Everett Rowe Withers (born June 15, 1963) is an American football coach and former player. He currently serves as the Assistant head coach and Defensive passing game coordinator for the Florida Atlantic Owls. He is formerly served as the defensive coordinator at FIU, and previously served defensive backs coach for the New York Giants and as the head coach for the Texas State Bobcats. Withers served as head football coach at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 2011 season as well as James Madison University in the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Early years Withers was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on June 15, 1963. He attended West Charlotte High School and later attended Appalachian State University for college, graduating in 1985. He was a standout defensive back for the Mountaineers and a captain. Coaching career Withers started his coaching career at Austin Peay State University as the defensive coordinator in 1988. He then proceeded to coach wide receivers and special teams at Austin Peay before moving on to coach outside linebackers at Tulane University in 1991. A year later he went to the University of Southern Mississippi to coach defensive backs. Withers then moved to the National Football League (NFL), joining the New Orleans Saints as a defensive quality controller in 1994. He then took the job of defensive coordinator at the University of Louisville, serving from 1995 to 1997. He then joined the University of Texas at Austin coaching staff as the defensive backs coach in 1998. In 2001, he went back to the NFL to take the job of defensive backs coach of the Tennessee Titans. In 2007, he took the job of defensive coordinator at the University of Minnesota. He then took the defensive coordinator job at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) in 2008. He was promoted to interim head coach from the defensive coordinator position after Butch Davis was fired on July 27, 2011. Coaching successes Withers has made accomplishments at several of his coaching stops, both college and the NFL. While he was the defensive backs coach of the Titans, they achieved a top ten defensive ranking in 2002, his first season with the Titans. From 2002 to 2004, the Titans grabbed 57 interceptions, the best ever for a three-year span for the franchise, fourth best in the AFC and eighth best in the NFL. The Titans tallied