University of St. Thomas Athletics
Football
Watkins, Charles
Charles Watkins
- Title:
- Running Backs
- Email:
- charles.watkins@stthomas.edu
- Phone:
- 651-962-7904
Charles Watkins joined the Tommie Football coaching staff in summer 2021 as the program started its first season of competition in NCAA Division I FCS and the Pioneer Football League.
A former NCAA Division I wide receiver who played at Wagner (N.Y.) College and Duke University, Watkins was a member of the Academic Dean’s List and a two-time member of the All-Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Honor Roll. He earned his Duke bachelor's degree in 2013 after majoring in Sociology with minors in Education, Marketing and Management.
Watkins' mother was a teacher and his grandfather served a principal, so his career path as a teacher and as a football coach continues a family legacy.
In 2014, Watkins relocated to Iowa to play indoor football with the Cedar Rapids Titans while also serving as a substitute teacher in Iowa City. The following year, he was hired as a secondary coach and passing game coordinator for Coe College in Cedar Rapids. It was Watkins’ first experience coaching the defensive side of the ball, but his three years at Coe proved an asset to the program. Among his achievements were helping the Kohawks to an 11-1 record and an Iowa Intercollegiate Athletics Conference championship in 2016, and assisting Coe to set a Division III defensive record with five interceptions and nine total turnovers in one playoff game. Watkins also coached the IIAC Defensive Player of the Year and a D-III and AFCA All-American defensive back in Dylan Stepleton.
Watkins would experience football at another level with a four-month stint in early 2018 at Division II Southeastern Oklahoma State University as a wide receivers’ coach and academic coordinator. Later that year, he would return home to serve as a graduate assistant coach at Rutgers University, where his responsibilities included wide receivers and special teams.
In Spring 2019, Watkins became the Defensive Coordinator/ Recruiting Coordinator at Concordia University Chicago. Besides coaching four all-conference players, he helped Concordia record its most wins in six years; post defensive bests in multiple categories over the previous six seasons; was the team FCA advisor; and as the lead recruiter he helped bring 120 new players into the program in a two-year span.
A former NCAA Division I wide receiver who played at Wagner (N.Y.) College and Duke University, Watkins was a member of the Academic Dean’s List and a two-time member of the All-Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Honor Roll. He earned his Duke bachelor's degree in 2013 after majoring in Sociology with minors in Education, Marketing and Management.
Watkins' mother was a teacher and his grandfather served a principal, so his career path as a teacher and as a football coach continues a family legacy.
In 2014, Watkins relocated to Iowa to play indoor football with the Cedar Rapids Titans while also serving as a substitute teacher in Iowa City. The following year, he was hired as a secondary coach and passing game coordinator for Coe College in Cedar Rapids. It was Watkins’ first experience coaching the defensive side of the ball, but his three years at Coe proved an asset to the program. Among his achievements were helping the Kohawks to an 11-1 record and an Iowa Intercollegiate Athletics Conference championship in 2016, and assisting Coe to set a Division III defensive record with five interceptions and nine total turnovers in one playoff game. Watkins also coached the IIAC Defensive Player of the Year and a D-III and AFCA All-American defensive back in Dylan Stepleton.
Watkins would experience football at another level with a four-month stint in early 2018 at Division II Southeastern Oklahoma State University as a wide receivers’ coach and academic coordinator. Later that year, he would return home to serve as a graduate assistant coach at Rutgers University, where his responsibilities included wide receivers and special teams.
In Spring 2019, Watkins became the Defensive Coordinator/ Recruiting Coordinator at Concordia University Chicago. Besides coaching four all-conference players, he helped Concordia record its most wins in six years; post defensive bests in multiple categories over the previous six seasons; was the team FCA advisor; and as the lead recruiter he helped bring 120 new players into the program in a two-year span.
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