most since finishing with 769 yards in a 63-7 victory at Hanover in week one of 2015. Centre added 641 yards against SAA champion and NCAA Division III Playoff qualifier Washington (Mo.), 613 yards in a win over Chicago and 531 at Anderson in week two.
White also coached quarterback Heath Haden, who closed an outstanding career at Centre in 2015 with school records of 8,872 passing yards, 68 passing touchdowns and 10,623 total yards.
White and the Colonel offense produced 1,000-yard rushers in back-to-back seasons in 2013 and '14. Meisner tallied 1,036 rushing yards in 2013, while First Team All-SAA selection Nolan Coulter rushed for 1,162 yards in 2014, which paced the SAA and ranks third for a single season in program history. Prior to 2013, Centre's last 1,000-yard rusher was Kris Garrett in 1995.
Prior to his tenure at Centre, White spent time as an assistant coach at Belhaven, FCS Southeast Missouri State University, Southwest Baptist and Louisiana Tech.
Birmingham Southern finished 1-9 in 2016.
