University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Getting to Know...Charlotte
7/14/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The countdown is on as your Golden Eagles prepare for the 2016 football season! The Golden Eagles and 49ers take the field at M.M. Roberts Stadium in Hattiesburg, Miss. on Saturday, Nov. 5.
This is the fourth installment in a series of getting to know the 2016 Southern Miss football opponents that will run up until the start of the football season.
Getting to know... Charlotte
General Information:
Location: Charlotte, N.C.
Founded: 1946
Enrollment: 27,251
Nickname: 49ers
Chancellor: Dr. Philip Dubois
Athletics Director: Judy Rose
Colors: Green and White
Athletics Website: www.charlotte49ers.com
Institution Website: www.uncc.edu
Twitter (Athletics): @charlotte49ers
Twitter (Game Day): @49ersGameDay
Football Information:
Lettermen Returning / Lost: 52/20
Starters Returning / Lost: 18/8
Offense: 9 / 2
Defense: 6/5
Special Teams: 3/1
Head Coach:
In 2011, Brad Lambert took on the responsibility of building the 49ers upstart football program from scratch. Just four years later, he leads the program's historic leap into the FBS as a member of Conference USA. Lambert is entering 6th season overall with Charlotte and their 4th season of competition. He is 12-22 overall in his head coaching career. The 49ers went 5-6 in both 2013 and 2014 before crossing into the FBS from the FCS. In 2015, Lambert's squad went 2-10 overall and 0-8 in conference play. The 49ers posted their first FBS victory 23-20 over the Georgia State Panthers in their 2015 season opener.
Impact Players to Watch:
Offense: Senior running back Kalif Phillips is the key to success for the 49ers offense. He totaled 961 yards in 2015 with five touchdowns and an average of 5.1 yards per carry. He averaged 105.7 yards per game through the first 9 games of the year before suffering injury. He set the school record single-game rushing yard at 204 yards against Old Dominion. The Golden Eagle defense will have to stop him in order to control the game.
Defense: Senior linebacker Nick Cook led the team in tackles in 2015 with 73 total (50 solo and 23 assists). He had 13 solo tackles in the 49ers C-USA opener against Middle Tennessee and 14 tackles at Rice in the season finale. He is a leader on the team being named the game captain on three occasions. The success of the defense is tied to his in-game production. Ito Smith and company will be tasked with eluding him all day.
Football Stadium:
Jerry Richardson Stadium, a 15,000-seat facility that was built so that it is expandable to 40,000 seats, houses the 49ers football program which took the field for the first time in the inaugural 2013 season. The Football Stadium Complex includes the 15,000 seat Jerry Richardson Stadium, the Judy W. Rose Football Center, McColl-Richardson Field and two practice fields. A 6,636 square-foot press box, complete with media seating, a university box and television and radio booths adorn the west sideline at the concourse level. The field house includes coaches offices and meeting rooms, locker rooms and weight and training rooms as well as a 1,920 square-foot Academic Center, a 2,757 square-foot tiered classroom and a 5,947 square-foot Hospitality Deck.
About Charlotte:
Charlotte is the largest city in North Carolina. The city is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. Charlotte is home to the corporate headquarters of Bank of America and the east coast operations of Wells Fargo. Notable attractions include Carolina Panthers of the NFL, the Charlotte Hornets of the NBA, 2 NASCAR Spring Cup Races and the NASCAR All-Star Race, the Wells Fargo Championship, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Carowinds amusement park and the U.S. Nation Whitewater Center. Nicknamed the "Queen City," Charlotte and its resident county received its name in honor of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who had become queen consort of Great Britain the year before the city's founding. A second nickname derives from the American Revolutionary War, when British commander General Cornwallis occupied the city but was driven out by hostile residents, prompting him to write that Charlotte was "a hornet's nest of rebellion," leaving Charlotte with another nickname as "The Hornet's Nest."
Notable Alumni:
*Seth Avett -- musician from The Avett Brothers
*Clay Aiken -- singer, Broadway star, and 1st Runner Up of the second season of American Idol
*Eddie Basden -- Cleveland Cavaliers guard/forward, 2005
*Leemire Goldwire -- professional basketball player, May 2008
*John Maine -- New York Mets pitcher
*Kelly Earnhardt Miller -- NASCAR owner
