Charles Kelly

Charles Kelly (born September 8, 1967) is an American football coach and former football player. He is currently the head coach at Jacksonville State University. Kelly won a national championship as a member of the Florida State Seminoles coaching staff during the 2013 college football season. He also won a College Football Playoff National Championship as the co-defensive coordinator of the 2020 Alabama Crimson Tide who went undefeated.

Playing career Kelly played college football at Auburn as a defensive back from 1986 to 1989.

Coaching career High school career Kelly began his coaching career as an assistant at Central High School in Phenix City, Alabama, from 1990 to 1992 and he was also defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Eufaula High School in Eufaula, Alabama, from 2000 to 2001.

College career Kelly first coached in college as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Auburn University in 1993. In 2004, Kelly was promoted to defensive coordinator at Nicholls State and remained in that role through the 2005 season. From the 2008 season through the 2009 season, he was cornerbacks coach at Georgia Tech. In 2010, he moved to defensive secondary coach and started the 2012 season in that position before being promoted to interim defensive coordinator during the season.

For the 2013 season, Kelly moved to Florida State University as linebackers coach and special teams coordinator and helped the Seminoles win their third national championship.

In 2018, Kelly moved to the University of Tennessee as the special teams coordinator and safeties coach. In 2019, he moved to the University of Alabama as the associate defensive coordinator and safeties coach.

On December 7, 2022, Kelly was hired as defensive coordinator at Colorado under the newly hired head coach Deion Sanders.

Jacksonville State On December 20, 2024, Kelly was named head coach at Jacksonville State.

Head coaching record