Football
- Title:
- Assistant Coach/Running Backs
- Email:
- adhammer@central.uh.edu
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• Coach Kenith Pope on Twitter
Coaching Accomplishments
• Kenith Pope was named running backs coach at Houston on Jan. 9, 2015.
• Well-known and a highly respected veteran in the coaching profession, Pope has 38 years of coaching experience on the collegiate level. He is a veteran of 21 bowl games during his coaching career.
• He has mentored 20 players who have gone on to the NFL including Jorvorskie Lane who holds the school record for career rushing touchdowns (49) at Texas A&M. He also recruited Super Bowl champion Joseph "Red" Bryant. Pope has played and coached for some of the biggest names in college football history, including Barry Switzer at Oklahoma, Jackie Sherrill at Mississippi State, Howard Schnellenberger at OU and Dennis Franchione at TCU, Alabama and Texas A&M.
•?The 2018 season saw two of Pope’s backs run for over 100 yards in a game in Patrick Carr and true freshman Kelan Walker while Carr was fifth in The American with 11 runs of at least 20 yards.Â
• The 2018 Houston offense was one of the nation’s best, ranking fourth nationally in scoring offense with 46.4 points per game and sixth nationally in total offense with 528.6 yards per game. Houston scored at least 30 points in all 12 regular-season games and hit the 40-point mark in 10 of 12 games.Â
• Houston’s 2018 offense was the epitome of balance as the Cougars and Oklahoma were the only two schools in the nation to rank in the top 20 in both rushing offense and passing offense. Houston ranked No. 14 in passing offense with 300.9 yards per game and No. 20 in rushing offense with 227.7 yards per game.
• In his first season at Houston, Pope coached a group that helped lead Houston to the 13th-best rushing attack in the nation, averaging 235.8 yards per game, while Kenneth Farrow earned postseason honors from The American. Pope successfully navigated a season-ending loss to Ryan Jackson and late-season injuries to Farrow by converting cornerback Brandon Wilson into a backfield threat in just four days, as the shifty speedster ran for 111 yards and two touchdowns in Houston's showdown vs. Navy before running for 70 yards vs. Temple in The American Championship.
• Pope completed a successful five-year stretch at Iowa State with proven results from his Cyclone running backs before serving one year as outside linebackers coach at Incarnate Word.
• In 2009, his first fall at Iowa State, running back Alexander Robinson became the 12th Cyclone back to reach 1,000 yards rushing (1,058) and ranked third in the Big 12. Robinson dodged injuries in 2010 but still managed to tally nearly 1,000 rushing yards. He finished his career with 3,309 rushing yards, ranking fourth in Iowa State history. His all-purpose yards total of 4,114 yards ranks third.
• With Robinson having graduated, Pope's focus was on Iowa State sophomores James White and Shontrelle Johnson in 2011. White made a big splash, earning Honorable Mention All-Big 12 honors by rushing 743 yards on 159 carries and eight touchdowns. Johnson racked up 51 carries for 247 yards before a season-ending injury in the fourth game of the season. Fullback Jeff Woody rushed for 381 yards on 90 carries and six touchdowns, including the game-winning jaunt for the touchdown that gave the Cyclones a 37-31 victory in the second overtime against No. 2 Oklahoma State.
• Pope coached at UNLV in 2008 after five years as the assistant head coach at Texas A&M. He previously oversaw the Aggie running backs his last two seasons in College Station, Texas and tutored the Aggies' wide receivers in the 2003, 2004 and 2005 campaigns. During Pope's time at Texas A&M, he was a part of a staff that recruited five classes ranked in the top 20 nationally, including three among the top 10. Texas A&M played in the 2005 Cotton Bowl, the 2006 Holiday Bowl and the 2007 Alamo Bowl during Pope's tenure in College Station.
• Prior to his time at Texas A&M, Pope served as assistant head coach/receivers coach at Alabama in 2001-02, where at one point, the Crimson Tide won 14 of 17 games. In 2002, Alabama posted a 10-3 record, the best mark in the SEC West. The Tide was second in the conference in total offense that season with Pope serving as assistant head coach and wide receivers coach.
• At TCU (from 1998-2000), Pope was on the coaching staff that produced a 25-11 record after being 1-10 in 1997 as the Horned Frogs claimed back-to-back WAC Championships and climbed into the AP Top 25 for the first time in 40 years.
• Pope also coached at Oklahoma (1995-97), Mississippi State (1991-94), Oklahoma State (1987-90), SMU (1981-86) and Lamar (1979-80).
• A defensive back at Oklahoma, Pope earned his bachelor's degree from the school in 1976. During his Sooner playing career, OU went 29-5-1 and won two straight Sugar Bowls. His senior season, Oklahoma went 10-0-1, won the Big Eight championship and Pope played in the Blue-Gray Classic and the American Bowl. He was a ninth-round choice by the Oakland Raiders in the 1974 NFL draft and played that season with the New England Patriots.
