Larry Coker was named the first head coach in UTSA football history on March 6, 2009.
The Okemah, Okla., native came to UTSA after spending two seasons as a college football analyst for ESPN. Prior to that, Coker arguably was one of the nation’s top head coaches from 2001 to 2006 at the University of Miami.
He posted a 60–15 record (.800 winning percentage) in his six seasons, including wins in his first 24 games, and led the Hurricanes to the 2001 National Championship in his first season, becoming just the second coach in NCAA history to do so and the first in 53 years.
Coker was a two-time National Coach of the Year (2001–2002), American Football Coaches Association Region Coach of the Year (2001, 2005) and Big East Coach of the Year (2001–2002) honoree.
He led the Hurricanes to a pair of Bowl Championship Series title game appearances, three BCS bowl games, a total of six bowl contests overall and three consecutive Big East Conference Championships from 2001 to 2003 during his tenure.
Coker has coached 26 first-team All-Americans and 96 first-team all-conference picks during his career and also mentored 73 student-athletes who earned academic all-conference accolades. In fact, his 2005 team graduated all 21 players, a total higher than any other program in the country, and the Hurricanes’ 84-percent graduation rate a year earlier was far higher than the national average. His teams annually were honored for their excellence in the classroom by the AFCA.
Coker has been successful in every stop of his 36-year coaching career, including 22 seasons as an assistant at the collegiate level. He has been on college teams that have made a total of 18 bowl appearances and those squads have been victorious 14 times.
He served as Miami’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 1995 to 2000 and the Hurricanes won all four of their bowl games during that time.
Prior to his arrival at Miami, Coker was an assistant at Ohio State (1993–1994), Oklahoma (1990–1992), Oklahoma State (1983–1989) and Tulsa (1979–1983).
He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history from Northeastern (Okla.) State University in 1970 and earned his master’s in guidance counseling and physical education three years later from the same school.
Coker and his wife, Dianna, are the parents of a daughter, Lara, and the grandparents of twin boys, Daniel and Dillon.
A rising star in the offensive coaching ranks, Travis Bush was hired in January 2010 as offensive coordinator at UTSA. He also will tutor the program’s quarterbacks.
Bush came to UTSA from Texas State, where he completed his sixth season overall and third season as the associate head coach, co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at his alma mater in 2009.
Bush began his coaching career at San Marcos High School where he tutored the Rattlers’ quarterbacks, running backs and special teams.
From 2001 to 2003, Bush was a graduate assistant coach at TCU, working with the Horned Frogs’ offensive line.
Bush graduated from Gregory-Portland High School in 1995, where he was a UIL 4A all-state quarterback. He moved on to Texas State, lettering four seasons as a wide receiver. He was also awarded the J.C. Kellam Award in 1999, which honors Texas State’s most outstanding senior football student-athlete.
Bush graduated from Texas State in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in exercise and sports science and holds teaching certificates in mathematics and physical education. He earned a master’s degree in education administration from TCU in 2003. He and his wife, Diana, have two sons, Treyson and Tyler.
A 17-year coaching veteran, Neal Neathery was hired in March 2010 as UTSA’s defensive coordinator. He also will tutor the program’s linebackers.
Neathery comes to UTSA from Drake, where he served as assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach from 2008 to 2009.
He was the associate head coach at Wabash College from 2001 to 2007 and was named the American Football Coaches Association NCAA Division III Assistant Coach of the Year in 2007.
A 1993 graduate of Wheaton (Ill.) College, where he was a four-year starter at defensive end from 1989 to 1993, Neathery served as a captain his senior year. He earned the James Parmalee Most Respected Player Award.
The Stillwater, Okla., native earned his bachelor’s degree in business/economics and Bible and theology from Wheaton in 1993. He earned a master’s degree in health and human performances from Fort Hayes State in 1995.
He and his wife, Rebecca, have three children: Parker, Michael and Hannah.
