Larry Blakeney - Football Coach - Troy University Athletics

Larry Blakeney

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
blakeney@troy.edu
Phone:
3682

For the past two decades there have been very few constants in college athletics.

Schools have changed conferences, often more than once. Coaches have pledged loyalty to a school, only to bolt for another job the next day. Student-athletes have gotten bigger, and stronger, and the academic requirements they must meet in order to compete have become increasingly more stringent.

Among the few constants on the landscape of college football is Trojans head coach Larry Blakeney.

Entering his 20th season in 2010, Blakeney, quite simply, has been a winner throughout his career.

A 2009 inductee into the prestigious Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, Blakeney has been at the forefront of the move of the entire Troy University athletics program from the ranks of Division II, through Division I-AA and into Division I-A. He has run a program that is based on integrity and has been regularly recognized by the American Football Coaches Association for high graduation rates.

Throughout his career, Blakeney has been recognized by his peers, by the people he has worked for and with, and by the sporting community at large. He has been named to four separate Halls of Fame, has been named Coach of the Year on numerous occasions and he gives generously of his time to almost any group or organization who asks for it.

But his impact on Troy athletics goes beyond wins and losses. Yes, the Trojans have captured seven conference titles during his tenure. Yes, the Trojans have literally sent scores of players on to successful careers as professional football players.

But the Troy football program has sent thousands of men on to successful lives away from football. Many of the players who have come to Troy to play for Blakeney never had a positive male role model in their lives. That changes when they become Trojans.

Even with all of the obligations and responsibilities that come with the job, if you ask any player who has taken the field for the Trojans over the last 19 years, they will tell you that he is a players’ coach. He cares about the young men who play for him, and not just during their time at Troy.

From his time as a quarterback at Auburn University, to his highly successful high school coaching career, from his 14 years as an assistant coach at his alma mater when the Tigers enjoyed an unprecedented run of success to his now 19 seasons at Troy University, Blakeney has always been associated with a job well done.

His tenure at Troy University has been nothing less than remarkable. During his 19 years, he has led the Trojans to a 153-77-1 record, posting the third-best winning percentage among all programs in the state of Alabama during that span.

As the school’s longest-serving and most successful head coach of all time, Blakeney has led the Troy football program to an unequaled run of success that has taken the Trojans from Division II to the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and now to the grandest stage of all, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).

Blakeney has guided the Trojans to 14 winning seasons, including six seasons of 10 wins or more and he currently stands fourth among all college coaches to have manned a sideline in the state of Alabama with 153 victories.

Since guiding the Trojans into the Sun Belt Conference in 2004, Blakeney has enjoyed what can only be termed stunning success at the highest level of the game. In six seasons his teams have won four conference crowns and appeared in four bowl games.

Blakeney enters his 20th season at Troy University seeking a fifth consecutive Sun Belt Conference title. Only six programs in the history of what is now the Football Bowl Subdivision have won as many as five straight league crowns – Florida State in the ACC (5, 1996-2000), Alabama in the SEC (5, 1971-75), Ohio State in the Big 10 (6, 1972-77), USC in the Pac 10 (7, 2002-08) and BYU in the WAC (10, 1976-85).

Not surprisingly, the coaches of those championship runs have gone down in history as some of the best in the history of the game – Bobby Bowden at FAU, Paul “Bear” Bryant at Alabama, Woody Hayes at OSU, Pete Carroll at USC and Lavelle Edwards at BYU.

A fifth straight Sun Belt title in 2010 would give Blakeney his rightful place among the all-time greats of the game.

The run of championship success in the Sun Belt started in 2006 when, in just the third season in the league, the Trojans captured their first Sun Belt Conference title. They completed that remarkable season by winning the first bowl game in school history, a decisive 41-17 victory over Rice in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.

The championship roll continued in 2007 as the Trojans earned a share of their second consecutive title, posting an 8-4 record that included nationally-televised victories over Oklahoma State and Middle Tennessee.

The roll did not stop in 2008, as the Trojans won their third straight Sun Belt Conference crown, earning their second appearance in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl in 2008. The season included nationally-televised victories over Middle Tennessee and Florida Atlantic as the Trojans recorded eight victories for the third consecutive season in the FBS.

In 2009 Blakeney guided the Trojans to the first perfect 8-0 record in Sun Belt Conference history in earning a fourth straight league crown. He was awarded the Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year Award for the second straight year due to his team’s first outright Sun Belt Conference championship.

The program made its first splash in the Sun Belt Conference in 2004 by producing a 7-5 record that included the schools’ first-ever bowl bid, a trip to California for the Silicon Valley Classic. The grand unveiling of a renovated Veterans Memorial Stadium was highlighted by a 24-14 upset of nationally-ranked Missouri that was televised live by ESPN.

In 2003, the Trojans posted a 6-6 mark against one of the most challenging schedules in the nation. The slate included eight road games, contests that included traditional powers Kansas State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Virginia. In addition, the Trojans defeated Marshall and UAB, and played four other schools from the Sun Belt Conference.

The Trojans played their first official season as a FBS member in 2002 after going 7-4 in their “transition” season in 2001. Included in the 2001 win total were three wins over FBS foes and a monumental upset of SEC power Mississippi State, the school’s first victory over a BCS-conference school. Of the team’s four losses, three came against opponents ranked in the Top 15 nationally; national-runner-up Nebraska, 15th-ranked Maryland and national champion Miami, Fla.

In 2002, the Trojans were 4-8 against a schedule that included games against two SEC schools, three Big 12 opponents, in-state rival UAB and perennial bowl participant Marshall. The Troy defense finished fourth in the nation in total defense despite the challenging slate.

While a member of the FCS, the Trojans enjoyed one of the most successful runs in school history. Over eight seasons, the Trojans advanced to the national semifinals twice and the FCS postseason seven times, including an NCAA-record four consecutive seasons after making the move from NCAA Division II in 1993.

When the Trojans jumped to FBS status, Blakeney made NCAA history, becoming one of only two coaches to lead a program from NCAA Division II to the FBS, joining Central Florida’s Gene McDowell.

Blakeney’s journey at Troy University began on December 3, 1990, when he was hired as the 20th head coach in school history. During the 1980s, Troy won two NCAA Division II national championships, but the program was in a rebuilding phase upon Blakeney’s arrival. In the three years prior to his arrival, the Trojans had combined for a 13-17 overall record.

His first two seasons came during the “transition” period in the move to FCS status. The program was still technically Division II, although it was not allowed to compete in the playoffs. Blakeney’s first team finished 5-6, but a 10-1 second year, which included a 41-7 win over FBS member Arkansas State, gave Troy fans a glimpse of what was to come.

Troy hit its first full season of FCS play running in 1993 when Blakeney led the Trojans to a 12-1-1 finish and a berth in the FCS semifinals. The 10-0-1 regular season finish was the program’s first undefeated season in school history while playing a complete schedule. Troy finished the regular season as the top-ranked team in country according to the Sports Network.

The following season brought an 8-4 record and another berth in the playoffs. The Trojans lost in the first round at James Madison, but they proved they deserved a spot among the elite programs, finishing the year ranked 12th.

The 1995 season brought the first unbeaten and untied regular season to the school annals when Troy took an 11-0 record into the postseason before losing in the first round to Georgia Southern. Troy entered the playoffs ranked third in the nation.

For all of the success the team enjoyed in its first three FCS seasons, Blakeney’s rebuilding skills were displayed once again during the 1996 season after the loss of 23 seniors from the 1995 squad. Going into its first season of play in the Southland Football League, the Trojans won the league by posting a 5-1 mark and a 10-1 record overall. Troy finished the year 12-2 and again marched to the FCS semifinals. That netted a fourth-place finish in the Sports Network Top 25 and a 12th-place ranking in the ESPN/USA Today poll.

The 1996 seniors certainly left their mark, finishing their careers as the all-time most successful class at Troy with a 43-8-1 mark over four years. That eclipsed the 1995 senior class that had amassed a 41-7-1 record.

Those groups represented Blakeney’s first two recruiting classes at Troy. The Trojans became the first team in NCAA history to advance to the FCS playoffs in their first four seasons of eligibility, and finished with seven playoff berths in eight full seasons of FCS membership.

Untimely, injuries and four losses by seven points or less doomed the 1997 team as it slipped to a 5-6 record despite an early-season ranking that saw the Trojans rise as high as number two nationally. A return to the FCS playoffs in 1998 highlighted an 8-4 season that saw the Trojans finish 11th (Sports Network) and 13th (ESPN/USA Today) in the polls.

The Trojans climbed back to the top of the charts in 1999 when they were the consensus top-ranked team in the country for a four-week period en route to finishing 11-2 overall and winning the Southland League football championship. The Trojans also advanced to the FCS quarterfinals and finished with a number six national ranking in all three polls. Senior defensive lineman Al Lucas became the first National Player of the Year in school history by winning the Buck Buchanan Award as the top FCS defensive player.

Blakeney won back-to-back SFL Coach of the Year awards in 1999 and 2000, and was also honored as Regional Coach of the Year in back-to-back years by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA). During the summer of 2000, he was honored with the Johnny Vaught Lifetime Achievement Award by the All-American Football Foundation.

Prior to his arrival in Troy, Blakeney had a variety of roles in his 14 seasons at Auburn. He began his coaching career as the assistant offensive line coach during the 1977 and 1978 seasons. That was followed by stints with the Tigers’ tight ends and wide receivers coach from 1978 until 1980, and then a focus strictly on wide receivers from 1981 until 1990.

From 1986-90, Blakeney was also the Tigers’ offensive play-caller. During that time, Auburn posted a 47-10-3 record and won three Southeastern Conference championships. They also were 3-1-1 in bowl games over that span.

Auburn had a 110-50-3 record during his time with the program, including four SEC championships and nine bowl appearances (6-2-1). In 1990, he was honored by the Chilton County Auburn Club with its “Unsung Hero Award.”

Before joining the coaching staff at his alma mater, Blakeney coached seven seasons in the Alabama high school ranks. He was the head coach at Southern Academy (1970-71), Walker High School (1972-74) and Vestavia Hills High School (1975-76). He compiled a 50-24-2 record during his time as a prep head coach.

A 1970 graduate of Auburn University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Blakeney was a three-year letterman (1966-69) at quarterback for the legendary Ralph “Shug” Jordan. He was the first sophomore ever to start at quarterback for Jordan, and Auburn played in two bowl games during Blakeney’s career. The 1968 team defeated Arizona 34-10 in the Sun Bowl, while the 1969 squad lost 36-7 to Houston in the Bluebonnet Bowl.

Blakeney was a two-sport star for the Tigers, also lettering in baseball (1968-69) while playing shortstop and third base for legendary coach Paul Nix.

He earned his Master’s degree in Education from the University of Montevallo in 1976.

Blakeney was born September 21, 1947, in Birmingham, but grew up in Gordo where he played football, baseball and basketball at Gordo High School.

He is married to the former Janice Powell. The couple has three daughters, Kelley and twins, Julie and Tiffany.

Kelley, a graduate of Troy University and the UAB Medical School, is a doctor of pathology in Columbia, Tenn. Julie, a Troy marketing graduate, works for an insurance agency in Birmingham and recently married Adam Ivory of Tallahassee, Fla. Tiffany, who graduated with an International Business degree from Troy University, lives with her husband Jason Rash in Atlanta.

The Blakeney’s have three granddaughters; Caroline Elizabeth Taylor, Madeline Ann Rash and Danielle Avery Rash.