Mike Major 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 Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. Major was the defensive coordinator at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...

from 1997 through 2000 under head coach

Hal Mumme Hal Clay Mumme (born March 29, 1952) is a former American football coach and former player. He most recently served as an offensive advisor for the Dallas Renegades of the XFL. Previously, Mumme served as the head football coach at Iowa Wesleyan ...

. During Major's tenure the Wildcats played in the

1999 Outback Bowl The 1999 Outback Bowl featured the Kentucky Wildcats and the Penn State Nittany Lions. It was the 13th edition of the Outback Bowl, and the first sellout in the bowl's history. Summary Penn State entered the game with an 8–3 record and was ra ...

and the 1999

Music City Bowl The Music City Bowl is a post-season American college football bowl game certified by the NCAA that has been played in Nashville, Tennessee, since 1998. Since 2020, it has been sponsored by TransPerfect and is officially known as the ''TransPer ...

. Major resigned from Kentucky with one week remaining in the 2000 season; his defensive squads had allowed the most points in the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

in each of his last two seasons at Kentucky. The split was painful, as Major had been noted for his close personal and professional relationship with head coach Mumme. Mumme and Major first coached together in 1977 at Foy H. Moody High School in Corpus Christi, Texas, as receivers and secondary coaches, respectively; Major would go on to work with Mumme in coaching positions at a total of six high schools and colleges. Major served as Mumme's defensive coordinator at two different schools before working for Mumme in that role for five seasons at

Valdosta State University Valdosta State University (VSU or Valdosta State) is a public university in Valdosta, Georgia. It is one of the four comprehensive universities in the University System of Georgia. , VSU had over 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students. VSU ...

(1992–1996). Following his departure from Kentucky, Major accepted a position as assistant coach at United High School in

Laredo, Texas Laredo ( ; ) is a city in and the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Laredo has the distinction of flying seven flags (the flag of th ...

, in July 2001.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Kentucky Wildcats football coaches {{1990s-collegefootball-coach-stub