Tim Horton 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. He is currently the Special teams coordinator and running backs coach at the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and Uni ...

. He has also had coaching stops at

Appalachian State University Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

, the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

, and

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

Coaching career

Appalachian State

Following Horton's playing career, he joined the coaching staff at

Appalachian State Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

. In his time with the Mountaineers, Horton helped guide the program to a 67–32 record during eight seasons, including

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...

championships in 1991 and 1995 and five

NCAA Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

playoff appearances. He coached the wide receivers and tight ends in his first three seasons, before transitioning to the running backs prior to the 1993 season.

Air Force (1st stint)

Horton was hired as the wide receivers coach at

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

prior to the 1999 season. He held this position through the 2004 season, before switching over to running backs for the 2005 season. As a result of his work, Horton was recognized by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Colorado chapter as one of its 2004 coaches of the year.

Kansas State

In 2006, Horton served as the running backs coach for the

Kansas State Wildcats The Kansas State Wildcats (variously "Kansas State", "K-State", or "KSU") are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Kansas State University. The official color of the teams is Royal Purple; white and silver are generally used as c ...

. He helped guide the team to a

Texas Bowl The Texas Bowl is an annual postseason NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game first held in 2006 in Houston, Texas. Each edition of the bowl has been played at NRG Stadium, previously known as Reliant Stadium. The bowl replaced ...

appearance while mentoring future NFL running backs

Thomas Clayton Thomas Clayton (July 1777 – August 21, 1854) was an American lawyer and politician from Dover in Kent County, Delaware. He was a member of the Federalist Party and later the National Republican Party and the Whig Party. He served in the Delawa ...

and

James Johnson James Johnson may refer to: Artists, actors, authors, and musicians *James Austin Johnson (born 1989), American comedian & actor, ''Saturday Night Live'' cast member *James B. Johnson (born 1944), author of science nonfiction novels *James P. John ...

Arkansas

In the summer of 2007, Horton joined the staff at his alma mater,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

, after initially rejoining the Air Force staff as offensive coordinator. While working for

Houston Nutt Houston Dale Nutt Jr. (born October 14, 1957) is a former American football player and coach. He currently works for CBS Sports as a college football studio analyst. Previously, he served as the head football coach at Murray State University (19 ...

at Arkansas, Horton coached the running backs and served as the recruiting coordinator. He was recognized by Rivals.com and ESPN.com as one of the nation's top recruiters. He also coached the 2007

Doak Walker Award Since 1990 the Doak Walker Award honors the top running back in college football in the United States. It is named in honor of Doak Walker, a former running back who played for the SMU Mustangs from 1945 to 1949 and in the National Football League ...

winner,

Darren McFadden Darren McFadden (born August 27, 1987) is a former American football running back. He played college football for the Arkansas Razorbacks and was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the first round with the fourth overall pick of the 2008 NFL Dra ...

, as well as coaching

Felix Jones Felix Jones Jr. (born May 8, 1987) is a former American football running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college football at the University of Arkansas and was drafted by the ...

to All-America honors.

Dennis Johnson Dennis Wayne Johnson (September 18, 1954 – February 22, 2007), nicknamed "DJ", was an American professional basketball player for the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Seattle SuperSonics, Phoenix Suns, and Boston Celtics. He was a c ...

, Michael Smith, Jonathan Williams and

Knile Davis Knile Rashaad Davis (born October 5, 1991) is a former American football running back. He played college football at Arkansas and was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He has also had brief stints with ...

earned all- SEC honors.

Auburn

From 2013 through 2016, Horton coached the running backs for

Gus Malzahn Arthur Gustavo Malzahn III (; born October 28, 1965) is an American football coach. He is currently the head coach at the University of Central Florida (UCF Knights football, UCF). He was the head football coach at Auburn University from 2013 t ...

and the

Auburn Tigers football The Auburn Tigers football program represents Auburn University in the sport of American college football. Auburn competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Western Division o ...

team. He also served as the recruiting coordinator in 2015-2016 before being promoted to special teams coordinator for the 2017 season. Horton helped develop four running backs that led the SEC in rushing:

Tre Mason Trence Mason (born August 6, 1993) is a former American football running back. He played college football at Auburn and was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the third round of the 2014 NFL Draft. High school career Mason attended Park Vista C ...

(2013),

Cameron Artis-Payne Cameron Artis-Payne (born June 23, 1990) is an American professional football running back for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at Auburn, and was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the ...

(2014),

Kamryn Pettway Kamryn Pettway (born December 20, 1996) is an American football running back for the Columbus Lions. He played college football at Auburn. Early years Pettway attended Prattville High School in Prattville, Alabama. As a senior, he rushed 1,402 ...

(2016), and

Kerryon Johnson Kerryon Johnson (born June 30, 1997) is an American football running back who is a free agent. He played college football at Auburn and was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft. Early years Johnson attended ...

(2017). Mason and Johnson both earned SEC offensive player of the year honors, and Mason was a

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

finalist. As the special teams coordinator, Horton coached kicker Daniel Carlson, who was the SEC's special teams player of the year. Horton became the only assistant in league history to coach the SEC offensive and special teams players of the year in the same season.

Vanderbilt

Horton spent two years (2019 – 2020) as the running backs coach for

Derek Mason Derek Mason (born September 29, 1969) is an American college football coach. He currently is the defensive coordinator for Oklahoma State University. Mason served as the head football coach at Vanderbilt University from 2014 until midway through ...

at Vanderbilt. He coached future NFL running back Ke'Shawn Vaughn.

Air Force (2nd stint)

Following the dismissal of the Vanderbilt staff, Horton returned to Air Force as the special teams coordinator and running backs coach in January 2021.

Playing career

Horton played wide receiver and returned punts during his career at

from 1986 to 1989. He was a four time letterwinner, and three-year starter. As a senior, Horton was a team captain and earned second-team All-

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma an ...

honors. He helped lead the Razorbacks to four straight bowl appearances and back-to-back SWC titles (1988-1989). Horton was a two time all-state running back while attending Conway High School in

Conway, Arkansas Conway is a city in the U.S. state of Arkansas and the county seat of Faulkner County, located in the state's most populous Metropolitan Statistical Area, Central Arkansas. Although considered a suburb of Little Rock, Conway is unusual in that ...

. He was inducted to the Conway High School Wampus Cat Hall of Fame in 2019, and the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2021.

Personal life

Horton's father, Harold Horton is a former Razorback player and assistant coach, and won two NAIA national championships as the head coach at

Central Arkansas Central Arkansas, also known as the Little Rock metro, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metro area in the U.S. state of ...

. He also served as an administrator for the Razorback Foundation. Horton and his wife, Lauren, are the parents of a daughter, Caroline, and a son, Jackson. He earned his bachelor's degree is marketing management. Horton authored a book titled, ''Complete Running Back''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horton, Tim Living people American football wide receivers Arkansas Razorbacks football players Year of birth missing (living people)