10-Year Rewind: NC A&T tops among FCS teams since ’14

The 2023 college football season proved tough to swallow for North Carolina A&T faithful. The Aggies won just one game and posted a winless mark in their Coastal Athletic Association debut.

But pan the camera out over the past decade and you’ll see a much different story emerging out of East Greensboro. Since 2014, NC A&T has posted the most successful run among our state’s FCS programs, leading in overall winning percentage and post-season victories.

With 2023 in the rearview and spring football still several weeks away, NC Football News is doing a 10-year rewind among our state’s Division I teams. We’ll start with our state’s seven FCS programs, looking at wins and losses, conference championships and post-season triumphs

1. North Carolina A&T

• 10-Year Overall Record: 71-34 (.676)
• 10-Year Conference Record: 46-21
• Conference championships: 5
• Post-season Record: 4-1

Recap: Remove the 2023 season (1-10 mark), and the Aggies have won 74.4 percent of their games since 2014. A&T captured no fewer than nine wins per season during the six-year stretch before the pandemic-canceled 2020 season.

Coach Rod Broadway piloted the Aggies to Celebration Bowl titles in 2015 and 2017, denoting the school as HBCU football national champions. Sam Washington led A&T to two more Celebration Bowl titles in 2018 and ’19. The 2016 squad made the FCS playoffs.

The 2017 bunch never tasted defeat, going 12-0 and topping Grambling for the Celebration trophy. That squad also beat Charlotte, from the FBS ranks. No other FCS team in the state posted an undefeated record during this stretch.

2. North Carolina Central

• 10-Year Overall Record: 65-39 (.625)
• 10-Year Conference Record: 44-18
• Conference championships: 5
• Post-season Record: 2-1

Recap: Like their rivals from Greensboro, the Eagles have been on a solid run the past decade. NC Central has shared four MEAC crowns and won the 2016 crown outright with an 8-0 record.

NCCU earned the moniker of HBCU national champ in 2022, knocking off favored Jackson State (coached by Deion Sanders) in an overtime thriller in Atlanta. Coach Trei Oliver’s team shared the MEAC crown again this season, but head-to-head results sent Howard to the Celebration Bowl. Central made their first appearance in the FCS playoffs, pushing Richmond to the limit before falling late.

3. Campbell Camels

• 10-Year Overall Record: 46-57 (.447)
• 10-Year Conference Record: 27-35
• Conference championships: 0
• Post-season Record: n/a

Recap: Mike Minter, who stepped down as head coach after this past season, led the Camels during this entire 10-year period. His Camels were consistent, winning five games in five different seasons and winning six games from 2017-19. But the squad never broke through with more wins than six or challenged for a conference title.

Campbell played a four-game schedule against only FBS foes during the 2020 COVID season, nearly beating Georgia Southern (27-26 loss). Solid recruiting classes the past few seasons have the Camels poised for a move up the CAA standings under new coach Braxton Harris.

4. Davidson Wildcats

• 10-Year Overall Record: 48-60 (.444)
• 10-Year Conference Record: 32-45
• Conference championships: 2
• Post-season Record: 0-3

Recap: Scott Abell’s hire as head coach in 2018 has revolutionized Davidson’s program. The school won just seven games from 2014-17 but has posted a 41-22 record under Abell since then.

Davidson plays in the non-scholarship Pioneer Football League, and Abell has positioned the Wildcats as perennial contenders in the unique, coast-to-coast league. The ‘Cats have just six losses in conference action since 2020, including a 6-2 mark this past fall. The next breakthrough goal will be to win an FCS playoff game.

5. Elon Phoenix

• 10-Year Overall Record: 47-61 (.435)
• 10-Year Conference Record: 35-40
• Conference championships: 0
• Post-season Record: 0-3

Recap: Like Scott Abell at Davidson, Curt Cignetti worked an immediate turnaround when he took over the Phoenix in 2017. Elon has been to the FCS playoffs three times since, twice under Cignetti and once under his successor, Tony Trisciani, who took over in 2019.

Trisciani’s 2023 team missed the playoffs but was a major disrupter in the CAA, beating No. 5 William & Mary and No. 5 Delaware.

6. Western Carolina Catamounts

• 10-Year Overall Record: 47-64 (.423)
• 10-Year Conference Record: 33-42
• Conference championships: 0
• Post-season Record: n/a

Recap: This past season, the Cullowhee school celebrated the 40-year anniversary of the 1983 team that made the Division I-AA championship game. Alas, that was the last time the Catamounts have made the playoffs in football. You have to go back even farther, to 1949, for the last conference championship team from WCU.

The last three years under coach Kerwin Bell have been trending in the right direction — from four to six to seven wins. Western finished 2023 ranked in the top 25 in one of the major FCS polls. The program has had to replace a number of assistant coaches, but expect WCU to be counted among the SoCon’s top teams in ’24.

7. Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs

• 10-Year Overall Record: 40-68 (.370)
• 10-Year Conference Record: 20-33
• Conference championships: 2
• Post-season Record: 1-2

Recap: Tre Lamb breathed new life into the GWU program during his four years at the helm. The 2022 team won the Big South with an unbeaten record and won its playoff opener against Eastern Kentucky. The 2023 squad captured the initial Big South/OVC Football Association crown before falling to Mercer in the post-season.

Cris Reisert will be tasked with continuing the upsurge in Boiling Springs, taking over the program for Lamb, who left to take the East Tennessee State job.

FCS 10-Year Review