Curtis Luper, who served as Oklahoma State's running backs coach for the previous four seasons and the assistant head coach for player development the last two seasons for the Cowboys, is in his first year as running backs coach at Auburn. Under Luper, the OSU running attack has led the Big 12 Conference in rushing the last three seasons and finished the 2008 campaign averaging 245.5 yards per game. Prior to their bowl game, the Cowboys, who finished with a 9-4 record, were seventh nationally in rushing. Oklahoma State finished seventh nationally and first in the Big 12 Conference in rushing in 2006 and 2007 averaging 243.2 and 208.0 yards per game, respectively. Under Luper's tutelage, the Cowboys have had back-to-back 1,000 yard rushers in Kendall Hunter (1,555) in 2008 and Dantrell Savage (1,272) in 2007. Prior to his arrival at OSU, Luper was the running backs coach at New Mexico from 2002-04 and the secondary/assistant head coach at Texas A&M-Commerce from 1999-01. While at New Mexico, Luper coached the Mountain West Conference's career rushing leader in DonTrell Moore and helped the Lobo's finish 16th nationally in rushing in 2003. A native of Sherman, Texas, Luper began his coaching career as a graduate assistant (secondary) at Stephen F. Austin (1995-96) and was the running backs coach at SFA in 1997 before serving in the same capacity at McKinney (Texas) High School. Luper began his playing career at Oklahoma State, where he played from 1984-87, but his stay was interrupted from 1988 to 1992 when he served as an air traffic controller for the United States Army. During his tenure in the Army, Luper spent eight months combined at Fort McClellan in Anniston, Ala. and Fort Rucker near Enterprise, Ala. He completed his eligibility at Stephen F. Austin as a second-team all-Southland Conference running back in 1993 when he led the team in rushing and scoring. Luper earned his bachelor's degree in communications from Stephen F. Austin in 1996 and master's degree in communications from SFA in 1998. He is expected to receive his doctoral degree in secondary and higher education from Texas A&M-Commerce in May 2009. Luper is married to the former Nikki Echols. The couple has three daughters, A'rielle, Charitie and Cheyenne, and two sons, Cameron and Chancellor. |
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