Charlton Warren (born January 17, 1977) is an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coach who is currently co-

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator (DC) is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, wit ...

and

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

s coach at

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

. Prior to entering the coaching ranks, Warren served in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

Playing career

Warren grew up in Conley, Georgia, a suburb of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, and attended Forest Park High School, where he played football and participated in the

Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps The Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps (AFROTC) is one of the three primary commissioning sources for officers in the United States Air Force and United States Space Force, the other two being the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA ...

. He was recruited by

Furman University Furman University is a private university in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1826 and named after Baptist pastor Richard Furman, the Liberal arts college, liberal arts university is the oldest private institution of higher l ...

and the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

, but chose to attend the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academies, United States service academy in Air Force Academy, Colorado, Air Force Academy Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs. I ...

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010 United States Census, 2 ...

. Warren played defensive back at Air Force and graduated in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in

human factors engineering Ergonomics, also known as human factors or human factors engineering (HFE), is the application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. Primary goals of human factors engi ...

. Following his graduation, he spent a decade on active duty with the

. Warren earned an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

from

Georgia College & State University Georgia College & State University (Georgia College or GCSU) is a public liberal arts university in Milledgeville, Georgia, United States. The university enrolls approximately 7,000 students and is a member of the University System of Georgia ...

in 2003.

Coaching career

Warren's coaching career began in 2005 as a graduate assistant at

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

, toward the end of head coach

Fisher DeBerry James Fisher DeBerry (born June 8, 1938) is a retired American football player. He served as the head football coach at the United States Air Force Academy from 1984 to 2006, compiling a record of 169–109–1. DeBerry led 17 of his 23 Air Forc ...

's tenure there. He served as an assistant to

Jemal Singleton Jemal Singleton (born December 7, 1975) is an American football coach who is the assistant head coach and running backs coach for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as an assistant coach for the ...

, who coached the

junior varsity team A varsity team is the highest-level team in a sport or activity representing an educational institution. Varsity teams train to compete against each other during an athletic season or in periodic matches against rival institutions. At high schools ...

. DeBerry retired after the 2006 season. New head coach

Troy Calhoun Nathan Troy Calhoun (born September 26, 1966) is an American football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at the United States Air Force Academy, a position he has held since the 2007 season. Early life and playing career Calh ...

retained several graduate assistants from DeBerry's staff, including Warren, Singleton,

Brian Knorr Brian Knorr (born December 20, 1963) is an American college football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the Air Force Falcons. He graduated from the Air Force Academy and played quarterback. He also was an assistant at the Air Force Acade ...

, and Blane Morgan. Calhoun created the title of "recruiting coordinator" for Warren, recognizing his abilities as a recruiter. In early 2012 Calhoun promoted Warren to

, following Matt Wallerstedt's departure for

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

. Warren served as co-defensive coordinator alongside Steve Russ for the 2012 and 2013 seasons. Warren recruited the state of Georgia well, but Air Force's defenses ranked among the worst in

NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

. In January 2014 Air Force hired Brian Knorr, formerly a fellow graduate assistant and most recently defensive coordinator at Wake Forest, as a defensive coach. It was rumored that Warren would be demoted and Knorr would replace him. Warren chose to depart Air Force and become defensive backs coach at the

University of Nebraska A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

under defensive coordinator

John Papuchis John Papuchis (born April 23, 1978) is an American college football coach. He is the special teams coordinator and defensive ends coach for Florida State University, positions he has held since 2020.https://umterps.com/coaches.aspx?rc=1666&path= ...

and head coach

Bo Pelini Mark Anthony "Bo" Pelini (born December 13, 1967) is a former American football coach and former player. He was most recently the defensive coordinator for the LSU Tigers football, Louisiana State University Tigers football team. He is the youn ...

. Knorr stayed at Air Force for all of ten days before taking the defensive coordinator job at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

; Matt Weikert eventually filled the position. 2014 would be Pelini's final season at Nebraska; the school fired him following the conclusion of the regular season. Incoming head coach Mike Riley, long-time head coach at

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees through all 11 of the universit ...

, planned to retain Warren alone out of all of Pelini's assistants, citing Warren's skill as a recruiter. Nevertheless, Warren departed in early 2015 for the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

in the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

to become defensive backs coach under new defensive coordinator

Gene Chizik Eugene C. Chizik Jr. (born December 28, 1961) is an American football coach who was most recently the defensive coordinator and Assistant Head Coach for Defense at North Carolina. A veteran of the coaching ranks, Chizik previously was UNC's defen ...

and head coach

Larry Fedora Herbert Lawrence Fedora (born September 10, 1962) is an American football coach and former player who is the former coach and General manager (American football), general manager for the New Orleans Breakers (2022), New Orleans Breakers of the Un ...

, then in his fourth year. Also new to the staff was Papuchis, serving as linebackers coach. Warren departed North Carolina after the 2016 season to become the defensive backs coach and special teams coordinator at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

in the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC) under head coach

Butch Jones Lyle Allen "Butch" Jones Jr. (born January 17, 1968) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach at Arkansas State University. Jones previously served as a special assistant to the head coach and offensive analyst at the Univ ...

. Warren replaced Willie Martinez, who had resigned after a disappointing season. Beyond improving the pass defense, there was an expectation that Warren could help recruit the Atlanta area, where a resurgent Georgia until

Kirby Smart Kirby Paul Smart (born December 23, 1975) is an American football coach and former player. He is the current head football coach at the University of Georgia, his alma mater. As head coach, he led the Bulldogs to back-to-back national champion ...

had made significant inroads. Tennessee fired Jones midway through the 2017 season and hired

Jeremy Pruitt Jeremy Pruitt (born May 28, 1974) is an American football coach who most recently was a senior defensive assistant for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the head coach at the University of Tennes ...

to replace him. Pruitt did not retain Warren on his staff, but he was quickly hired by

Dan Mullen Daniel Mullenhttps://media.ledger-enquirer.com/static/SEC-Coaching-Contracts/Mississippi-State/Dan-Mullen-2016.pdf (born April 27, 1972) is an American college football coach, who is currently the head coach at the University of Nevada, Las Veg ...

at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

, also in the SEC, as the cornerbacks coach. Warren stayed at Florida for a single season before accepting the defensive backs job at Georgia under Kirby Smart. He replaced

Mel Tucker Melvin Gene Tucker II (born January 4, 1972) is an American football coach and former player. He was the head football coach at Michigan State University from 2020 to 2023. Tucker was the interim head coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the Na ...

, who departed to take the head coaching job at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...

. Georgia was Warren's third different school in the SEC in a three-year span. After two seasons at Georgia, Warren departed to become defensive coordinator at

under

Tom Allen Thomas Allen may refer to: Clergy * Thomas Allen (nonconformist) (1608–1673), Anglican/nonconformist priest in England and New England *Thomas Allen (dean of Chester) (died 1732) *Thomas Allen (scholar) (1681–1755), Anglican priest in England ...

. He succeeded

Kane Wommack Kane Wommack (born April 19, 1987) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the defensive coordinator for the University of Alabama, positions he has held since 2024. He previously served as the defensive coordinator and lin ...

, the new head coach at the

University of South Alabama The University of South Alabama (USA) is a public research university in Mobile, Alabama, United States. It was created by the Alabama Legislature in May 1963 and replaced existing extension programs operated in Mobile by the University of Alaba ...

. Following the departures of former coaches Jay Bateman and

Jovan Dewitt Jovan Dewitt (born October 21, 1975) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the defensive coordinator at FIU Panthers football, FIU. After an All-American playing career, Dewitt has spent the majority of his coaching ca ...

, Warren was named co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach for North Carolina on January 8, 2022, returning to the Tar Heels alongside

, who will serve as the Assistant Head Coach for Defense and defensive coordinator. After the 2023 season, as the Tar Heel defense continued to struggle, Chizik was let go, and Geoff Collins was hired to replace him. Warren, who had returned to Chapel Hill with Chizik, was retained by coach

Mack Brown William Mack Brown (born August 27, 1951) is an American former college football coach. Brown most recently coached at the University of North Carolina, where he had two stints, first from 1988 until 1997, and again from 2019 until his firing ...

and elevated to the assistant head coach position.

References

External links

NC State profile

North Carolina profile

Indiana profile

Nebraska profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warren, Charlton 1977 births Living people American football defensive backs Air Force Falcons football coaches Air Force Falcons football players Florida Gators football coaches Georgia Bulldogs football coaches Indiana Hoosiers football coaches NC State Wolfpack football coaches Nebraska Cornhuskers football coaches North Carolina Tar Heels football coaches Tennessee Volunteers football coaches Georgia College & State University alumni People from Forest Park, Georgia Sportspeople from Clayton County, Georgia Coaches of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) Players of American football from Atlanta African-American coaches of American football 20th-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen