Kirk Garner

Kirk Garner joined the Lobo Football program in December of 2023, and he serves as the running backs coach for UNM. He comes to New Mexico after a one-year stint at East Tennessee State.

Overall, Garner has seven years of coaching experience and four as a full-time staff member. The 2024 season is his second as a position coach. In April of 2024 he was named a “G5 Coach on the Rise” by Our Coaching Network.

The 2024 season will be his fourth working with Mendenhall.

PREVIOUS COACHING STOPS

EAST TENNESSEE STATE (2022-23): Garner spent one season with East Tennessee State, coaching running backs for the Bucs in 2023. The 2023 season saw East Tennessee State rush for 1,704 yards and 15 touchdowns in just 11 games, with running back Bryson Irby leading the way with a team-leading and career-high 531 yards on 108 carries, 4.9 yards per tote. He also added a career-best five touchdowns and twice rushed for more than 100 yards.

VANDERBILT (2021-22):  Garner spent two seasons with Vanderbilt in his first full-time coaching position, serving as the offensive quality control coach for the Commodores under Clark Lea and offensive coordinator David Raih.

Vandy in 2022 showcased an improved offense as the team just missed qualifying for a bowl game while the offense improved to 295 points, the second- highest total for the program in a 10-year stretch. The program just missed its sixth bowl appearance in the past 48 years.

VIRGINIA (2018-20): Garner got his coaching career started with a three-year stint at Virginia under Bronco Mendenhall as a defensive graduate assistant, working under current defensive coordinator Nick Howell. As a G.A., he worked mostly with the defensive backs.

PLAYING CAREER: VIRGINIA (2014-17): As a player, Garner played four seasons at Virginia, the final two under Bronco Mendenhall. He was a four-year letterwinner, appearing in 32 games for the Cavaliers, missing the final 12 games of the 2017 season. That year he moved into a student coach role.

Overall he recorded 22 tackles and a 1.0 TFLs. Included in that was a career-best 15 tackles in 2015. He earned a pair of degrees from Virginia, graduating with a degree in anthropology in 2017, and then earning his master’s in higher education in 2018.