Bill Khayat
Bill Khayat (born March 26, 1973) is an American football coach and former collegiate and professional tight end. He is currently the head football coach at Brevard College.
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| Personal information | |
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| Born: | March 26, 1973 Camden, New Jersey |
| Career information | |
| College: | Duke |
| Undrafted: | 1996 |
| Career history | |
| As player: | |
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| * Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |
| As coach: | |
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| Career highlights and awards | |
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Early life
Khayat was born in Camden, New Jersey and is of Lebanese descent. He attended York Catholic High School in York, Pennsylvania, where he was a three-sport letterman. In baseball, he was an All-County catcher. In basketball, he was the starting center for the 1990 State Champion Fighting Irish. In football, Khayat was a First Team All-State tight end and was selected to play in the Big 33 game. His jersey (No. 30) was retired in 1991. In 2002, Khayat was inducted into the York Catholic High School Sports Hall of Fame.
Playing career
College
Khayat attended and played college football at Duke University as a tight end from 1992-95. He was twice named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference second team and was an honorable mention All-America choice in 1994. Khayat became the first Duke tight end to lead the team in receptions in 25 years. He also set records for receptions (11) and yards (109) in the 1995 Hall of Fame Bowl. Khayat finished his college career with 105 receptions for 1,155 yards and seven touchdowns.
Khayat earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biological Anthropology and Anatomy from Duke in 1995. He was on the Dean's List with Distinction at Duke and was named to the Academic All-ACC Football team.
Professional
After going undrafted, Khayat was on the practice squads of the Kansas City Chiefs (1996) and the Carolina Panthers (1997), and in 1998 he played for the Barcelona Dragons of NFL Europe.[1]
Coaching career
Khayat was previously at Tennessee State University for four seasons as the school's tight ends coach and video coordinator (2000–02) and running backs coach and recruiting coordinator (2003). During his two stints at TSU, he coached three players in two different positions who earned All-America honors: running back Charles Anthony (2003) and tight ends Steve Farmer (2001) and A. C. Leonard (2013).
Khayat then spent three seasons with the Arizona Cardinals (2004–06) as offensive quality control coach and assistant offensive line coach. From 2007-2009, he served as the offensive quality control coach and assistant tight ends coach for the Washington Redskins.
Khayat went on to coach two seasons in the United Football League as the tight ends coach and assistant offensive line coach for the Sacramento Mountain Lions (2010–11). Soon after, Khayat accepted the role as the offensive coordinator and tight ends coach for the North team at the Players All-Star Classic in Little Rock, AR (2012). Khayat accepted the same responsibilities for the East West Shrine Game in St. Petersburg, FL (2013). In 2014, he was a tight ends coach and assistant offensive line coach for the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl in Carson, CA and was a tight ends coach again in the 2015 game. In 2015, he was named the run game coordinator and tight ends coach for the Utah Stand of Major League Football, a proposed professional spring league that never launched. In 2016, he was selected as the head coach for the Tropic Bowl in North Miami Beach, FL, where he also was the offensive coordinator, the quarterbacks coach and tight ends coach. He spent the 2016 season as the running backs coach and assistant special teams coach at Scottsdale Community College.
In January 2017, Khayat was named the head coach (and offensive coordinator/tight ends coach) at Brevard College, a school whose football program had only one winning season (2009) in its 10-year NCAA history. Despite the late start and a total of just 24 returnees, only six of whom were seniors, he was able to put together an 88-man roster. Even though the majority were freshmen, the team would post double the victories than the seniors had seen in their entire careers to date. New individual and team records in every aspect of the game were set, and USA South Conference leaders in offense, defense and special teams emerged as well.
The 2017 Brevard College offense finished among the top five in program history in seven major categories including ranking first in passing yards and first quarter points. Junior transfer quarterback, O’Shay Carter, playing behind an all-freshmen offensive line, was the first player in BC's 11-year NCAA history to pass for at least 100 yards in eight straight contests and have four multi-TD passing performances in a single season. His 8-game single season record of completions, yards, and touchdowns surpassed the career records of previous BC quarterbacks. Even though he missed the first and last games due to injury, he ranked second in the conference in yards per game, completions, and touchdowns.
Reassigned quarterbacks, Tyler Gregory and Bubba Craven, also set records. First-time tight end Gregory led that position in USA South Conference play with 43 catches and 497 receiving yards. His 14-catch, 225-yard performance against N.C. Wesleyan set a program record in both categories and earned him recognition on D3football.com’s Team of the Week. First-time wide receiver Craven's 11 touchdowns ranked first in the conference and his receiving yards ranked second. His individual 868 receiving yards in 2017 were more than the combined yardage of the entire receiving corps in 10 of the past 11 seasons.
Defensive players set individual program records and ranked first, second, and third in various categories in conference play. True freshmen set special teams records: kicker, Joseph Calhoun, had a conference best 100% PAT completion rate, and Malik Silva was the first BC player in their NCAA history to block two punts in the same contest, returning the second for a 34-yard touchdown. Sophomore Xavier Brown returned a kickoff for a touchdown for the first time in program history.
The rebuilding process continued in the 2018 season with a returning squad of sixty-six percent freshmen and six seniors. Once again, despite the youth, multiple school and conference records were set in every phase of the game. In their first year of eligibility for post-season recognition, leaders were posted in receiving touchdowns, sacks, tackles, passing defense, fumble recoveries, return yardage, and blocked punts. Brevard College had six players represented in at least one position—offense, defense, and special teams—on the USA South All-Conference team.
Khayat's pro-style offense helped freshman quarterback, Dalton Cole, break 2017 school records, set new ones, and be named USA South Conference Offensive Rookie of the Year. Conference records included ranking first in passing touchdowns and total completions and second in passing yards per game, completions percentage, and average yards per game.
Converted QB-to-wide receiver, Bubba Craven, broke his own 2017 records and in just two seasons became Brevard's NCAA-era career record holder for receptions, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns, and average yards per game. He ranked first in the USA South in receiving touchdowns.
Season highlights featured most single-game receptions in history, most passing touchdowns in a single game, and the best home record in school's NCAA-era history. In the USA South, the team ranked first in passing touchdowns, passing first downs, and second in completions and time of possession.
At the end of the 2019 season, after a 6th place prediction in the preseason coaches’ poll, Khayat posted a historic .800 winning percentage as his team finished in 2nd place at a record setting 8-2. This was the most single season victories in the NCAA-era as well as the most conference wins and wins on the road. Offensive, defensive, and special teams players were honored for USA South Conference awards, post season honors, and four were chosen to D3 Football.com’s National Team of the Week. Brevard's defense led its conference throughout the regular season with a school-record 19 interceptions (tied for third in all of Division III), 23 turnovers, 105 points allowed, and 11.7 points-per-game allowed. They tallied the third-fewest rushing yards-per-game and scored four touchdowns on defense, which was tied for the lead in the USA South. Selected to play in the ECAC’s Scotty Whitelaw Bowl versus Carnegie Mellon, Khayat’s team dominated in their first post season appearance in school history, scoring touchdowns in all phases of the game, nine sacks and 262-25 rushing yards contributing to the 42-28 victory.
NFL head coaches for whom Khayat worked include Dennis Green, Joe Gibbs, Jim Zorn, Mike Holmgren (NFLPA Collegiate Bowl) and Jerry Glanville (East West Shrine Game) and offensive coordinators Al Saunders, Sherman Smith, Keith Rowen, Mike Kruczek, and Alex Wood.
Personal life
His father, Eddie Khayat, was the starting defensive tackle for the 1960 World Champion Philadelphia Eagles and was named the team's head coach in 1971. He is a thirty-five year veteran of the NFL, ten as a player and twenty-five as a coach. His uncle Robert Khayat, the Chancellor Emeritus of the University of Mississippi, was a Pro Bowl kicker for the Washington Redskins and the recipient of the NFL's Alumni Achievement Award and the National Football Foundation Distinguished American Award. His mother, Deborah Dearing Khayat, is the author of Gathered Blooms and Abraham Lincoln: A Life in Verse. His wife, Jenny Brooks, an Arizona State University graduate and former co-host of Phoenix radio station KDKB’s Morning Show, is the founder and president of Brooks Advertising, Inc.