The Hall of Fame Case for Larry Blakeney
The National Football Foundation will be doing a disservice to college football if Troy’s Larry Blakeney is not inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. The Pride of Gordo deserves national recognition for all of his accomplishments on the sidelines.
Larry Blakeney led the Trojans from 1991-2014. Coach Blakeney is the winningest coach in Sun Belt history with 69 wins. The closest active coach is Billy Napier with 28. (It was Blake Anderson with 47 until his hiring at Utah State.) Blakeney is also the winningest coach in Troy history with an unrivaled 178 wins. The next, Billy Atkins, had 44.
By my records, Larry Blakeney is the third winningest coach in the state of Alabama, trailing only Bear Bryant’s 323 and the 203 of Tuskegee’s Cleve Abbott from 1923-1954. Blakeney is the only one in the top echelon to get all of his wins in the state at the same school during his time at Troy.
Larry Blakeney is one of only TWO coaches to EVER lead a school from NCAA DII to FCS to FBS. The other was UCF’s Gene McDowell.
During his time in NCAA DII, Blakeney recorded a 15-7 record over 2 seasons, doubling his win total from year 1 to 2. His 15 wins in 2 years were better than the 13 in the 3 years before he took over. As a transition team, the 1992 Trojans didn’t qualify for the playoffs.
As FCS members, Blakeney led Troy to 7 FCS Playoffs berths in 8 years. In 5 years as members of the Southland Conference, Troy won the conference three times. They only lost 9 conference games. Blakeney was named Southland Conference Coach of the Year for 1999 and 2000.
Larry Blakeney helped usher Troy football into FBS in 2001. From then until he retired in ’14, Blakeney won 5 Sun Belt Championships, 2 of 5 bowls, & beat 3 P5 opponents (Miss St, Ok St, and #17 Missouri). He was 86-84 in FBS with 2 All-Americans & 120 All-Conference players.
While Blakeney’s FBS record is just above .500, it’s important to remember that the competition ratcheted up very quickly. From 2001-14, Blakeney’s Trojans played either the defending National Champion, future National Champion (for that year), or the runner up 6 times.
Blakeney’s most well known accomplishment of his time in FBS at Troy is The Streak. From 2006-10, Troy won the Sun Belt Conference Championship 5 straight times, a mark that has not been equaled. For this, he was named Sun Belt Coach of the Year in both 2008 & 2009. Blakeney’s five Sun Belt titles are the most of any coach in the league’s 20 year history.
Finally in recognition for his coaching prowess, Coach Blakeney was the AFCA Coach of the Year in 1999-00. He was voted the Sun Belt 10th Anniversary Most Outstanding Coach. He is a member of the Troy, Wiregrass, and Alabama Halls of Fame. Blakeney won the Johnny Vaught Lifetime Award & is honored as a Camellia Bowl Legend.
With all of this in mind, voters of the National Football Foundation should recognize Coach Larry Blakeney for all he has done for Troy Trojans football and college football as a whole. Do the right thing and enshrine Larry Blakeney into the College Football Hall of Fame.
