Jeff Jarnigan is an assistant general manager and coach for the Arizona Rattlers of the

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a professional indoor American football league created in 2008 out of the merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football. It has one of the largest number of currently active teams am ...

(IFL). A native of Oklahoma, Jarnigan played football at Southwestern College; shortly after graduating, he began a coaching career. From 1988 to 1999, Jarnigan was employed by four collegiate programs (

Fort Hays State University Fort Hays State University (FHSU) is a public university in Hays, Kansas. It is the fourth-largest of the six state universities governed by the Kansas Board of Regents, with a total enrollment of approximately 15,100 students. History FHSU w ...

, Bethel College,

Morningside College Morningside University is a private university affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Sioux City, Iowa. Founded in 1894 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, Morningside University has 21 buildings on a campus in Sioux City (ar ...

, and Carleton College; at each, he generally served as either an offensive line or defensive line coach. In 2000, Jarnigan landed his first head coaching position; he coached the Minnesota Rage of the

for one year. In 2001, Jarnigan became the defensive coordinator for the

Tulsa Talons Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

of the

AF2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football ru ...

. During his three seasons in Tulsa, the team went 44–10; Jarnigan's tenure culminated with the Talons' victory over the

Macon Knights The Macon Knights were a professional arena football team, playing in the af2 league. They were a 2001 expansion member of af2. They played their home games at Macon Coliseum. The Knights were owned and operated by Beverly Olson. The Knights wer ...

ArenaCup IV The 2003 AF2 season was the fourth season of the AF2. It was preceded by 2002 and succeeded by 2004. The league champions were the Tulsa Talons, who defeated the Macon Knights in ArenaCup IV. For the first time ever, AF2 uses the six-division ali ...

. Jarnigan was subsequently named defensive coordinator of the

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

Austin Wranglers The Austin Wranglers were an arena football team based in Austin, Texas. They played four seasons in the Arena Football League from 2004 to 2007 and spent one season in af2, the AFL's developmental league, in 2008. They made playoff appearances i ...

in 2004. His success there led to his being appointed head coach of the AF2's

Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz The Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz were an arena football team. The team began play as a 2004 expansion team of the Arena Football League's minor league af2 before becoming a member of the AFL in 2010. Formerly a tenant of the Ford Center from 2004 ...

in 2005. Under Jarnigan, the Dawgz went 10–6 and 11–5 in 2005 and 2006; both times, however, they suffered narrow losses in the first round of the AF2 playoffs. Jarnigan returned to the AFL in 2007. That year, he was named the Special Teams/Defensive Line coach for the

San Jose SaberCats The San Jose SaberCats were a professional arena football team based in San Jose, California. The SaberCats had been members of the Arena Football League (AFL) since 1995 (the year in which the team was founded); and until 2015, they belonged to ...

. In Jarnigan's first year, the SaberCats' special teams improved greatly; he won his first AFL Championship at the end of the season, when the SaberCats defeated the

Columbus Destroyers The Columbus Destroyers were an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Columbus, Ohio, with home games in Nationwide Arena. The team was founded in as the Buffalo Destroyers, based in Buffalo, New York, and relocated to Columbus in . They fol ...

ArenaBowl XXI ArenaBowl XXI was the 2007 championship game of the Arena Football League and was played at the New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana on Sunday, July 29, 2007. It was the third-ever neutral site title game in league's history and the first ...

. Jarnigan was promoted to the position of defensive coordinator in 2008. The SaberCats' defense nominally regressed that year; a strong second half, however, saw the team reach

ArenaBowl XXII ArenaBowl XXII was played on July 27, 2008 at New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana (the host of ArenaBowl XXI). It was the 22nd and final championship game in the history of the original Arena Football League. This was the fourth neutral s ...

(which it lost to the

Philadelphia Soul Philadelphia soul, sometimes called Philly soul, the Philadelphia sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia TSOP, is a genre of late 1960s–1970s soul music characterized by funk influences and lush instrumental arrangements, often featu ...

). The SaberCats, along with the rest of the Arena Football League, suspended operations in 2009. In 2011, the team returned to action; Jarnigan was once again named the team's defensive coordinator. A poor showing from San Jose's new–look defense lead the SaberCats to replace Jarnigan with

Cedric Walker Cedric Walker (born February 10, 1971) is a former American football defensive back and coach who is currently the head coach and defensive coordinator of the Wyoming Mustangs of the Champions Indoor Football (CIF). Walker played football at Ste ...

as defensive coordinator; he was retained, however, as an offensive line/special teams coach. Since 2012, Jarnigan has experienced considerable success in a variety of coaching capacities. Most recently, in 2015, he served as a hybrid offensive line/defensive line/special teams coach for the SaberCats. That season, the defensive line flourished under Jarnigan's guidance (recording a league-high 42 sacks); at the end of the season, he won a second AFL Championship as the SaberCats defeated the

Jacksonville Sharks The Jacksonville Sharks are a professional indoor football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, playing their home games at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. Beginning in 2017, the Sharks began play as charter members of the National Arena Leag ...

ArenaBowl XXVIII ArenaBowl XXVIII was the championship game of the 2015 Arena Football League season. It was played between the American Conference Champion Jacksonville Sharks and the National Conference Champion San Jose SaberCats. The game was played at Stock ...

. He was employed by the team for a total of seven years and was the only assistant coach to have been continuously employed by the team since its 2011 return. In 2016, he joined the Arizona Rattlers in the AFL as an assistant general manager and defensive line coach after the SabreCats ceased operations. In 2017, the Rattlers left the AFL and joined the

, winning the league championship in their first season of participation.

Head coaching record

Arena Football 2

References

External links

San Jose SaberCats Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jarnigan, Jeff Living people Sportspeople from Oklahoma Players of American football from Oklahoma Arizona Rattlers coaches Austin Wranglers coaches Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz coaches San Antonio Talons coaches San Jose SaberCats coaches Southwestern Moundbuilders football players Bethel Threshers football coaches Carleton Knights football coaches Fort Hays State Tigers football coaches Morningside Mustangs football coaches Year of birth missing (living people)