Charley Molnar Jr. (born July 23, 1961) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

coach. Molnar served head football coach at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, ...

(UMass), for two seasons, from 2012 to 2013, compiling a record of 2–22. Molnar had previously been the offensive coordinator at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

Coaching career

Early positions

Molnar began his coaching career at his alma mater

Lock Haven University Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania (LHU) is a public university in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. The main campus consists of and the branch campus covers . It offers 69 undergradua ...

from 1984 to 1986, working with the wide receivers,

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Lik ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

s and placekickers. He made his first entry into major college football as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research respo ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

from 1987 to 1988. While with the Cavaliers, he assisted the

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

s coach. Molnar then called the offensive plays and coached quarterbacks at Western Carolina in 1989. He spent time as offensive coordinator as well as working with quarterbacks and wide receivers at

Illinois State Illinois State University (ISU) is a public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is recognized as one of th ...

from 1990 to 1993, followed by seven seasons in the same capacity at Kent State from 1994 to 2000. Molnar coached quarterbacks at

Eastern Michigan Eastern Michigan University (EMU, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United Sta ...

in 2002 and then from 2003 to 2004 at

Western Michigan West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for an arbitrary region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Most narrowly it refers to the Grand Rapids- Muskegon-Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region along the Lower Pen ...

. He directed another record-setting quarterback during his only season at

Indiana State Indiana State University (ISU) is a public university in Terre Haute, Indiana. It was founded in 1865 and offers over 100 undergraduate majors and more than 75 graduate and professional programs. Indiana State is classified among "D/PU: Doctor ...

in 2005. As the associate head coach and offensive coordinator of the Sycamores, Molnar’s offense broke six school passing records (including passing yards, completion percentage and

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

passes) and two of his players combined to break 11 single-season or single-game school marks.

Central Michigan

Molnar coached the quarterbacks and wide receivers at

Central Michigan Central Michigan, also called Mid Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As its name implies, it is the middle area of the Lower Peninsula. Lower Michigan is said to resemble a mitten, and Mid Michigan cor ...

under head coach Brian Kelly and developed the most prolific freshman quarterback and wide receiver duo in the nation in 2006. Dan LeFevour was named

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great L ...

(MAC) Freshman of the Year and was selected first-team all-MAC after he led the conference in passing touchdowns, passing yards,

passing efficiency Passer rating (also known as passing efficiency in college football) is a measure of the performance of passers, primarily quarterbacks, in gridiron football. There are two formulas currently in use: one used by both the National Football Leagu ...

, completion percentage, total completions and total yards. Under Molnar’s tutelage, LeFevour completed 247 of 388 pass attempts for 3,031 yards with 26 touchdowns. He also rushed 132 times for 521 yards and seven touchdowns and ranked 13th nationally in total offense (253.7 yards per game). LeFevour set school records for passing yards and touchdown passes, and his 3,552 total yards also were a Central Michigan record. He finished his rookie campaign ranked 19th nationally in passing efficiency.

Cincinnati

From 2007 to 2009, Molnar followed coach Brian Kelly to

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

and continued to help develop record-breaking quarterbacks and wide receivers. With the Bearcats, Molnar was passing game coordinator and coached the wide receivers. He oversaw the two most prolific passing seasons in Cincinnati history and mentored a pair of record-setting receivers. Molnar was a large part of the historic 2009 season where the Bearcats won the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

Championship, played

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in the Sugar Bowl and finished third in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) rankings.

Notre Dame

When Brian Kelly was hired as the head coach at Notre Dame in December 2009, Molnar was shortly thereafter named his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. In 2010, his first year with the Irish, Molnar helped install a new offensive system and developed both

Dayne Crist Dayne Lawrence Crist (born October 9, 1989) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Notre Dame before transferring to the University of Kansas. Early years Crist attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, ...

and Tommy Rees as first-time starting quarterbacks. Crist started the first nine games and passed for 2,033 yards with 15 touchdowns before injuring a knee in the first quarter of the ninth game. Rees played the rest of the ninth game after Crist was injured and completed 33 of 54 passes for 334 yards with four touchdowns. In 2011, Molnar helped the Irish earn a second straight bowl game bid thanks in part to the play of quarterback Tommy Rees. Rees threw for over 2,700 yards that season with 19 touchdowns averaging 225.7 yards per game. As a unit, the Irish averaged 424.1 yards per game on offense thanks in part to Rees and 1,000-yard rusher

Cierre Wood Cierre Marcelle Wood (born February 21, 1991) is a former American football running back. He played college football at Notre Dame. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Houston Texans in 2013. High school career Wood attended Santa ...

UMass

On December 8, 2011, Molnar was named the new head coach of the

UMass Minutemen football The UMass Minutemen football team represents the University of Massachusetts in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Massachusetts is the fourth oldest program in FBS. The Minutemen compete as an FBS independent. Since 1965, th ...

team, replacing ousted coach Kevin Morris. The 2012 season was the team's first as a member of the

, and UMass' final transition year to NCAA Division I FBS play. In his inaugural season with the Minutemen the team would struggle in their first year of FBS Football play. UMass would finish with an overall record of 1–11, including a 1–7 conference record, which placed them in 6th place in the MAC East. Molnar won his first game as a head coach on November 10, 2012, with a 22–14 victory over

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city ...

. Molnar was fired on December 26, 2013 after going 2–22 over the course of two seasons. He was succeeded by

Mark Whipple Mark John Whipple (born April 1, 1957) is an American football coach, who most recently served as offensive coordinator at Nebraska in 2022. Whipple was the head football coach at University of New Haven from 1988 to 1993, Brown University from 1 ...

Personal life

Molnar is a 1984 graduate of

with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

. Molnar and his wife Meg have eight children: Charley III, Gillian, Tate, Bryce, Mitch, Gemma, Gianna and Dominic. His son, Charley III was an assistant on his staff at UMass. Molnar is an avid

runner Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. Running is a type of gait characterized by an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is ...

and completed his first marathon in May, 2013 with a time of 3:44:38 in the

New Jersey Marathon The New Jersey Marathon and Half Marathon is a set of races that take place in and around Long Branch, NJ. It started in 1997 as a revival of the Jersey Shore Marathon, which was held from 1972 to 1985. The name was changed to the New Jersey Shor ...

Head coaching record

References

External links

Idaho profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Molnar, Charley 1961 births Living people Central Michigan Chippewas football coaches Cincinnati Bearcats football coaches Eastern Illinois Panthers football coaches Eastern Michigan Eagles football coaches Idaho Vandals football coaches Illinois State Redbirds football coaches Indiana State Sycamores football coaches Kent State Golden Flashes football coaches Lock Haven Bald Eagles football coaches UMass Minutemen football coaches Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coaches Western Carolina Catamounts football coaches Western Michigan Broncos football coaches Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania alumni People from Morris Plains, New Jersey Coaches of American football from New Jersey