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  #21  
Old Posted Mar 5, 2009, 5:12 PM
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Coker to be named UTSA football coach

Coker to be named UTSA football coach
By David Flores - Express-News
Quote:
Former University of Miami football coach Larry Coker, who guided the Hurricanes to the 2001 BCS national championship, will be introduced as UTSA's first coach Friday, a source said Wednesday night.

UTSA athletic director Lynn Hickey and her staff recommended Coker, who was fired from Miami in 2006, for the job earlier Wednesday in a meeting with school President Ricardo Romo. Neither Hickey or Romo could be reached for comment.

Coker, who has been a college football TV analyst for ESPN the past two seasons, did not return messages left on his phone Wednesday at his home in Fort Myers, Fla.

But the UTSA source familiar with the coaching search confirmed Coker, 60, would be named the Roadrunners' coach at a news conference Friday on campus. He's expected to fly into San Antonio tonight with his wife, Dianna.

Tulsa associate head coach Paul Randolph and Northwest Missouri head coach Mel Tjeerdsma were the other finalists for the job.

“This is absolutely a great hire for UTSA,” said former Oklahoma State football coach Pat Jones, who promoted Coker to offensive coordinator after succeeding Jimmy Johnson in 1984. “Larry is maybe not quite as sexy as some — and by that I mean he's not flashy and flamboyant — but day in and day out, this guy brings immense credibility to the program.”

Coker was upbeat after meeting with Romo, Hickey and other UTSA officials in San Antonio last week. Besides touring the campus, Coker got his first look at the Alamodome, where the Roadrunners plan to play their home games.

“I was more impressed than I thought I would be, hoped to be,” Coker said after returning home. “I met some really outstanding people, and saw so many positives about everything.”

Miami was 60-15 and won three Big East titles in six seasons under Coker, who led Miami to the national championship in his first season as head coach.

The Hurricanes advanced to the BCS title game again after the 2002 season, but lost to Ohio State in double overtime. Miami went 24-1 in Coker's first two seasons and was 53-9 five years into his tenure. But the Hurricanes finished 7-6 in their final season under Coker.

Coker was an assistant under Johnson at OSU for one season before serving as Jones' offensive coordinator for six. Coker left OSU in 1990 and was an assistant at Oklahoma for three seasons before moving to Ohio State in 1993.

He was an assistant under John Cooper until 1995, when he went to Miami as offensive coordinator. Coker succeeded Butch Davis as the Hurricanes' head coach in 2001.

“Larry is probably as steady a guy as you'll ever know,” Jones said. “What you see is what you get with Larry. He'll have great credibility with the Texas high school coaches.”

Jones said he called Coker last week while Coker was in San Antonio.

“I know he was very excited,” Jones said. “It's a challenge any time you start a program, but Larry is not a silver-spoon guy. He worked hard to get up the ladder. He has no illusions about the challenge he faces.”

Merv Johnson, who coached with Coker at Oklahoma, also spoke highly of Coker.

“I think players will really enjoy being around Larry,” said Johnson, who is director of football operations at OU. “They will respect him because they'll know he cares about them. Larry is not a phony. He's as genuine as they get. He's a guy you really like right away. UTSA has got itself a very good coach.”

Coker was born in Okemah, Okla., located halfway between Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and played college football at Northeastern State (Okla.). He was a high school coach in Oklahoma for eight years and went into the college ranks at Tulsa in 1979.
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  #22  
Old Posted Mar 5, 2009, 6:42 PM
tgannaway89 tgannaway89 is offline
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What a great way to bolster interest in the program and garner national attention right of the bat. Now if we can only field a good team.
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  #23  
Old Posted Mar 5, 2009, 7:20 PM
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UTSA Football Coach Suggestion

I think Howard Schnellenberger would make a fine UTSA coach. He did such a job at Oklahoma.
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  #24  
Old Posted Mar 5, 2009, 9:17 PM
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I just read on MYSA.com that former Miami football coach Larry Coker will be named head coach on Friday!!!!!!! His name will bring some recognition to this squad and city way to go UTSA

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/U...on_Friday.html
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  #25  
Old Posted Mar 6, 2009, 4:07 AM
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It's going to be nuts tommorrow with the announcement. Sounds like they're rolling out the red carpet and the media should eat it up. Good hire and best of luck to Coach Coker!
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  #26  
Old Posted Mar 6, 2009, 7:12 AM
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It IS going to be crazy tomorrow. Many major news broadcasters are expected and the campus has been decked out for the event.
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  #27  
Old Posted Mar 6, 2009, 7:11 PM
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I'm really glad to hear this. Coker has an impressive resume and just about everybody likes him and respects him. I think he will do a great job building a new program. Way to go UTSA!
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  #28  
Old Posted Mar 6, 2009, 8:05 PM
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What's up with E-N refusing to run this as a main story on their website? Yesterday it was nothing but the stupid Cowboys and TO, and today its the Obamas' ugly dog? That's really more important than the hiring of SA's first div I college football coach?? This is history, dagnab it!!

Last edited by oldmanshirt; Mar 6, 2009 at 8:29 PM.
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  #29  
Old Posted Mar 7, 2009, 4:46 PM
tgannaway89 tgannaway89 is offline
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Originally Posted by oldmanshirt View Post
What's up with E-N refusing to run this as a main story on their website? Yesterday it was nothing but the stupid Cowboys and TO, and today its the Obamas' ugly dog? That's really more important than the hiring of SA's first div I college football coach?? This is history, dagnab it!!
They don't want to upset the demographics. You know their readers are longtime residents who are highly upset we "hired one of them outsiders to run the team." It's sad, but some people really expected a current SA resident to land the job. This is great news in terms of progress and change... don't expect it be welcomed by all.
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  #30  
Old Posted Mar 7, 2009, 5:23 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oldmanshirt View Post
What's up with E-N refusing to run this as a main story on their website? Yesterday it was nothing but the stupid Cowboys and TO, and today its the Obamas' ugly dog? That's really more important than the hiring of SA's first div I college football coach?? This is history, dagnab it!!
Without wanting to offend anyone UTSA going division I isn't that big of a deal.
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  #31  
Old Posted Mar 7, 2009, 6:01 PM
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UTSA already was div I, but this is the first football program. For a city as football-obsessed as SA, it should be a big deal.

But maybe I misjudged things, maybe folks down there are content to watch high school games and slavishly worship a team that plays 250 miles away
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  #32  
Old Posted Mar 7, 2009, 7:32 PM
tgannaway89 tgannaway89 is offline
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Larry Coker is well known as a coach and ESPN analyst and will be joining the ranks of other prominent San Antonio sports officials.

San Antonio hasn't historically been known in the sports world for anything other than the Spurs. This is a chance to branch out and show that we can support other large scale athletic events. It could be a draw as a potential site for future NFL and other major league sports teams.
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  #33  
Old Posted Mar 7, 2009, 11:32 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by texastarkus View Post
Without wanting to offend anyone UTSA going division I isn't that big of a deal.

Really?
It made the run on YahooSports and ESPN main slide for a couple of hours on the day of the announcement.
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  #34  
Old Posted Mar 8, 2009, 6:45 PM
tgannaway89 tgannaway89 is offline
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Originally Posted by miaht82 View Post
Really?
It made the run on YahooSports and ESPN main slide for a couple of hours on the day of the announcement.
The school is already div 1 (don't know how many times that's been said). The big announcement is landing a well known coach for a startup team that hopes to rapidly progress. SA is a football deprived city and things are lining up perfect for the roadrunners.
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  #35  
Old Posted Mar 9, 2009, 4:45 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tgannaway89 View Post
The school is already div 1...
Yes. That's true. But Division I in college football is still split into two divisions.

UTSA will be playing in Division I - Football Championship Subdivision (i.e., the former Division I-AA) and will be members of the Southland Conference (Texas State, Central Arkansas, McNeese State, Northwestern State, Nicholls State, Southeastern LA, Sam Houston State, and Stephen F.). But, we shouldn’t hold our breath for any meaningful games against BCS schools while UTSA is still in the D1-FCS. BCS schools who have D1-FCS teams on their schedules is detrimental to their overall strength-of-schedule and will count against them if they're up for an at-large bid to a BCS game!

I hope idea pans out for UTSA…and maybe in the future, they'll be able to move up to the Division I - Football Bowl Subdivision and join the WAC, Conference USA, or Mountain West Conference. However, that might take many years to accomplish.
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  #36  
Old Posted Mar 10, 2009, 8:09 AM
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^I think everyone here knows about the FCS as well.

Can't everybody just leave us alone to celebrate a big step in SA football history??
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  #37  
Old Posted Jul 9, 2009, 9:05 PM
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It made front "slide/page" on Yahoo!Sports

by Jason King - Yahoo!Sports
Quote:
SAN ANTONIO – He’s a regular now, partly because of the charcoal chicken, but mainly because the Roadrunner Café is a four minute walk from Larry Coker’s office, where there are calls to make, letters to send, a football program to construct.

Still, even though he’s become a common face to most of the faculty and students that frequent the cafeteria at the University of Texas-San Antonio, Coker still generates a few puzzled stares.

One of them came from a college student who approached Coker last month as he was eating.

“Aren’t you the former Miami coach?” the young man said. “What are you doing here?”

That seems to be the question everyone is asking about Coker.

The guy with a national championship on his resume said he’s turned down assistant coaching offers from the NFL and Division-I college jobs since his firing from Miami in 2006. All along, Coker said he was waiting for the “right opportunity.”

No one, though, figured that opportunity would be here, at a university in the nation’s seventh-largest city, where somehow, there’s no football field, and no football team.

The Roadrunners and Coker will be starting from scratch.

“I’m the kind of guy that likes a challenge,” said Coker, 61. “This situation is perfect for me.”

Instead of jet-setting around the country on a private plane to recruit, Coker and his staff spent May and June road-tripping through Texas, where they sometimes visited as many as eight schools in one day. UTSA is still trying to find office space for Coker’s assistants. As for equipment?

“Right now,” Coker said chuckling, “we’ve got two helmets – and zero footballs.”

Not that there’s any urgency.

story continues....
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  #38  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2010, 9:14 PM
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UTSA gets $1 million gift for football

from mySA.com

Quote:
UTSA gets $1 million gift for football

By Dan McCarney - Express-News

During a December dinner at the Scenic Loop Café, UTSA athletic director Lynn Hickey formally asked local restaurateur Jim Bodenstedt to make the largest athletic gift in school history.

The price tag? A cool $1 million.

Much to Hickey's relief, Bodenstedt not only didn't flinch, he said he and his wife Catherine would review the proposal.

A few weeks later, during a Christmas party at the home of UTSA president Ricardo Romo, Hickey got her answer.

Read complete story....
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  #39  
Old Posted Feb 4, 2010, 6:12 PM
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Roadrunners land first football signees

from bizjournals.com
Quote:
Roadrunners land first football signees
San Antonio Business Journal - by W. Scott Bailey

The UTSA Roadrunners’ upstart football program has locked in its inaugural signing class.

A total of 24 high school seniors have signed letters of intent to suit up for UTSA, which will play its first season as an NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Independent (FCS/formerly Division I-AA) in 2011.

The class is highlighted by seven all-state performers, including sophomore transfer Brady Brown, who played for O’Connor High School in San Antonio and later at Texas A&M-Kingsville). The list also includes Robert Chapman and Cody Rogers, who are seniors at San Antonio’s Clark and Brandeis high schools.

Eleven members of UTSA’s inaugural signing class were selected to all-area teams during their high school careers. Six were academic all-state honorees.

“We’re really excited about the quality of this class,” says UTSA head coach Larry Coker said. “This is a very talented and well-rounded group that has bought into the vision of UTSA Football. They want to be the ones to help start this program.”

UTSA officials say 13 members of the signing class are from the greater San Antonio area.

“I think San Antonio is really under recruited,” Coker says. “There are some very good high school players in this area that sometimes are overlooked. We wanted to recruit San Antonio very heavily to help us build a good base of local players and then work our way out to the different areas of the state. I really think the quality of the players and coaches in this city and the state of Texas is outstanding.”

UTSA will hold its first official practices this fall. The university hopes to compete as a Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) independent in 2013.

Inaugural UTSA Signing Class:
see list...
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- Harlan Douglass, The Suburban Trend, 1925
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  #40  
Old Posted May 5, 2010, 9:31 PM
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UTSA scores another Big 12 football opponent

from bizjournals.com

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UTSA scores another Big 12 football opponent
Wednesday, May 5, 2010, 11:43am CDT
San Antonio Business Journal - by W. Scott Bailey

The University of Texas at San Antonio has struck another multi-game deal with another marquee football conference.

The UTSA Roadrunners, which will launch its football program next fall, has reached an agreement with Kansas State of the Big 12 Conference and will play the Wildcats during the 2014, 2015 and 2018 seasons.

The 2014 and 2018 games will be played in Manhattan, Kan. The 2015 game will be played in San Antonio’s Alamodome.

“It’s very exciting for our program and fans to be able to bring another big-name opponent into the Alamodome for a home game,” says UTSA head coach Larry Coker.

Read more: UTSA scores another Big 12 football opponent - San Antonio Business Journal:

UTSA will play Arizona in 2013 and 2015 at Arizona Stadium and in 2014 in the Alamodome.

The Roadrunners will play Arizona State in 2016 in San Antonio and in 2018 in Tempe.

UTSA will travel to Waco to play the Bears in 2017 and in 2019.
Baylor will play in San Antonio in 2018.

UTSA will play the Wildcats in 2014 and 2018 in Manhattan, Kan. The 2015 game will be played in the Alamodome.

First game will be Sept. 3rd, 2011.
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- Harlan Douglass, The Suburban Trend, 1925
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