Florida Atlantic is hiring Penn State analyst Charlie Frye as its next offensive coordinator, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Monday afternoon.
Sources: FAU is hiring Charlie Frye as the school’s offensive coordinator. Frye is a former NFL quarterback, NFL QB coach and worked at various high schools in Florida. He worked at University if Florida as director of player development.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 26, 2022
Frye, who has assisted at the high school, college and pro levels in Florida, had been an analyst with Penn State this season, hopping on board this past summer.
He’s one of a number of notable football names, others including former NFL head coach Ken Whisenhunt and Penn State linebacking great Dan Connor, to assist coach James Franklin in a behind-the-scenes role.
Before getting into coaching, Frye was an NFL quarterback. After a successful playing career at Akron, Frye stayed in Ohio and went to the Cleveland Browns in the third round of the 2005 NFL draft. He spent three seasons in Cleveland, starting 21 games— 13 in the 2006 season— before moving on to the Seattle Seahawks after the 2007 campaign. Frye then played a season in Seattle and another with the Oakland Raiders, starting a total of four games over the 2008 and ‘09 seasons before his career ended.
After the NFL, Frye began coaching, starting out at Jones High School in Orlando, where he spent two seasons as offensive coordinator. Frye then moved on to Wekiva High School in Apopka, Florida, spending two more seasons in the same role.
From there, Frye stayed in Florida and moved to the college ranks, becoming the University of Florida’s Director of Player Development for the 2016 and ‘17 seasons.
After six seasons coaching in Florida, Frye returned to Ohio, spending the 2018 season as the wide receivers coach at Division II Ashland University.
In 2019, Frye because a Division I offensive coordinator and worked at Central Michigan for two seasons before returning to the NFL with the Dolphins in a coaching capacity.
It’s not clear what specifically Frye assisted with in his time at Penn State, assuming it’s coming to an end. One would guess that he helped in some form with the development of Penn State’s quarterbacks, particularly Drew Allar and Beau Pribula, who are true freshmen.
Now, it looks like Frye will be starting his second Division I offensive coordinator job and returning to the state where he’s spent the most time in his coaching career.
