This will be Larry Blakeney’s 24th and final season as Troy’s head coach, the school announced on Sunday. Blakeney informed his team and staff following practice on Sunday night.
The school will hold a 10 a.m. CT press conference Monday to make the move official.
Blakeney, for all intents and purposes, is Troy football. Taking the job following the 1990 season, Blakeney saw the program rise from Division II upon his arrival through three years as a Division I-AA (now FCS) independent, a half-decade in the Southland Conference, one more year as a I-AA independent, a two-year transitional period as a I-A (now FBS) independent, and then finally to the Sun Belt Conference in 2004. Blakeney even saw the program through a name change, as the Trojans dropped “State” from their name upon admittance into the Sun Belt.
The Trojans experienced immediate success upon arrival in the Sun Belt, appearing in the Silicon Valley Bowl in their 2004 debut and running of five straight years of shared or outright Sun Belt titles from 2006-10.
The program stagnated from there, though, going just 14-27 since the beginning of the 2011 season, including an 0-5 mark to begin 2014.
Overall, Blakeney is one of seven active FBS coaches with 175 career wins, and needs one victory to tie Auburn’s Shug Jordan for third most in the state of Alabama.
Prior to getting the head job at his alma mater, Blakeney was a longtime assistant at Auburn and prior to that forged a successful career as an Alabama high school football coach.
With Blakeney’s retirement, Troy becomes the third FBS program to announce a coaching change for the 2014 season, following June Jones’ resignation at SMU and Charlie Weis’ dismissal at Kansas.
Oddly enough, the move comes after a Trojans bye week. Troy took Oct. 4 off after losing dropping its Sun Belt opener 22-20 at Louisiana-Monroe on Sept. 27. The Trojans host New Mexico State on Saturday.