Charley Pell

Charley Pell was a college football coach for 20 years from 1964-1984 and is best known for his six years as the head coach of the Florida Gators from 1979-1984. He began his coaching career as an assistant in the SEC at Alabama and Kentucky from 1964-1968, and after bouncing around to three more schools over the course of a decade he arrived in Florida prior to the start of the ’79 season. Pell built the Gators’ program from the ground-up, suffering through an 0-10-1 season in 1979, still the worst season in school history. He improved Florida to 8-4 in 1980, and the eight-win increase from 1979 to 1980 was largest turnaround in NCAA history at the time.

The 1980 campaign was the first of four straight winning seasons for Pell and the Gators, resulting in four straight bowl appearances. Florida was 2-2 in those bowl games. Pell began the 1984 season with a 1-1-1 record before he was fired for committing 107 different NCAA rules violations, per an NCAA investigation. He left Florida with a 33-26-2 record, including a 32-15 record from 1980-1983. Pell never coached again at the college level following his dismissal from Florida. He passed away in 2001 at the age of 60.