Curtis Scott Luper (born January 12, 1966) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach who is currently the running backs coach with the

Missouri Tigers The Missouri Tigers intercollegiate athletics programs represent the University of Missouri, located in Columbia. The name comes from a band of armed Union Home Guards called the "Fighting Tigers of Columbia" who, in 1864, protected Columbia ...

. He previously coached running backs and was a recruiting coordinator at Auburn under head coach

Gene Chizik Eugene C. Chizik Jr. (born December 28, 1961) is an American football coach who was most recently the defensive coordinator and Assistant Head Coach for Defense at North Carolina. A veteran of the coaching ranks, Chizik previously was UNC's defen ...

. Luper served as the assistant head coach and running backs coach of the

Oklahoma State Cowboys The Oklahoma State Cowboys and Cowgirls are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Oklahoma State University, located in Stillwater. The program's mascot is a cowboy named Pistol Pete. Oklahoma State participates at the National ...

from 2005 to 2008. Some of the prominent players Luper has helped develop include Dantrell Savage, Derrick Blaylock,

DonTrell Moore DonTrell Jamar Moore (born September 25, 1982) is an American former football running back who played for two seasons in the Indoor Football League (IFL). He was signed by the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent after the 2006 NFL draft. Mo ...

, Terrance Shaw,

Jeremiah Trotter Jeremiah Trotter (born January 20, 1977) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. He played college football for the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks and was se ...

, and Katie Hnida.

Personal life

Luper earned his bachelor's degree in communications from Stephen F. Austin State University in 1996 and his master’s from the college in 1998. He also completed coursework toward a doctoral degree in secondary and higher education from Texas A&M–Commerce and is expected to receive it in May 2009. He has 5 children with his wife Nikki. His son, Cameron Echols-Luper, is a football player.

Playing career

Luper was a 1984 graduate of Sherman High School, where he captured All-State honors as a senior and was the #2-rated prep running back in Texas behind future Cowboys teammate

Thurman Thomas Thurman Lee Thomas (born May 16, 1966) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for 13 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He played college football for the Oklahom ...

. He was recruited to play at

Oklahoma State Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

where he played from 1984–1987 and was part of three bowl teams (playing behind future Hall-of-Fame running backs

and Barry Sanders). Luper left school to serve as an air traffic controller for the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

, before completing his playing eligibility at Stephen F. Austin State University where he led the Lumberjacks in rushing and scoring as a second-team All-

Southland Conference The Southland Conference (SLC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it participates in ...

running back in 1993.

Coaching career

Luper began his coaching career at Stephen F. Austin, spending 2 years as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research resp ...

working with the secondary and another as a

running backs coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, associate and assistant coach, and the Offensive coordinator, offensive a ...

. He received his first full-time position as running backs coach at McKinney High School in 1998 before joining Texas A&M-Commerce as secondary coach in 1999. Luper served that position and assistant head coach until being lured away to coach running backs for Rocky Long at

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

in 2002. After Les Miles left

to take the

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

job, newly promoted head coach Mike Gundy brought in Luper to fill the vacant position coaching running backs at his alma mater. Gundy (QB) and Luper (RB) were teammates on the OSU 1986 and 1987 squads. After the 2006 season, Luper was promoted to assistant head coach for player development in addition to his running backs duties. In December 2008, Luper was interviewed for the open head coaching job at

New Mexico State New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a Public university system, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1888, it is the state's oldest public institution ...

, but the job was filled by

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker.

Auburn

On January 2, 2009, new Auburn head coach

hired Luper to fill a vacant spot coaching the Tigers' running backs. He will also serve as Recruiting Coordinator. Chizik and Luper had previously worked together when Luper was a secondary assistant under Chizik's defense at Stephen F. Austin. Luper had previously spent eight months living in the state of Alabama during his tenure in the Army, splitting time between

Fort McClellan Fort McClellan, originally Camp McClellan, is a United States Army post located adjacent to the city of Anniston, Alabama. During World War II, it was one of the largest U.S. Army installations, training an estimated half-million troops. After t ...

in Anniston and Fort Rucker near

Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterpris ...

. In 2010, Luper was recognized by Rivals.com as one of the top-25 recruiters in the nation. In 2011, ESPN selected Luper as one of the best recruiters in the Southeastern Conference.

TCU

In January 2013, Luper was hired by Gary Patterson to coach the wide receivers for the Horned Frogs. A few days prior to the announcement of his hiring, Luper's son (Cameron Echols-Luper) announced he was committing to play wide receiver at TCU (over Texas A&M). In February 2017, he was promoted to co-offensive coordinator.

Mizzou

Ahead of the 2020 season, Luper was announced as the running backs coach for Eli Drinkwitz’s initial staff at Mizzou. At Mizzou, Luper has helped produce multiple All-American running backs and had the opportunity to coach his son, Chance Luper.

Coaching successes

Luper has a history of successfully developing talent throughout his coaching career and has enjoyed successes at each of his stops. In his first year of coaching, he helped coach Stephen F. Austin to their semifinal run in the I-AA playoffs. In 2001, Texas A&M-Commerce finished second in the league in total defense, with his defensive backs helping to produce 30 takeaways. Luper also coached the league’s best kickoff return and coverage teams that season. While at New Mexico, Luper coached the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

's career rushing leader

and helped the Lobo's finish 16th nationally in rushing in 2003, averaging 210 yards per game (265 rushing yards per MWC game). In his first season on the OSU staff, one of his running backs, Mike Hamilton, rushed for a school freshman season record of 961 yards and was named the Big 12 offensive newcomer of the year. The 2006 season saw Luper tutor a trio of OSU running backs (Hamilton, Dantrell Savage and Keith Toston) to 2,000 rushing yards and 18 rushing touchdowns. He also coach back-to-back 1,000 yard rushers, with Dantrell Savage rushing for 1,272 yards in 2007 and Kendall Hunter rushing for 1,555 yards in 2008. Under Luper, Oklahoma State's running attack led the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

in rushing for 3 consecutive seasons (2006–2008). The Cowboys finished the 2006 season ranked seventh nationally in rushing, eighth nationally in 2007 and seventh nationally again in 2008 (averaging 256 yards per game). In his first season on the Auburn staff, Ben Tate rushed for 1,362 yards (just under 105 yards per game), while the team finished the season ranked 13th in the nation in rushing.http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/natlRank.jsp?year=2009&div=B&rpt=IA_teamrush&site=org In 2010, true freshman back Mike Dyer rushed for over 1,000 yards and broke

Bo Jackson Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson (born November 30, 1962) is an American former professional baseball and American football, football player. He is the only professional athlete in history to be named an All-star#Sports, All-Star in Major professio ...

's freshman rushing record. Coach Luper has experience coaching in 16 bowl games including the 2002 Las Vegas Bowl, 2003 Las Vegas Bowl, 2004 Emerald Bowl, 2006 Independence Bowl, 2007 Insight Bowl, 2008 Holiday Bowl, 2010 Outback Bowl,

2011 BCS National Championship Game The 2011 BCS National Championship Game (branded as the 2011 Tostitos BCS National Championship Game for sponsorship reasons) was a college football bowl game to determine the national champion of the 2010 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivisi ...

and the 2011 Chick-fil-A Bowl.

References

External links

TCU profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luper, Curtis 1966 births Living people American football running backs Auburn Tigers football coaches New Mexico Lobos football coaches Oklahoma State Cowboys football players Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football coaches Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football players Oklahoma State Cowboys football coaches TCU Horned Frogs football coaches East Texas A&M Lions football coaches High school football coaches in Texas Sherman High School (Texas) alumni Players of American football from Sherman, Texas African-American coaches of American football 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen