Bill Carr (American football)


William Curtis Carr, III is an American former college football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played college football for the University of Florida, and was recognized as an All-American. He later served as the athletic director at the University of Florida and the University of Houston. Carr now works as a college sports consultant.

Early life

Carr was born in Gainesville, Florida, the son of a Baptist minister. He grew up in Vero Beach and Pensacola, Florida. Carr attended Pensacola High School, and was a standout high school football player for the Pensacola Tigers. Following his senior season, he was recognized as a first-team all-state selection.

College years

Carr accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he was the center for coach Ray Graves' Florida Gators football team from 1964 to 1966. Carr was the roommate of the Gators' Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Steve Spurrier before Spurrier's marriage in September 1966, and was a team captain his senior year. He was named a first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection and a first-team All-American in 1966. Carr and the Gators concluded the 1966 season with a 27–12 victory over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the 1967 Orange Bowl.
Carr graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree in Spanish in 1968, and was later inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great."

Professional football and military service

The New Orleans Saints selected Carr in the fourth round of the 1967 NFL Draft. Carr signed with the Saints in, but had to fulfill his military service obligation before he could play. When he returned to the Saints after two years in the U.S. Army, he did not make the final roster cut in the preseason.

Coach, athletic director and consultant

Carr returned to the University of Florida as a graduate assistant in 1970, earned a master's degree in education in 1971, and served as an assistant football coach under the Gators' new head coach, Doug Dickey, from 1972 to 1974. He became an assistant to athletic director Ray Graves in 1975, and was named the University of Florida's athletic director in 1979 at the age of 33, and, at the time, he was the youngest Division I athletic director in the country. Carr resigned in 1986, and was credited with improving the financial footing of the Florida sports program; he was succeeded by Bill Arnsparger. He later served as athletic director for the University of Houston from 1993 to 1997.
Carr had his own firm, Carr Sports Associates, and provided intercollegiate athletics consultanting and executive personnel searches for coaches and athletic administrators. This firm is credited with helping to shut down the UAB football program.