Football
- Title:
- Associate Head Coach / Defensive Backs
- Phone:
- 882-2214
Charlie Harbison was head coach Eliah Drinkwitz’s first hire for his new Mizzou staff in December, 2019. Harbison serves as Associate Head Coach while overseeing the defensive backs.
Harbison is a veteran defensive coach with 30 years of collegiate experience under his belt, including 14 seasons in the Southeastern Conference with five different programs.
Two members of the 2020 Tiger secondary heard their names called in the 2021 NFL Draft. In the fourth round, Tyree Gillespie was selected by the Las Vegas Raiders with the 38th pick in the round and the 143rd overall selection. In the sixth round, Joshuah Bledsoe was selected by the New England Patriots with the fourth pick in the round and the 188th overall selection.
Gillespie and Bledsoe combined for 87 tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss and 10 passes broken up in 2020.
Harbison spent the 2019 season with Drinkwitz as Associate Head Coach/Cornerbacks at Appalachian State, where the Mountaineers won the Sun Belt Conference Championship with a 12-1 record and earned a No. 20 ranking in the final regular-season polls.
App State's defense was a key reason for its title run this season, as the Mountaineers ranked in the top 30 nationally in numerous major statistical categories, including: third down defense (14th NCAA/1st Sun Belt – 31.4%), pass efficiency defense (18th NCAA/1st Sun Belt – 114.60), interceptions (19th NCAA/1st Sun Belt – 13), scoring defense (22nd NCAA/2nd Sun Belt – 20.2 avg.) and total defense (26th NCAA/1st Sun Belt – 335.9 avg.).
Twice named one of the nation's top 25 recruiters by Rivals (2005, 2010), Harbison has been part of teams that have qualified for six conference championship games and 120 bowl appearances, including the BCS National Championship Game, two Orange Bowls, two Sugar Bowls and two Cotton Bowls.
He's spent 20+ years combined in the SEC and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) with stops at Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, LSU and Mississippi State. He spent the 2018 season as defensive backs coach for the Arizona Cardinals - with current Mizzou defensive coordinator Steve Wilks - before joining Drinkwitz's staff at App State in 2019. At Arizona, Harbison coached Pro Bowler Patrick Peterson as the Cardinals' defense was the league's fourth-best in pass defense, allowing 203.9 yards per game.
Harbison spent three seasons (2015-17) as co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach at Louisiana, and, prior to that, was on staff for two seasons (2013-14) at Auburn as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach, helping the Tigers win the 2013 SEC Championship and advance to the BCS title game. In 2013, Auburn had the second-biggest turnaround in college football history at the time, with an eight-game improvement from the year before.
In all, Harbison has been on coaching staffs that have won five conference championships, while appearing in six conference championship games overall. In addition to the 2019 Sun Belt title game victory, Harbison was part of SEC Championship teams in 1999 (Alabama), 2001 (LSU) and 2013 (Auburn), while also being on the winning side of the 2011 ACC title game with Clemson.
A native of Shelby, N.C., and graduate of Crest High School, Harbison’s second coaching stint at Clemson (2009-12), saw the Tigers to back-to-back 10-win seasons, the 2011 ACC Championship (Clemson's first conference title in 20 years) and an Orange Bowl appearance.
At Clemson, he tutored cornerback Coty Sensabaugh, who had 14 passes defended in 2011 and was drafted by the Tennessee Titans. Harbison helped Clemson to a top-25 ranking and the ACC Atlantic Division title in 2009. That season, Clemson had 21 interceptions, the fifth-most in school history and tied for fifth-most in the nation, and finished seventh in the nation in pass defense.
Before going to Clemson, he spent two seasons at Mississippi State (2007-08), the second of which he worked as defensive coordinator while also coaching safeties. Harbison had two different tenures as an assistant at Alabama (1998-2000, 2003-06), where he coached the Crimson Tide's defensive backs in his initial stay and helped Alabama to the 1999 SEC Championship and appearances in the 1998 Music City Bowl and the 2000 Orange Bowl. Two of his pupils, Fernando Bryant (1999) and Tony Dixon (2000), were taken in the first and second rounds of the NFL Draft, respectively. In his second stint with the Crimson Tide, Harbison worked with the wide receivers and helped Alabama to three bowl appearances.
Between the Alabama assignments, Harbison coached defensive backs at LSU (2001-02) under head coach Nick Saban and helped the Tigers win the 2001 SEC Championship and play in the 2002 Sugar Bowl and 2003 Cotton Bowl. Corey Webster, who played his first season as a cornerback under Harbison, finished second on the school's all-time career interceptions list.
He served as defensive backs coach in his first stop at Clemson (1995-97) as the Tigers played in three consecutive bowl games. At Clemson, Harbison mentored 2018 Hall of Fame inductee and nine-time Pro Bowl selection Brian Dawkins, helping him earn All-America honors while also leading the ACC in interceptions in 1995.
Harbison also coached the secondary at UTEP (1994) and twice worked at his alma mater, Gardner-Webb, coaching wide receivers (1992-93) and defensive backs (1984-85). In addition to his collegiate coaching experience, Harbison worked in both the Arena Football League as defensive coordinator with the Charlotte Rage (1993), and in the World League of American Football with the Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks in 1991 as defensive backs coach.
A standout defensive back at Gardner-Webb (1978-81) who had 11 career interceptions,
Harbison signed with the Buffalo Bills as a rookie free agent in 1982 before spending two years (1983-84) with the USFL's Boston/New Orleans Breakers.
He graduated from Gardner-Webb with a degree in business administration in 1995. Harbison and his wife, Tammy, have three sons, Charlie, Stedman and Masai, and a daughter, Msiba.
