Jay MacIntyre won’t return to coach next season at FIU, but his future appears bright

Coaching two record-breaking receivers in two years …

Meeting the woman who is now his fiancée …

Gaining more confidence as a young coach …

Yes, Jay MacIntyre was officially dismissed as FIU wide receiver coach on Thursday. But his time in the City of Miami was far from a failure – professionally or personally.

Mike MacIntyre – Jay’s father – was fired on Dec. 1 after three straight 4-8 seasons. He was replaced by Willie Simmons, who signed a four-year contract on Dec. 7.

Typically, when a head coach is fired, most if not all of that person’s staff is dismissed, too, and that’s the case at FIU, where it appears that only defensive coordinator Jovan Dewitt and outside linebackers coach Anthony Gaitor will be retained.

Meanwhile, Jay MacIntyre in 2023 coached Kris Mitchell when he broke FIU’s single-season record with 1,118 yards.

In 2024, MacIntyre coached Eric Rivers when he shattered Mitchell’s record with 1,172 yards. Rivers also broke FIU’s single-season record with 12 touchdown catches.

Prior to FIU, MacIntyre coached Colton Dowell, who went on to set Tennessee-Martin’s career record for receiving yards. Dowell is now in the NFL with the Tennessee Titans.

in 2024, MacIntyre also coaxed a breakthrough season out of Dean Patterson, who set career highs in catches (50), yards (685), receiving touchdowns (seven) and total TDs (nine).

Both Rivers and Patterson have entered their names into the transfer portal.

“Eric would be great,” MacIntyre said of Rivers, who is interested in playing for the Miami Hurricanes, among other schools. “He’s one of the best fast-twitch athletes I’ve ever been around, and I’ve grown up around this game.

“When Eric does the shuttle run, nobody is close to him. When you watch film, nobody in (Conference USA) could cover him.

“He’s everything you want in a receiver. I bet we eventually see Eric and Dean in the NFL.”

That may all be true, but it also speaks highly of MacIntyre when you consider that Rivers and Patterson both arrived at FIU as walk-on players.

MacIntyre, in his brief exit interview with Simmons on Thursday, said he told the new FIU coach about two young Panthers receivers in particular – Kyle Mcneal and Eric Nelson.

“Kyle is like Dean Patterson when I first got here because (McNeal) works harder than anybody else,” MacIntyre said. “He’s fast, and he can block for the run, and you can count on him.

“Eric is a freak-show athlete. He and Kyle can be the next great ones at FIU.”

Of course, they will no longer be led by MacIntyre, who said he plans to attend the American Football Coaches Association annual convention, set for Jan. 12-14 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

MacIntyre was asked if he would consider again coaching for his father, who has yet to announce his next move.

“Oh yea, if the opportunity presents itself,” Jay MacIntyre said. “But I’m open to any opportunity.

“I believe in what I can do. I know I can do it when my father’s not on the staff (such as the case at Tennessee-Martin). But I’d love to be with him as well.”

Jay MacIntyre said he sets the tone with his receivers from their first meeting of the year.

“I don’t put up with bull-crap,” he said. “I don’t care if you are a senior or a freshman, a scholarship player or a walk-on – the best players who prove to be trustworthy will play. And if you play those guys, it will work out.”

Football aside, Miami will always be the place where MacIntyre, 29, met Madison Chadwick, a 24-year-old nurse who came to South Florida with a friend on vacation.

The couple is set to be married this coming June in Raleigh.

“It’s always been my dream to have a family,” MacIntyre said. “She and I bonded over football.”

That’s because her father, Scott Chadwick, is the football coach at Clayton High in North Carolina.

“We will be a football family,” MacIntyre said.

Referencing his fiancée, MacIntyre added that “there’s some good that came out” of his time in Miami.

“There’s a reason for everything,” MacIntyre said. “I met my (future) wife here ...

“There will be a reason for my next (job), and there’s a reason why I was here at FIU for these young men. We pushed them. We loved them. We cared about them. Everyone in our receiver room bought in.

“They believed in me, and I believed in them.”