Larry Warner was named to the UAPB Football staff in 2021.
Warner joins UAPB after spending the previous three seasons as running backs coach at the University of South Alabama (2018-20) and worked with kick returners on special teams.
Warner helped Tra Minter become just the second All-American in program history — earning honorable mention recognition from Phil Steele Publications — as an all-purpose back after leading the Sun Belt Conference and ranking second nationally with an average of better than 160 yards per game. Minter was also among the top five in the league in rushing after becoming the first Jaguar ever to post a 1,000-yard season, while both Carlos Davis and Jared Wilson recorded triple digit rushing totals as redshirt freshmen after gaining 269 and 176 yards, respectively. Not only did Warner’s group contribute to a school game record 413 yards rushing in a victory over Jackson State, it helped South gain over 200 yards on the ground on three other occasions including a 351-yard effort against eventual SBC West Division champion Louisiana.
Under his direction in 2018, Minter would lead the Sun Belt Conference and rank in the top 10 nationally in all-purpose yardage after leading the team in rushing with 801 yards — he was among the top 10 in the league in that category as well — and catching 23 passes, a program record for a running back, for an additional 201 yards. Minter recorded the first 200-yard rushing game in program history in the season finale to help the Jaguars defeat Coastal Carolina, and he also finished third in the conference in kickoff returns to earn second-team all-Sun Belt honors. Warner also helped senior Deonta Moore post a career high with 250 yards rushing as USA ran for 150 or more yards on five separate occasions during the season.
Prior to South Alabama, Warner worked in the same role at Central Arkansas during the 2016 and ’17 campaigns. During that time, his efforts helped the Bears go 20-4 overall and 17-1 in the Southland Conference as UCA qualified for the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs both seasons highlighted by a win in the first round in 2016.
In his last year with the Bears, Warner helped the team’s top two running backs combine for more than 1,600 yards and 13 touchdowns as Carlos Blackman picked up second-team all-Southland Conference honors and Kierre Crossley was chosen honorable mention all-league. Not only did UCA rank among the top 25 in the country in rushing offense that fall, but the team earned the fourth seed in the NCAA FCS playoffs while ending the year 10-2 overall and Southland champions after going 9-0 in the conference. The Bears also ended the 2016 season 10-2 after a 31-24 win over Illinois State to begin the playoffs that fall.
Warner twice worked on the staff at Carbondale (Ill.) High as an assistant, first in 2009 and then from 2012-13. In between, he was a graduate assistant for two seasons at Southern Illinois — where he helped Jewel Hampton surpass 1,000 yards rushing on the way to being named the Missouri Valley Football Conference Newcomer of the Year — before returning to the program as a full-time assistant from 2014-15.
Warner played for Campbell at Mississippi Gulf Coast C.C. during the 2005 and ’06 seasons, earning All-America honors as a sophomore after ranking fourth in the country in rushing as he gained 1,244 yards and scored 10 touchdowns on 169 attempts. Upon receiving his associate degree from the school, he transferred to Southern Illinois where in two years he was part of a porgram that went 21-5 overall and 12-2 in league play, making the NCAA FCS playoff field on both occasions including winning a pair of games in 2007. In two seasons at the school, Warner rushed for 1,790 yards and 15 touchdowns — averaging more than six yards per carry — and he also returned 28 kickoffs, including three for scores, still ranking among the top 20 on the Salukis’ career rushing record list. After running for 1,265 yards and 10 touchdowns while standing second nationally with an average of 31.2 yards per kickoff return he was named first-team All-America by the Associated Press and finished 10th in the voting for the Walter Payton Award.
A 2009 graduate of Southern Illinois with a degree in recreation, Warner and his wife Dominique have two daughters, Penny and Alivia.
