Bio
Mike Ayers completed a 33-year head coaching in 2017 with a 218-160-2 record. After starting his head coaching career at league member ETSU in 1985, Ayers began a three-decade run at Wofford in 1988, inheriting a 1-10 Division II program and transforming the Terriers into an FCS power.
Ayers went 207-139-1 at Wofford, including a 150-97 record in 24 years in the SoCon after the Terriers joined the league in 1997. Combined with his record at ETSU, Ayers retired with a record of 161-118-1 as a SoCon coach to rank third in league history in coaching wins behind only SoCon Hall of Famers Jerry Moore of Appalachian State and Wallace Wade of Alabama and Duke. A five-time SoCon Coach of the Year, Ayers led the Terriers to five SoCon titles and to the I-AA/FCS playoffs eight times, reaching the semifinals in 2003, when he earned the Eddie Robinson Award as the top FCS coach, and the quarterfinals five times.
Ayers' Wofford teams had at least one CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree each year from 2000 to his retirement in 2017 and produced four CoSIDA Academic All-Americans and two FCS Athletic Directors Association Student-Athletes of the Year. He coached three SoCon Defensive Players of the Year, three Jacobs Blocking Award winners, two SoCon Offensive Players of the Year and two SoCon Freshmen of the Year.