Curtis Scott Luper (born January 12, 1966) 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 wi ...

coach who is currently the Running Backs Coach with the

Missouri Tigers The Missouri Tigers intercollegiate athletics programs represent the University of Missouri, located in Columbia. The name comes from a band of armed Union Home Guards called the Fighting Tigers of Columbia who, in 1864, protected Columbia fro ...

. He previously coached running backs and was a recruiting coordinator at Auburn under head coach

Gene Chizik Eugene C. Chizik Jr. (born December 28, 1961) is an American football coach who is currently the Assistant Head Coach for Defense at North Carolina. A veteran of the coaching ranks, Chizik previously was UNC's defensive coordinator for the 2015 ...

. Prior to coming to Auburn, Luper served as the

assistant head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

and running backs coach of the

Oklahoma State Cowboys The Oklahoma State Cowboys and Cowgirls are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Oklahoma State University, located in Stillwater. The program's mascot is a cowboy named Pistol Pete. Oklahoma State participates at the National Col ...

. Some of the prominent players Luper has helped develop include

Dantrell Savage Dantrell Savage (born February 15, 1985) is a former American football running back who played for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 2008. He played ...

, Derrick Blaylock, DonTrell Moore,

Terrance Shaw Terrance Bernard Shaw (born January 11, 1973) is an American football cornerback. He was born in Marshall, Texas. High school years Shaw attended Marshall High School in Marshall, Texas and was a letterman in football.Jeremiah Trotter Jeremiah Trotter (born January 20, 1977) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons. He played college football for the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks and w ...

, and Katie Hnida.

Personal life

Luper earned his bachelor's degree in communications from Stephen F. Austin State University in 1996 and his master’s from the college in 1998. He also completed coursework toward a doctoral degree in secondary and higher education from Texas A&M–Commerce and is expected to receive it in May 2009. He has 5 children with his wife Nikki.

Playing career

Luper was a 1984 graduate of Sherman High School, where he captured All-State honors as a senior and was the #2-rated prep running back in Texas behind future Cowboys teammate

Thurman Thomas Thurman Lee Thomas (born May 16, 1966) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for thirteen seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He was selected by the Bills in the second round of th ...

. He was recruited to play at

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

where he played from 1984–1987 and was part of three bowl teams (playing behind future Hall-of-Fame running backs

and

Barry Sanders Barry Sanders (born July 16, 1968) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL), from 1989 to 1998 for the Detroit Lions. Sanders led the league in rushing yards four times and ...

). Luper left school to serve as an air traffic controller for the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

, before completing his playing eligibility at Stephen F. Austin State University where he led the Lumberjacks in rushing and scoring as a second-team All-

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it ...

running back in 1993.

Coaching career

Luper began his coaching career at Stephen F. Austin, spending 2 years as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research respo ...

working with the secondary and another as a

running backs coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, assistant coach, and the offensive and defensive coordinators. Common ...

. He received his first full-time position as running backs coach at

McKinney High School McKinney High School (MHS) is located at 1400 Wilson Creek Parkway in McKinney, Texas, and is within the McKinney Independent School District. MHS is the oldest high school in McKinney and the current building opened in 1986, after moving from what ...

in 1998 before joining Texas A&M-Commerce as secondary coach in 1999. Luper served that position and assistant head coach until being lured away to coach running backs for

Rocky Long Roderick John Long Jr. (born January 27, 1950) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the defensive coordinator at Syracuse. Prior to being hired by Syracuse, Long was the defensive coordinator at New Mexico. He play ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

in 2002. After

Les Miles Leslie Edwin Miles (born November 10, 1953) is a former American football coach. He most recently served as the head coach at Kansas. His head coaching career began with the Oklahoma State Cowboys, where he coached from 2001 to 2004. Following t ...

left

to take the

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

job, newly promoted head coach

Mike Gundy Michael Ray Gundy (born August 12, 1967) is an American football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at Oklahoma State University. Gundy played college football at Oklahoma State, where he played quarterback from 1986 to 1989. ...

brought in Luper to fill the vacant position coaching running backs at his alma mater. Gundy (QB) and Luper (RB) were teammates on the OSU 1986 and 1987 squads. After the 2006 season, Luper was promoted to assistant head coach for player development in addition to his running backs duties. In December 2008, Luper was interviewed for the open head coaching job at

New Mexico State New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's tw ...

, but the job was filled by

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker.

Auburn

On January 2, 2009, new Auburn head coach

hired Luper to fill a vacant spot coaching the

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...

' running backs. He will also serve as Recruiting Coordinator. Chizik and Luper had previously worked together when Luper was a secondary assistant under Chizik's defense at Stephen F. Austin. Luper had previously spent eight months living in the state of Alabama during his tenure in the Army, splitting time between

Fort McClellan Fort McClellan, originally Camp McClellan, is a decommissioned United States Army post located adjacent to the city of Anniston, Alabama. During World War II, it was one of the largest U.S. Army installations, training an estimated half-million tr ...

in Anniston and

Fort Rucker Fort Rucker is a U.S. Army post located primarily in Dale County, Alabama, United States. It was named for a Civil War officer, Confederate General Edmund Rucker. The post is the primary flight training installation for U.S. Army Aviators and ...

near

Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterpris ...

. In 2010, Luper was recognized by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

as one of the top-25 recruiters in the nation. In 2011, ESPN selected Luper as one of the best recruiters in the Southeastern Conference.

TCU

In January 2013, Luper was hired by

Gary Patterson Gary Allen Patterson (born February 13, 1960) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the special assistant to the head coach at the University of Texas. He is the former head football coach at Texas Christian University ...

to coach the wide receivers for the Horned Frogs. A few days prior to the announcement of his hiring, Luper's son (Cameron Echols-Luper) announced he was committing to play wide receiver at TCU (over Texas A&M). In February 2017, he was promoted to co-offensive coordinator.

Coaching successes

Luper has a history of successfully developing talent throughout his coaching career and has enjoyed successes at each of his stops. In his first year of coaching, he helped coach Stephen F. Austin to their semifinal run in the I-AA playoffs. In 2001, Texas A&M-Commerce finished second in the league in total defense, with his defensive backs helping to produce 30 takeaways. Luper also coached the league’s best kickoff return and coverage teams that season. While at New Mexico, Luper coached the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations ...

's career rushing leader DonTrell Moore and helped the Lobo's finish 16th nationally in rushing in 2003, averaging 210 yards per game (265 rushing yards per MWC game). In his first season on the OSU staff, one of his running backs, Mike Hamilton, rushed for a school freshman season record of 961 yards and was named the Big 12 offensive newcomer of the year. The 2006 season saw Luper tutor a trio of OSU running backs (Hamilton,

and Keith Toston) to 2,000 rushing yards and 18 rushing touchdowns. He also coach back-to-back 1,000 yard rushers, with Dantrell Savage rushing for 1,272 yards in 2007 and Kendall Hunter rushing for 1,555 yards in 2008. Under Luper, Oklahoma State's running attack led the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

in rushing for 3 consecutive seasons (2006–2008). The Cowboys finished the 2006 season ranked seventh nationally in rushing, eighth nationally in 2007 and seventh nationally again in 2008 (averaging 256 yards per game). In his first season on the Auburn staff,

Ben Tate Benjamin Franklin Tate (born August 21, 1988) is a former American football running back. He was drafted by the Houston Texans in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He played college football at Auburn. Tate also played for the Cleveland ...

rushed for 1,362 yards (just under 105 yards per game), while the team finished the season ranked 13th in the nation in rushing.http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/natlRank.jsp?year=2009&div=B&rpt=IA_teamrush&site=org In 2010, true freshman back Mike Dyer rushed for over 1,000 yards and broke

Bo Jackson Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson (born November 30, 1962) is an American former professional baseball and American football player. He is the only professional athlete in history to be named an All-Star in both baseball and football. Jackson's el ...

's freshman rushing record. Coach Luper has experience coaching in 8 bowl games including the

2002 Las Vegas Bowl The 2002 SEGA Sports Las Vegas Bowl was the 11th edition of the annual college football bowl game. It featured the New Mexico Lobos and the UCLA Bruins. The Bruins defeated the Lobos, 27–13. Notably the game was the first Division I-A college foo ...

, 2003 Las Vegas Bowl, 2004 Emerald Bowl,

2006 Independence Bowl The 2006 PetroSun Independence Bowl, part of the 2006–07 NCAA football bowl season, took place on December 28, 2006 at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. The competing teams were the Oklahoma State Cowboys, from the Big 12 Conferen ...

2007 Insight Bowl The 2007 Insight Bowl, part of the 2007-08 NCAA football bowl games season, was played on December 31, 2007, at Sun Devil Stadium on the Arizona State University campus in Tempe, Arizona. The opponents were the Indiana Hoosiers of the Big Ten ...

, 2008 Holiday Bowl, 2010 Outback Bowl,

2011 BCS National Championship Game The 2011 Tostitos BCS National Championship Game was a college football bowl game to determine the national champion of the 2010 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) season. The finale of the 2010–2011 Bowl Championship Series was ...

and the 2011 Chick-fil-A Bowl.

References

External links

TCU profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luper, Curtis 1966 births Living people American football running backs Auburn Tigers football coaches New Mexico Lobos football coaches Oklahoma State Cowboys football players Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football coaches Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football players Oklahoma State Cowboys football coaches TCU Horned Frogs football coaches Texas A&M–Commerce Lions football coaches High school football coaches in Texas Sherman High School (Texas) alumni People from Sherman, Texas Players of American football from Texas African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople