Larry Kirksey 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 who is the running backs coach for the

Birmingham Stallions The Birmingham Stallions were a franchise in the United States Football League, an attempt to establish a second professional league of American football in the United States in competition with the National Football League. They played their h ...

of the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

(USFL). He has 17 years' experience

coaching Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...

in the league and an additional 22 years of coaching experience in the

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

ranks.

Coaching career

Miami (Ohio)

Kirksey got his start in coaching as the wide receivers/

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 ...

s coach at Miami (Ohio) in 1974, and remained there for three seasons.

University of Kentucky

Kirksey coached wide receivers and tight ends for the Wildcats from 1977 to 1981.

Kansas University

He spent the 1982 season coaching wide receivers and tight ends for the Jayhawks.

Kentucky State University

Kirksey was the 18th head football coach for the Kentucky State University Thorobreds located in

Frankfort, Kentucky Frankfort is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, United States, and the seat of Franklin County. It is a home rule-class city; the population was 28,602 at the 2020 census. Located along the Kentucky River, Frankfort is the prin ...

and he held that position for the 1983 season. His career coaching record at Kentucky State was 2 wins, 7 losses, and 2 ties (.273).

University of Florida

He coached running backs at the University of Florida under Charlie Pell and Galen Hall from 1984 to 1988. During his tenure at Florida, he coached star

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

s Lorenzo Hampton, Neal Anderson, John L. Williams and Emmitt Smith.

University of Pittsburgh

After leaving Florida, Kirksey spent one year as running backs coach at Pittsburgh.

University of Alabama

From 1990 to 1993, Kirksey coached running backs for Alabama, where he helped lead the Crimson Tide to a national championship in 1992. Kirksey's running backs led the SEC with 252 rushing yards per game.

San Francisco 49ers

In 1994, Kirksey began his NFL career coaching the NFL's all-time reception and receiving yards leader,

Jerry Rice Jerry Lee Rice (born October 13, 1962) is an American former professional football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons. Known primarily as a member of the San Francisco 49ers, winning three championshi ...

. Under Kirksey, Rice set a then-NFL record with 1,848 receiving yards and had a career-high 122 receptions in 1995. From 1994 to 1999, Rice caught 606 passes for 6,666 yards. Kirksey's receivers helped set a Super Bowl record in

Super Bowl XXIX Super Bowl XXIX was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion San Diego Chargers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...

with six touchdown catches, including three by Rice.

Detroit Lions

From 2001 to 2002, Kirksey coached wide receivers for the Detroit Lions, where wide receiver

Johnnie Morton Johnnie James Morton, Jr. (born October 7, 1971) is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) during the 1990s and 2000s. He played college football for the University of Southern California (USC), and was ...

had his best season during his NFL career: 77 catches, 1,154 yards and four touchdowns.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kirksey spent 2003 as the wide receivers coach with the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

, where Jimmy Smith led the team with 54 receptions despite missing four games.

Middle Tennessee State

Kirksey helped lead

Middle Tennessee State Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a public university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university consists of eight undergraduate colleges as well as a college of graduate studies, together of ...

to the 2006 Sun Belt Conference title and a

Motor City Bowl The Little Caesars Pizza Bowl (known as the Motor City Bowl until 2009) was a post-season college football bowl game that was played annually from 1997 to 2013. The first five games (1997–2001) were played at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, ...

berth as the assistant head coach and running backs coach for the Blue Raiders in 2005.

Houston Texans

Kirksey was most recently the wide receivers coach for the Houston Texans. In seven seasons under Kirksey's tutelage, Andre Johnson averaged an NFL-best 93.6 yards per game, led the league in receiving yards in 2008 and 2009, and led the NFL in receptions in 2008. Johnson joined Jerry Rice as the only receivers in NFL history to lead the league in receiving yards in consecutive seasons and joined

Marvin Harrison Marvin Darnell Harrison Sr. (born August 25, 1972) is an American Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver who played 13 seasons for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL), much of it with Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton ...

as the only receivers to surpass 1,500 yards in back-to-back years.

Seattle Dragons

In 2019, Kirksey joined the

Seattle Dragons The Seattle Sea Dragons (formerly known as the Seattle Dragons) are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. The team is a franchise of the new XFL (2020), XFL and plays its home games at Lumen Field in Seattle. Origin ...

of the

XFL XFL may refer to: Sports * XFL (2001), a defunct American football league that played its only season in 2001 * XFL (2020), a professional American football league Vehicles * Bell XFL Airabonita, a 1940 U.S. Navy experimental interceptor aircra ...

as receivers coach.

The Spring League

Kirksey coaches the Sea Lions of

The Spring League The Spring League was an American football developmental league and scouting event (pro showcase) that played from 2017 to 2021 and was founded by Brian Woods. Aimed at professional athletes but not paying a salary or expenses, the league's go ...

as of 2021.

Personal life

Kirksey earned a bachelor's degree from Eastern Kentucky in 1974, where he was a four-year letterman and three-year starter at wide receiver. As a senior, he earned all-conference honors. He was out of coaching in 2005 while serving as deputy executive director of the Kentucky Sports Authority. He and wife Anita have two children, Jessica and Jared.

References

External links

Houston Texans bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirksey, Larry Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American football wide receivers Alabama Crimson Tide football coaches Birmingham Stallions (2022) coaches Denver Broncos coaches Detroit Lions coaches Eastern Kentucky Colonels football players Florida Gators football coaches Houston Texans coaches Jacksonville Jaguars coaches Kentucky State Thorobreds football coaches Kentucky Wildcats football coaches Miami RedHawks football coaches Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football coaches Pittsburgh Panthers football coaches San Francisco 49ers coaches Seattle Dragons coaches Texas A&M Aggies football coaches The Spring League coaches African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American sportspeople