Bowling Green State University Athletics
Hall of Fame
Gary Blackney
- Induction:
- 2026
Gary Blackney coached the BGSU football team for 10 years, from 1991-2000. He burst onto the scene with a bang in 1991, taking over a program that had not had a winning season in five years and promptly leading the Falcons to back-to-back seasons of double-digit wins and bowl-game appearances – at a time when only one Mid-American Conference team qualified for a bowl game each year.
In his first season, Blackney tied the NCAA record for most wins by a first-year head coach, with 11. He would guide the Orange and Brown to back-to-back unbeaten MAC seasons in 1991 and ‘92 and was named the MAC Coach of the Year in both years. Blackney became only the second coach in conference history to earn back-to-back C-O-Y honors. He was the first coach in school history to win a bowl game, as the Falcons topped Fresno State, 28-21, in the 1991 California Raisin Bowl, and guided the Falcons to another thrilling victory the following season, 35-34 over Nevada in the Las Vegas Bowl.
He began his BGSU career with a then league-record 19 consecutive MAC wins, and was unbeaten in his first 22 conference games. Blackney was named the American Football Coaches Association Region 3 Coach of the Year in both 1991 and ‘92, and was named the Ohio Collegiate Coach of the Year in the latter season. He had been a finalist for the Football News National Coach of the Year in 1991.
Blackney had a 60-50-2 record with the Falcons, amassing the third-most wins in program history. In 1996, he was named to the prestigious 16-member Board of Trustees for the AFCA.
Blackney had come to BG after serving 21 years as an assistant at schools including Connecticut (GA), Brown, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, UCLA, Syracuse and Ohio State. At the time he left BGSU, he was the only coach from the MAC to have his recruiting classes receive the AFCA Academic Achievement Award (70 percent or better graduation rate) each year of the award’s existence.
After leaving BGSU, he spent five years on the staff at Maryland, and wrapped up his career at UCF in 2008. A native of Plainview, N.Y., he is a 1967 graduate of the Univ. of Connecticut, where he was a running back/defensive back.
In his first season, Blackney tied the NCAA record for most wins by a first-year head coach, with 11. He would guide the Orange and Brown to back-to-back unbeaten MAC seasons in 1991 and ‘92 and was named the MAC Coach of the Year in both years. Blackney became only the second coach in conference history to earn back-to-back C-O-Y honors. He was the first coach in school history to win a bowl game, as the Falcons topped Fresno State, 28-21, in the 1991 California Raisin Bowl, and guided the Falcons to another thrilling victory the following season, 35-34 over Nevada in the Las Vegas Bowl.
He began his BGSU career with a then league-record 19 consecutive MAC wins, and was unbeaten in his first 22 conference games. Blackney was named the American Football Coaches Association Region 3 Coach of the Year in both 1991 and ‘92, and was named the Ohio Collegiate Coach of the Year in the latter season. He had been a finalist for the Football News National Coach of the Year in 1991.
Blackney had a 60-50-2 record with the Falcons, amassing the third-most wins in program history. In 1996, he was named to the prestigious 16-member Board of Trustees for the AFCA.
Blackney had come to BG after serving 21 years as an assistant at schools including Connecticut (GA), Brown, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, UCLA, Syracuse and Ohio State. At the time he left BGSU, he was the only coach from the MAC to have his recruiting classes receive the AFCA Academic Achievement Award (70 percent or better graduation rate) each year of the award’s existence.
After leaving BGSU, he spent five years on the staff at Maryland, and wrapped up his career at UCF in 2008. A native of Plainview, N.Y., he is a 1967 graduate of the Univ. of Connecticut, where he was a running back/defensive back.
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