Larry Kirksey (born January 6, 1951) is an American former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach. He has 17 years' experience

coaching Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...

in the NFL and an additional 22 years of coaching experience in the

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

ranks.

Coaching career

Miami (Ohio)

Kirksey got his start in coaching as the

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 ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

s coach at Miami (Ohio) in 1974, and remained there for three seasons.

University of Kentucky

Kirksey coached wide receivers and tight ends for the Wildcats from 1977 to 1981.

Kansas University

He spent the 1982 season coaching wide receivers and tight ends for the Jayhawks.

Kentucky State University

Kirksey was the 18th head football coach for the Kentucky State University Thorobreds located in

Frankfort, Kentucky Frankfort is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city and the county seat, seat of Franklin County, Kentucky, Franklin County in the Upland Sou ...

and he held that position for the 1983 season. His career coaching record at Kentucky State was 2 wins, 7 losses, and 2 ties (.273).

University of Florida

He coached running backs at the University of Florida under Charlie Pell and Galen Hall from 1984 to 1988. During his tenure at Florida, he coached star

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

s Lorenzo Hampton, Neal Anderson, John L. Williams and Emmitt Smith.

University of Pittsburgh

After leaving Florida, Kirksey spent one year as running backs coach at Pittsburgh.

University of Alabama

From 1990 to 1993, Kirksey coached running backs for Alabama, where he helped lead the Crimson Tide to a national championship in 1992. Kirksey's running backs led the SEC with 252 rushing yards per game.

San Francisco 49ers

In 1994, Kirksey began his NFL career coaching the NFL's all-time reception and receiving yards leader,

Jerry Rice Jerry Lee Rice (born October 13, 1962) is an American former professional football wide receiver who played for 20 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He won three Super Bowl titles with the San Francisco 49ers before two shorter ...

. Under Kirksey, Rice set a then-NFL record with 1,848 receiving yards and had a career-high 122 receptions in 1995. From 1994 to 1999, Rice caught 606 passes for 6,666 yards. Kirksey's receivers helped set a Super Bowl record in

Super Bowl XXIX Super Bowl XXIX was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion San Diego Chargers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...

with six touchdown catches, including three by Rice.

Detroit Lions

From 2001 to 2002, Kirksey coached wide receivers for the Detroit Lions, where wide receiver

Johnnie Morton Johnnie James Morton Jr. (born October 7, 1971) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) during the 1990s and 2000s. He played college football for the USC Trojans, earni ...

had his best season during his NFL career: 77 catches, 1,154 yards and four touchdowns.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kirksey spent 2003 as the wide receivers coach with the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

, where Jimmy Smith led the team with 54 receptions despite missing four games.

Middle Tennessee State

Kirksey helped lead

Middle Tennessee State Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a public research university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university consists of eight undergraduate colleges as well as a college of graduate studies, to ...

to the 2006 Sun Belt Conference title and a

Motor City Bowl The Little Caesars Pizza Bowl (known as the Motor City Bowl until 2009) was a post-season college football bowl game that was played annually from 1997 to 2013. The first five games (1997–2001) were played at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, M ...

berth as the assistant head coach and running backs coach for the Blue Raiders in 2005.

Houston Texans

Kirksey was most recently the wide receivers coach for the Houston Texans. In seven seasons under Kirksey's tutelage, Andre Johnson averaged an NFL-best 93.6 yards per game, led the league in receiving yards in 2008 and 2009, and led the NFL in receptions in 2008. Johnson joined Jerry Rice as the only receivers in NFL history to lead the league in receiving yards in consecutive seasons and joined

Marvin Harrison Marvin Darnell Harrison Sr. (born August 25, 1972) is an American former professional football wide receiver who played his entire 13 year career for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for ...

as the only receivers to surpass 1,500 yards in back-to-back years.

Seattle Dragons

In 2019, Kirksey joined the

Seattle Dragons The Seattle Sea Dragons were a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. The Sea Dragons competed in the second incarnation of the XFL (2020), XFL. The team was founded by Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment as the Seat ...

of the XFL as receivers coach.

The Spring League

Kirksey coached the Sea Lions of

The Spring League The Spring League (TSL) was an American football Minor league football (gridiron), developmental league and scouting event (pro showcase) that played from 2017 to 2021 and was founded by Brian Woods. Aimed at professional football (gridiron), p ...

in 2021.

Personal life

Kirksey earned a bachelor's degree from Eastern Kentucky in 1974, where he was a four-year letterman and three-year starter at wide receiver. As a senior, he earned all-conference honors. He was out of coaching in 2005 while serving as deputy executive director of the Kentucky Sports Authority. He and wife Anita have two children, Jessica and Jared.

References

External links

Houston Texans bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirksey, Larry Living people American football wide receivers Alabama Crimson Tide football coaches Birmingham Stallions (2022) coaches Denver Broncos coaches Detroit Lions coaches Eastern Kentucky Colonels football players Florida Gators football coaches Houston Texans coaches Jacksonville Jaguars coaches Kentucky State Thorobreds football coaches Kentucky Wildcats football coaches Miami RedHawks football coaches Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football coaches Pittsburgh Panthers football coaches San Francisco 49ers coaches Seattle Dragons coaches Texas A&M Aggies football coaches The Spring League coaches African-American coaches of American football 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen 1951 births Coaches of American football from Kentucky