Jacksonville State assistant head football coach Calvin Magee has died after suffering a heart attack last weekend, the school announced Friday. He was 59.
Magee was entering his first season with the Gamecocks, with whom he also held offensive coordinator and tight end coaching duties.
“Our hearts are broken with the loss of our beloved friend Calvin Magee,” Jacksonville State head coach Rich Rodriguez said in a statement. “Calvin was a great husband, great father and grandfather, great coach, great friend and great man. He impacted my life and the lives of so many others in such a positive way. Our thoughts and prayers are with his beautiful family — wife Rose, daughters Jade and Jasmine, son Bryson, his grandchildren, and all his friends and relatives. Our world is less, but heaven got better. I miss him dearly already. I love you my brother.”
Magee had previously coached under Rodriguez at West Virginia, Michigan and Arizona.
JSU athletics director Greg Seitz said Magee had already “touched many lives” in his short time with the program.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Rose and his wonderful family, our football staff and student-athletes and the countless people that he has impacted over his playing and coaching career,” Seitz said in a statement.
Magee spent last season as running backs coach at Duke. He’s also had coaching stints at South Florida (1996-2000), Michigan (2008-10), Pittsburgh (2011), New Mexico (2018) and Ole Miss (2019).
He was an All-American tight end at Southern University before spending four seasons in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.