Bill Kenney is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach currently serving as the

offensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

coach at

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers ...

. Prior to working at Western Michigan, Kenney coached for over two decades under

Joe Paterno Joseph Vincent Paterno (; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football, Penn ...

for the

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interco ...

and was a graduate assistant for the

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...

. He played collegiate football at

Norwich University Norwich University – The Military College of Vermont is a private senior military college in Northfield, Vermont. It is the oldest private and senior military college in the United States and offers bachelor's and master's degrees on-campus ...

Playing career

Kenney attended

, where he played football as a

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

and fullback. At Norwich, he was a three-year starter and, during his senior season in 1981, was the co-captain of the squad.

Coaching career

The year after his playing career ended, he remained at his alma mater and served as the offensive backfield coach in 1982. For the next three years, he served as an assistant coach at two high schools: Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School and Lincoln High School. He then moved back to the college level where, from 1986 to 1987 he served as a graduate assistant at the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

. In 1988, he went to

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

, where he would work for the next 23 years, as a graduate assistant. While at Penn State, he served in a variety of positions including offensive line coach, recruiting coordinator, and offensive tackles/tight ends coach. When new coach Bill O'Brien was hired in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, Kenney was not retained. After not coaching during the 2012 season, he was hired on February 26, 2013, to serve as the offensive line coach at

Western Michigan West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for an arbitrary region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Most narrowly it refers to the Grand Rapids- Muskegon-Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region along the Lower Pen ...

. During his coaching career, Kenney has coached 8 All-

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

honorees, 6 All-Americans, 10 Academic All-Americans and 47 Academic All-Big Ten honorees.

Personal

Kenney is a native of

Randolph, Massachusetts "To Say What One Feels" , pushpin_map = , pushpin_label_position = right , pushpin_label = , pushpin_map_caption = Location in Massachusetts , coordinates = , s ...

. He is married to Kathryn, with whom he has had three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kenney, Bill Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century births Living people People from Randolph, Massachusetts Players of American football from Norfolk County, Massachusetts American football fullbacks American football tight ends Norwich Cadets football players Coaches of American football from Massachusetts Norwich Cadets football coaches High school football coaches in Massachusetts High school football coaches in Nebraska Nebraska Cornhuskers football coaches Penn State Nittany Lions football coaches Western Michigan Broncos football coaches