Larry Coker Position: Head Coach

In the 25 years that the University of Miami has been a dominant force in college football, no Hurricanes head coach has won more games in his first five seasons than Larry Coker. Presiding over one of the most successful five-year stretches in Miami football history, Coker quickly earned a reputation as one of college football's top coaches. He is now in his sixth season as head football coach at the University of Miami.

Coker has led the Hurricanes to one national championship, two Bowl Championship Series title game appearances, three BCS bowl game appearances, five bowl games, three consecutive Big East Conference championships, and a remarkable 53-9 record in five seasons as the Hurricanes head coach. Simply put, Coker has met the challenge of exceedingly high expectations.

The Hurricanes have built a 53-9 record in five seasons with Coker at the helm, one of the most successful starts of any coach in the history of college football. Along the way, Miami notched its fifth football national title in 2001 and made it back to the championship game in 2002, in addition to making its fourth consecutive BCS bowl appearance in 2003. In the school's first two years in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Hurricanes have gone 9-3 both seasons. That's good, but not good enough for Coker and the University of Miami.

So when things weren't going in the direction he wanted, Coker was not afraid to make changes. This season he has six new coaches on his staff -- three of them are former college head coaches, one of them was an assistant head coach at a major university, and another is a former NFL offensive coordinator. Coker feels his new coaching staff will bring the Hurricanes back to preeminence in college football.

Coker has distinguished himself by bringing his own brand of class, dignity and integrity to the Miami football program. All the while, his Hurricanes have continued to win at the highest level, while displaying a grace and comportment that any college program would be proud of.

In 2001, Coker not only took the Hurricanes all the way to an undefeated season and a national championship, he led the team to the most dominant season in Miami's rich football history. His 2002 team went unbeaten until a controversial and dramatic loss in the Fiesta Bowl. Coker's 2003 Hurricanes racked up a fourth straight Big East Conference crown and became college football's first team to make appearances in all four BCS bowl games in successive years.

More than his on-field success, it's the way Coker's teams have handled the trials and tribulations of college football that made obvious what he and his players always knew: Coker not only was the right man for the job, he was the only man for the job. Popular with his players, with fans and with the media, Coker also has the toughness to lead the Miami football program. And this year he has an edge, and his players see it and feel it.

Miami's success over the last five years not only earned the school's players and coaches numerous honors and awards, it earned Coker The 2001 Paul "Bear" Bryant National Coach of the Year Award, the 2001 AFCA Coach of the Year Award (shared with Maryland's Ralph Friedgen), the 2002 National Coach of the Year honor by American Football Monthly and numerous other honors. In 2005, he was voted by his peers as Region 1 Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association (which includes the ACC, Big East and several other Eastern schools).

Coker's proudest memory of his tenure to this point may have come at the end of the 2002 Rose Bowl, when a game official told him: "It was so enjoyable to work with your players. They're a class act. They're really national champions."

"That carries over to a lot more in life than just winning a championship," Coker said later. Coker's brand of leadership speaks to the kind of man he is: calm, easy going and secure in who he is and what he is doing. True to his beliefs. Consistent. Perhaps that approach was best summed up by Coker himself to a reporter just a few days before Miami's 2002 Rose Bowl victory over Nebraska. When asked what his pregame pep talk would consist of, he answered: "Just let's be who we are. Don't try and play outside the lines. Let's be as good as we can be. But don't try to be more than we are."

No longer college football's "nouveau riche", the University of Miami football program is now an established power whose players and coaches expect excellence and find little need to boast about it. Coker has been the right man at the right time for Miami.

Coker is proud of his team's successes on the field, but he is equally proud of how well his players have fared academically. The 2005 team graduated all 21 players, a total higher than than any other college in the country. The Hurricanes' 2004 graduation rate was 84 percent, far higher than the national average of 58 percent. In addition, Miami has received recognition by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) as one of an elite group of schools to exceed a 70 percent graduation rate among its football student-athletes in nine of the past 14 years.

Miami's quest for supremacy in college football was put in the able hands of one of the nation's most accomplished assistant coaches when Coker was named the school's 19th head football coach on February 3, 2001. Coker's hiring marked the first time in 25 years that the University of Miami looked to one of its own when finding a football coach.

Coker's hiring also signaled how far the Miami program had come. The values of the program reflect Coker's values. Integrity. Consistency. Hard work. Poise. Class. Dignity. Those are values instilled in Coker at a young age. They're values he still lives by. And they're values he instills in his players and expects his coaches and staff to live by.

Coker and the Hurricanes want to set a new standard of football excellence for a program that has produced a phenomenal level of success over the past 20-plus years.

After a debut season in which he led the Hurricanes to the top of the college football world, Coker was not satisfied to rest on those accomplishments. His second edition of Hurricanes achieved another perfect regular season before falling just short of a second straight national title.

Coker's easy-going personality belies a strong competitive drive. He instills that drive in his team. For Coker, it's about the journey, not just the destination. It's not just winning, but winning the right way. Coker wants his Hurricanes to be remembered by their accomplishments as well as by their classy demeanor.

Coker understands the meaning of being true to yourself. That's why, along the dizzying journey to a national title, he didn't try to change who he was. He didn't put on a new persona when he was named head coach. And he didn't try out a new presence once he had led Miami to another national championship.

His ascension to the head coaching job at Miami has been described as "an overnight success story 30 years in the making." Because of that, Coker truly knows the value of the journey, as well as how to appreciate reaching the destination.

"We're excited and motivated about continuing to build on the tradition we represent and always striving to reach new heights," Coker said. "We always preach that the journey is the thing -- not just the destination. We want our student-athletes to appreciate the process, not just the reward. It's easy to say that when you've just won a national championship, but it's true.

"When we look back on our accomplishments many years from now, it's not just the moment of victory that we remember, but the struggles and triumphs along the way that will stay with us. The relationships, the camaraderie formed along the way -- that's what makes football great, and that's what is exciting about coming back to try to win again."

Coker's highly successful stint at UM is his most recent stop in a 37-year coaching career, including 22 seasons as an assistant at the collegiate level. He's found success at every stop along the way.

Prior to becoming Miami's head football coach, Coker served under Butch Davis as the Hurricanes' offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach since Davis' first season at UM in 1995. While the offensive coordinator from 1995-2000, UM went 51-20 overall and 33-9 in conference play. With Coker as the offensive coordinator, UM was 27-9 at the historic Orange Bowl and 19-11 on the road. Additionally, the Hurricanes won all four bowl games during that six-season span.

Prior to his arrival at the University of Miami in 1995, Coker spent two seasons at Ohio State (1993-94) coaching the defensive backfield. The Buckeyes participated in two bowl games during his tenure and were Big Ten co-champions in 1993. From 1990-92, Coker was the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma, assisting the Sooners to two bowl victories. Before heading to Norman, Coker spent seven seasons as the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State. In his seven seasons with the Cowboys, he coached 1988 Heisman Trophy winner Barry Sanders and the team went on to win four bowl games. Coker first made the jump to Division I with Tulsa from 1979-82 as the offensive backfield coach. Tulsa won three Missouri Valley Conference championships during his four seasons.

Wherever Coker has gone in his coaching career, success followed. The Okemah, Okla., native has been on college teams that have made 17 bowl appearances, and Coker's teams have been victorious in 13 of those 17 games, including a 4-0 mark as an assistant at Miami and a 3-2 record as a head coach.

Coker and his wife, Dianna, live in Coral Gables. They are the parents of a daughter, Lara, and the grandparents of twin boys Daniel and Dillon Goldmann (5).

PERSONAL
Full Name: Larry Edward Coker

Coaching Career
2001-06 Head Coach, University of Miami
1995-2000 Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks, University of Miami
1995 Quarterbacks, Ohio State
1993-94 Defensive Backs, Ohio State
1990-92 Offensive Coordinator, University of Oklahoma
1983-89 Offensive Coordinator, Oklahoma State
1980-82 Offensive Coordinator, Tulsa
1979 Running Backs/Quarterbacks, Tulsa
1977-78 Head Coach, Claremore (Okla.) High School
1971-76 Head Coach, Fairfax (Okla.) High School

Coach of the Year Honors:
National Coach of the Year 2002 (American Football Monthly); Big East Coach of the Year 2002 (Coaches); National Coach of the Year 2001 (National Sportscasters & Sportwriters Assoc., AFCA); Big East Coach of the Year 2001 (Coaches); Regional Coach of the Year 2001 (AFCA Region 2); Regional Coach of the Year 2005 (AFCA Region 1)

Other Honors: Eddie Robinson Coach of Distinction (2002)

PLAYING EXPERIENCE
1966-69 Three-year letterman at defensive back Northeastern State University (Okla.)

EDUCATION
1973 M.S. in guidance counseling and physical education, Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, Oklahoma
1970 B.S. in history, Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, Oklahoma

Bowl Games as a Coach (13 Wins, 4 Losses)
2005 Peach Bowl Louisiana State 40, Miami 3 L
2004 Peach Bowl Miami 27, Florida 10 W
2004 Orange Bowl Miami 16, Florida State 14 W
2003 Fiesta Bowl Ohio State 31, Miami 24 (2 OT) L
2002 Rose Bowl Miami 37, Nebraska 14 W
2001 Sugar Bowl Miami 37, Florida 20 W
2000 Gator Bowl Miami 28, Georgia Tech 13 W
1998 MicronPC Bowl Miami 46, N.C. State 23 W
1996 Carquest Bowl Miami 31, Virginia 21 W
1994 Citrus Bowl Alabama 24, Ohio State 17 L
1993 Holiday Bowl Ohio State 28, BYU 21 W
1991 Gator Bowl Oklahoma 48, Virginia 14 W
1988 Holiday Bowl Oklahoma St. 62, Wyoming 14 W
1987 Sun Bowl Oklahoma St. 35, W. Virginia 33 W
1985 Gator Bowl Florida St. 34, Oklahoma St. 23 L
1984 Gator Bowl Oklahoma St. 21, S. Carolina 14 W
1983 Bluebonnet Bowl Oklahoma St. 24, Baylor 14 W

Coaching Accomplishments