Kevin Guy (born December 6, 1972) is an

arena football Arena football is a variety of gridiron football designed to be played indoors. The game is played on a smaller field than American or Canadian football, designed to fit in the same surface area as a standard North American ice hockey rink, an ...

coach and former

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

and

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

who is the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

for the

Arizona Rattlers The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area that competes in the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Rattlers were founded in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League ...

of the

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional indoor American football league in the United States. The league comprises 14 teams, divided equally between the Eastern Conference (EC) and Western Conference ...

(IFL). He played his

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at the

University of West Alabama The University of West Alabama (UWA) is a public university in Livingston, Alabama, United States. Founded in 1835, the school began as a church-supported school for young women called "Livingston Female Academy". The university serves students ...

, and was an AFL wide receiver and defensive back from 1996 to 1999. He has been a football coach since 2000, and first served as a head coach in 2000 as the interim head coach for the New Jersey Red Dogs. After being the

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator (DC) is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, wit ...

for the

San Jose SaberCats The San Jose SaberCats were a professional arena football team based in San Jose, California. The SaberCats had been members of the Arena Football League (AFL) since 1995 (the year in which the team was founded); and until 2015, they belonged to ...

from 2006 to 2007, he became the Rattlers head coach in 2008. In 2018, his wife Cathy became co-owner of a new Tucson-based IFL franchise, called the Tucson Sugar Skulls, set to play in 2019.

Early life

Born in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

, Guy grew up in

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

then continued his high school career in Shelby County High School in

Columbiana, Alabama Columbiana is a city and the county seat of Shelby County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 4,462. History Columbiana, originally called Columbia, was selected as the county seat of Shelby County in 1826 over riv ...

, where he was a member of the Wildcats football team from 1987 to 1990. Kevin then enrolled at

, and played wide receiver before finishing his career as a defensive back on the West Alabama Tigers football team from 1991 to 1995.

College career

Guy was tested by many high level programs, taking visits to

, Auburn,

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

, Samford and

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

, but only received a scholarship from West Alabama.

Professional career

The Minnesota Fighting Pike signed Guy after he went unselected in the

1996 NFL draft The 1996 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The NFL draft, draft was held April 20–21, 1996 NFL seas ...

. He played four years as a wide receiver and defensive back in the AFL, with Minnesota in 1996, the New Jersey Red Dogs from 1997 to 1999, and the

Orlando Predators The Orlando Predators were a professional arena football team based in Orlando, Florida and member of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team was most recently owned by Orlando Predators LLC, a company owned by David A. Siegel, and played it ...

in 1999. He first became a regular starting defensive back in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

with Minnesota. In

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

with New Jersey, he helped lead the Red Dogs to the AFL Semifinal.

Coaching career

In 2000, while not even being one year removed from the AFL, Guy was a defensive coordinator for the Red Dogs under head coach Frank Mattiace. With four games left in the 2000 season, the Red Dogs fired Mattiace, and Guy served the teams interim head coach for the remainder of the season. In 2001, he returned to the AFL as a defensive coordinator for the

Florida Bobcats The Florida Bobcats were an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Sunrise, Florida. They were previously known as the Sacramento Attack and the Miami Hooters, and played in the AFL for a total of ten seasons, the last seven in West Palm Beac ...

. He then became a head coach at the

af2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football r ...

level, starting in 2002 with the

Tennessee Valley Vipers Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. After coaching Tennessee to three consecutive playoff berths 2002, 2003 and 2004, he moved to the

Rio Grande Valley Dorados The Rio Grande Valley Dorados were a professional arena football team. They began playing in 2004 as an expansion member of af2, the minor league to the Arena Football League. They played their home games at Obra Homes Field at Dodge Arena in ...

, and served as head coach during the 2005 season and led the Dorados to the National Conference Championship game. After the 2005 season, Guy was named the defensive coordinator for the

of the AFL. Guy's defensive squad helped lead the SaberCats to back-to-back American Conference Championship Game appearances, and a berth in ArenaBowl XXI, where the SaberCats would defeat the

Chicago Rush The Chicago Rush were a professional arena football team based in Rosemont, Illinois. The team was founded in 2001 and played in the Arena Football League's Central Division. The Rush qualified for the playoffs in 11 of 12 AFL seasons, during w ...

. Following the SaberCats ArenaBowl victory, the

named Guy their 4th head coach in franchise history. Guy led the team to playoff appearances in his first five seasons there, making four consecutive appearances in the

ArenaBowl The ArenaBowl was the championship game of the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally hosted at Pittsburgh's Civic Arena based on home attendance during the inaugural 1987 season, save four years (2005–2008) the game was hosted by the team w ...

, winning ArenaBowl XXV and ArenaBowl XXVI both over the

Philadelphia Soul Philadelphia soul, sometimes called Philly soul, the Philadelphia sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia (TSOP), is a genre of late 1960s–1970s soul music characterized by funk influences and lush string and horn arrangements. The ...

, and winning ArenaBowl XXVII over the

Cleveland Gladiators The Cleveland Gladiators were an arena football team based in Cleveland, Ohio, and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The Gladiators played their home games at Quicken Loans Arena, which they shared with the Cleveland Cavaliers of the ...

. In September 2005, Guy was named the defensive coordinator of the

of the AFL. Guy was named the head coach of the

in August 2007. On September 15, 2020, it was announced Guy would be assuming the role of

team president in addition to his head coaching and general manager duties. On July 27, 2024, Guy became the winningest coach in arena/indoor football history with 262 victories following the Rattlers' 39-38 win over the Vegas Knight Hawks in the first round of the 2024 IFL Playoffs.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guy, Kevin 1972 births Living people Sportspeople from Birmingham, Alabama Players of American football from Birmingham, Alabama American football wide receivers American football defensive backs Minnesota Fighting Pike players New Jersey Red Dogs players West Alabama Tigers football players Arizona Rattlers head coaches People from Columbiana, Alabama Alabama Vipers coaches Cleveland Gladiators coaches Florida Bobcats coaches Rio Grande Valley Dorados coaches San Jose SaberCats coaches