Gary Lamar Harrell, affectionately known as "The Flea," (born January 23, 1972) is an American college football coach and former professional

gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...

player. He is currently the assistant head coach and running backs coach at the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sys ...

. Harrell was a wide receiver in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

(NFL),

World League of American Football NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

(WLAF) and Canadian Football League (CFL) for three seasons during the 1990s. Harrell served two stints as the head football coach at

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

from 2011 to 2012 and 2014 to 2016, with a leave of absence in 2013. He joined the coaching staff at

Alabama State University Alabama State University (ASU) is a public historically black university in Montgomery, Alabama. Founded in 1867, ASU is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. History Alabama State University was founded in 1867 as the Lin ...

in January 2019, after a two-year stint under

Lane Kiffin Lane Monte Kiffin (born May 9, 1975) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach of the Ole Miss Rebels. Kiffin formerly was the offensive coordinator for the USC Trojans football team from 2005 to 2006, head coach of the Nat ...

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, and Fort Pierce. FAU belongs to the 12-c ...

Playing career

College

Harrell was a four-year letter winner as a wide receiver and punt return specialist at

He started every game for Howard's 1993 team, which won the

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern and the Mid-Atlantic United States. It participates in the National ...

(MEAC) title. Harrell holds the Howard record for most receptions in a game (13) and in a career (184). He was inducted into the Howard University Hall of Fame in November 2005, and also received a proclamation from the City of Miami declaring it Gary "Flea" Harrell Day. Prior to attending Howard, he was a varsity athlete at

Miami Northwestern Senior High School Miami Northwestern Senior High School is a public four-year high school located in Miami, Florida, United States History Academics Northwestern has long been known for its academic challenges; however, the school has shown an unprecedented ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at the ...

Professional

Harrell played two seasons in the

(NFL), seeing action in four games during the 1994 and 1995 seasons with the New York Giant. He also played one season, in 1996, for the World League's Frankfurt Galaxy if the

(WLAF) and two seasons, from 1996 to 1997, in the Canadian Football League (CFL) with the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the East Division of the Canad ...

Coaching career

Harrell got his start in coaching at his alma mater, as Howard's wide receivers coach from 2002 to 2003. He served as wide receivers as

Texas Southern University Texas Southern University (Texas Southern or TSU) is a public historically black university in Houston, Texas. The university is one of the largest and most comprehensive historically black college or universities in the USA with nearly 10,000 ...

from 2004 to 2005 and then at

Florida A&M University Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a public historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida. Founded in 1887, It is the third largest historically black university in the Un ...

from 2006 to 2007. In in 2008, Harrell was the quarterbacks coach at

Morgan State University Morgan State University (Morgan State or MSU) is a public historically black research university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the largest of Maryland's historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). In 1867, the university, then known a ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

. While at Morgan State he also served as the wide receivers coach for Team Michigan, of the All American Football League (AAFL) in 2008. Harrell then spent to two seasons, from 2009 TO 2010, as the

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach ...

Bowie State University Bowie State University (Bowie State) is a public historically black university in Prince George's County, Maryland, north of Bowie. It is part of the University System of Maryland. Founded in 1865, Bowie State is Maryland's oldest historically ...

Bowie, Maryland Bowie () is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 58,329. Bowie has grown from a small railroad stop to the largest municipality in Prince George's County, and the fifth most populous c ...

. Harrell returned to Howard in 2011 as head football coach. In 2012, he was honored by the D.C. Touchdown Club as the Local College Coach of the Year at its inaugural awards dinner. Harrell took a leave of absence in 2013, but returned as Howard's head coach in 2014. In five seasons as Howard's head coach, Harrell compiled a record of 20–36 including a 7–4 mark in 2012. Harrell joined

's coaching staff at

in January 2017 as wide receivers coach. Under Harrell's tutelage, senior Kalib Woods was named the MVP of the 2017 Conference USA Football Championship Game. Willie Wright, a freshman, was the team's most consistent wideout and led the Owls with 56 catches and a total of six scores. Following the year, Wright earned a spot on the C-USA All-Freshman team. In 2019, Harrell served as assistant head coach and running backs coach for at

. Harrell joined

Jackson State University Jackson State University (Jackson State or JSU) is a public historically black research university in Jackson, Mississippi. It is one of the largest HBCUs in the United States and the fourth largest university in Mississippi in terms of student ...

in November 2020 as the team's running backs coach under

Deion Sanders Deion Luwynn Sanders Sr. (born August 9, 1967) is an American football coach and former player who is the head coach at the University of Colorado Boulder. Nicknamed "Prime Time", he played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons w ...

. During the 2021 season, Harrell acted as interim head coach while Sanders recovered from foot surgery. The Tigers won all three games while Sanders was absent. Jackson State credits Sanders as the head coach of record for the entire 2021 season. In December 2022, Harrell followed Sanders to the

to be the assistant head coach and running backs coach for the

Colorado Buffaloes The Colorado Buffaloes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Colorado. The university sponsors 17 varsity sports teams. Both the men's and women's teams are called the Buffaloes (Buffs for short) or, rarely, the Golden Buffalo ...

Personal life

A native of

, Harrell earned a degree in marketing from Howard in 1994. He and his wife, Tenika, have two children: a daughter, Jasmine, and a son, Gary Jr., who also played football at Howard.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Jackson State profile

Florida Atlantic profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harrell, Gary 1972 births Living people American football wide receivers Canadian football wide receivers Alabama State Hornets football coaches Bowie State Bulldogs football coaches Colorado Buffaloes football coaches Florida A&M Rattlers football coaches Florida Atlantic Owls football coaches Frankfurt Galaxy players Howard Bison football coaches Howard Bison football players Jackson State Tigers football coaches Montreal Alouettes players Morgan State Bears football coaches New York Giants players Miami Northwestern Senior High School alumni Texas Southern Tigers football coaches Coaches of American football from Florida Players of American football from Miami Players of Canadian football from Miami Sports coaches from Miami African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football African-American players of Canadian football 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American sportspeople