Carroll McCray Position: Offensive Line Experience: 2nd Year At Furman Alma Mater: Gardner-Webb '93

When head coach Bobby Lamb added Carroll McCray to the Furman staff in January of 2008, he gained a well respected, veteran coach with strong state, conference, and regional ties.

Now in his second season in charge of the Paladin offensive line coach, McCray had served as head coach at Austin Peay State University for four years prior to coming to Furman.

In his four campaigns at Austin Peay, where he was charged with leading the Governors' football program from non-scholarship to scholarship level and back into the Ohio Valley Conference beginning in 2007, McCray compiled an 11-33 record against a demanding schedule.

Prior to being named head coach at Austin Peay in January of 2003, he served as coach of the centers and offensive guards at Mississippi State (2001-02) and before that spent seven seasons as offensive line coach at Samford (1994-00). McCray served five seasons as an assistant at the University of South Carolina (1989-93) under then-head coach Sparky Woods, coaching the Gamecock offensive line, tight ends, H-backs, and special teams.

McCray began his coaching career in 1984 at SoCon member Appalachian State, serving as a graduate assistant and working with the Mountaineers' tight ends and tackles under ASU head coach Sparky Woods. In 1986 he began a three-year stint as coach of Appalachian State's inside linebackers and, in all, helped ASU post a 38-19-2 record, win two SoCon championships (1986 & `87), and make two NCAA I-AA playoff appearances during his tenure in Boone.

At South Carolina he assisted in the Gamecocks' transition into the Southeastern Conference play and coached Ernest Dye, USC's first All-SEC performer.

While at Samford, McCray directed several powerful Bulldog offensive lines, including a 2000 unit that set school records for rushing yards (3,439) and rushing touchdowns (41).

A native of Monroe, N.C., he is a 1983 graduate of Gardner-Webb University, where he was a three-year letterwinner as an offensive lineman. He earned a master's degree in social science from Appalachian State in 1985.

McCray and his wife, Angel, have a son, Trey, a redshirt freshman tight end in Furman's football program, and a daughter, Meredith.