Erik Kimrey (born August 1, 1979) 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 and former player who is currently the head coach at

Baylor School Baylor School, commonly called Baylor, is a private, coeducational college-preparatory school in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Founded in 1893, the school currently sits atop a 690-acre campus and enrolls students in grades 6-12, including boarding stu ...

in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Prior to his appointment at Baylor, Kimrey served as the tight ends coach at the University of South Carolina, where he was a backup quarterback from 1998–2002. Prior to accepting his first collegiate coaching position at South Carolina, Kimrey was the head football coach at Hammond School from 2003 to 2020, where his teams won 12 state titles in 17 seasons.

Early life

Kimrey grew up in

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city ...

and graduated from

Dutch Fork High School Dutch Fork High School is a school in the Lexington & Richland County School District Five, located in Irmo, South Carolina. Notable alumni * Tyler Bass, NFL kicker for the Buffalo Bills *Alaina Coates, professional women's basketball player * ...

Irmo, South Carolina Irmo () is a town in Lexington County, South Carolina, Lexington and Richland County, South Carolina, Richland counties, South Carolina, United States and a suburb of Columbia, South Carolina, Columbia. It is part of the Columbia Columbia, South C ...

, where his father, Bill, was the head varsity football coach. In his senior year, Kimrey set several state records and was named the state's Offensive Player of the Year.

Playing career

At the request of then-coach Brad Scott, Kimrey walked on to play quarterback for the

South Carolina Gamecocks The South Carolina Gamecocks represent the University of South Carolina in the NCAA Division I. The University of South Carolina uses "Gamecocks" as its official nickname and mascot. While the men's teams were traditionally known as the Fighti ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

and was named as a backup. After Scott was fired, Kimrey remained on the roster under

Lou Holtz Louis Leo Holtz (born January 6, 1937) is an American former football player, coach, and analyst. He served as the head football coach at The College of William & Mary (1969–1971), North Carolina State University (1972–1975), the New York ...

for the following three seasons. As a player, Kimrey is best known for coming off the bench to throw a fourth down game-clenching fade route touchdown pass to Jermale Kelly in the final minutes of the

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

game against

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univers ...

after the injury of starting quarterback Phil Petty. The touchdown pass became the central subject of the 2017 documentary about Kimrey, "Erik Kimrey: The Fade."

Coaching career

After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics, Kimrey worked as a University of South Carolina football

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 respons ...

under Holtz for two years before accepting the role of head coach at Hammond School in Columbia, where he remained for 17 seasons. During his time as head coach, Hammond won 12 state titles and had an overall record of 194-20. Kimrey was the youngest and fastest high school football coach in state history to win 100 games, and the only coach in state history to win six consecutive state championships. In addition to coaching, Kimrey taught philosophy of religion and physical education.

South Carolina

On December 27, 2020, Kimrey joined the University of South Carolina football staff as tight ends coach under head coach

Shane Beamer Shane Beamer (born March 31, 1977) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the head coach at the University of South Carolina. He is the son of former Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechni ...

. On February 2, 2022, Beamer announced that Kimrey had left the program. On February 3, 2022, Kimrey was announced as Head Coach of the Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Personal life

Kimrey is married to his high school girlfriend, Erica. Together the couple has three children, Kaitlyn Dean, Karis, and Ty. TY played on the middle school team as a QB. He has three brothers.

References

External links

South Carolina Gamecocks coaching bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kimrey, Erik 1979 births 21st-century American educators Living people American football quarterbacks Coaches of American football from South Carolina High school football coaches in South Carolina Players of American football from Columbia, South Carolina Sportspeople from Columbia, South Carolina South Carolina Gamecocks football players South Carolina Gamecocks football coaches