UTSA football with SMU reference

[smupony94]

Coker gets into construction business


The polo shirt bore the lettering "UTSA Roadrunners" and provided a sharp contrast with the accessory on the right hand.

An oversized ring was impossible to miss, with an emerald surrounding a stylish U, commemorating Miami's 2001 national football championship.

At once, Larry Coker's future and past were on display. Late last week, Coker met with high school coaches through the Dallas area, selling a Texas-San Antonio startup program that won't field a team until 2011.

"Every place I've been before," Coker said, "we've had helmets and a dressing room."

As much as Coker loves talking UTSA, his Miami experience remains inescapable. He won a national title, nearly won another and was out of a job by 2006.

Coker's end at Miami was symbolized by an ugly brawl against Florida International. Coker became the handy fall guy, dubbed too nice as the program slipped.

He says he couldn't overcome the media attention on the brawl and the Miami image.

"You change hats and you change shirts," Coker said. "In my mind, Miami was such a great experience to me. They've moved on, and I'm moving on.

"Now I've got such a great opportunity here. I don't think about it much anymore, about the jets flying over and the championships and those things."

Before becoming intrigued by UTSA, Coker was resigned to being the best grandfather he could be. The championship ring was tucked away in a drawer.

UTSA athletic director Lynn Hickey remembers a brief voice mail message expressing interest.

Hickey thought, "It can't be that Larry Coker."

It was.

Facing probably the biggest hire in UTSA athletic history, Hickey did her homework, talking to officials at Miami and the Atlantic Coast Conference. The search always came back to Coker.

Coker studied too, talking to coaches in similar situations, like South Florida's Jim Leavitt, Georgia State's Bill Curry and Florida Atlantic's Howard Schnellenberger.

Coker has already hired three staff members, including Eric Roark, an assistant coach at SMU for six seasons. Roark remembers Coker coaching at a small high school in Oklahoma.

"From that time to this time, he's still the same person," Roark said. "A lot of it is, 'That's the Miami coach.' For UTSA to hire him, that brought the school instant credibility."

Coker has accomplished a lot in two months but plenty remains.

While UTSA will play its home games at the Alamodome, practices will be at a high school stadium and the football offices will be in a modular building.

Plus, Coker must adjust his recruiting target, although he wants Division I players.

At Miami, his tailback depth chart once read: Clinton Portis, Frank Gore, Willis McGahee and Najeh Davenport.

What Coker has in his favor is strong enthusiasm from the UTSA student body, alumni and businesses ready for Division I football in the nation's seventh-largest city.

Plans call for 125 acres adjacent to campus to become an athletic village, much like Central Florida.

While the football program will initially compete in the Championship Subdivison as a member of the Southland Conference, the school of 28,000 eventually has hopes of moving into the Bowl Subdivision.

"This, to me, is as exciting as a national title search in terms of what we can be, and to see it happen," Coker said. "How many people get to start something from scratch?"