About Charlie Coiner

How does a stellar football-coaching career begin?

Certainly, nine years in the NFL and another 20 in the NCAA doesn’t happen by accident. A career like this happens when a coach knows how to develop talent and knows how to win. In 1983, with no coaching experience, Waynesboro, Virginia native Charlie Coiner had big dreams and made a bold move by approaching a new, now national, coaching figure. His timing was perfect.

In 1983, Charlie Coiner served as a graduate assistant at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. Mack Brown, who eventually became Head Coach at the University of Texas and the University of North Carolina, had just begun his first head-coaching job. Coiner recalls, “I wanted to get into coaching, but I had little to no experience. So, I walked into Coach Brown’s office and asked if I could coach. He told me he couldn’t pay me, and I kind of thought that was a fair deal since I didn’t know very much.” Coiner stayed for five years and proved his worth.

Thereafter, Coiner rode the coaching carousel. “I’ve been a couple of places in my coaching career,” he laughs. After Appalachian State, Coiner worked on offense, defense, recruiting, and special teams for the University of Minnesota, Austin Peay State University, Vanderbilt University, Texas Southern University, University of Louisville, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, LSU, University of Tennessee, and University of North Carolina.

Coiner coached for the NFL’s Chicago Bears (Special Teams, 2001-05) and Buffalo Bills (Tight Ends, 2006-09). During this tenure with the Bills, he helped lead a young group of tight ends to career numbers while they also contributed as blockers for a rushing attack that ranked fifth in the AFC.

Towards the end of his coaching career, Charlie Coiner began digitally converting dozens of playbooks to find plays more quickly once he returned to coaching. After spending the time doing so, Coiner realized he had something special on his hands and created FirstDown PlayBook.