NOVEMBER 9, 2020 — Larry Coker, the first head coach of Roadrunners Football, is considered by many to be the “Father of UTSA Football.” A new endowment established with the UTSA Alumni Association honors his legacy as the first coach as well as supports scholarships for future football players.
The Larry Coker First Head Football Coach Endowment was established to honor the coach’s storied career and the impact he has made in our community. Alumni and fans are invited to honor Coker by contributing to the effort on the university’s crowdfunding site this week in celebration of UTSA’s 10th football season Homecoming game.
By request of the Coker family, gifts will provide scholarship funding to be awarded preferably to a football student-athlete who began his career as a walk-on.
Hired in 2009, Coker built the UTSA program from scratch, starting with only a helmet and a football purchased at a local store. Yet Coker, who wears a National Championship ring from his time at the University of Miami, made up for lack of facilities and equipment with reputation and humbleness. He saw the potential of UTSA’s location in one of the nation’s largest cities and in the middle of some of the best—yet often underrecruited—high school football talent in the country.
“I don’t think any other coach could have stepped into that role that he stepped into and done what he did with the program,” said Steven Kurfehs ’14, who played linebacker on the team from 2010 to 2013. “I don’t think that you would have had the buy-in from the players. I don’t think you would have had the buy-in from the city to this day. He made it possible by throwing his ring in there and saying, ‘Hey, I want to be part of this startup program.’”
In just two years Coker and staff formed a team that was ready to compete. In September 2011 the Roadrunners played and won their first game, and that season attracted NCAA-record crowds for a start-up program. In 2012 UTSA finished 8–4, which under other circumstances may have made them eligible for a bowl in just the second year of play.
Coker is a graduate of Northeastern State University in Oklahoma, where he walked on to the football team. He spent more than 37 years working his way from coach of a small Oklahoma high school to leader of an elite college program. He led the University of Miami Hurricanes to a 12–0 record and the National Championship in 2001. Coker had a reputation for grooming players for the NFL, including Barry Sanders, Thurman Thomas and Edgerrin James.
Even with that pedigree, Coker’s UTSA players appreciated that he was approachable, humble and caring. “This is someone who has coached some of the greatest players to ever play the game. This is a guy who has a National Championship ring and he’s never too big for the moment,” said Kurfehs. “He’s never too big for anybody.”
Through the new endowment, Coker’s name will forever be linked to the current team as each player is selected. “The UTSA Alumni Association is proud to have a role in honoring Coach Coker in this way,” said Steve Woodall ’11, interim executive director of the association. “Your support will honor Coach Coker, whose impact on UTSA can’t be overstated.”
“Thanks to football and his efforts, UTSA has become more recognized around the country, and that enhances the value of a UTSA degree,” Woodall continued. “I hope people will take this opportunity to say thanks to Coach Coker by making a gift.”
Coker left UTSA in 2016 after five seasons with a legacy of starting a Division I Football program that has made it possible for hundreds of young men—including several who went on to the NFL—to get college educations while playing a sport they love.
“I just want to say thank you, Coach Coker, for giving me the opportunity, for giving all my buddies the opportunity,” said Kurfehs. “Thank you for empowering me as a player and believing in me.”
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AlamodomeThe University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
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