Zak Kuhr is in his second year at Texas State and first year as the offensive coordinator for the Bobcats after serving as a co-coordinator last season. Kuhr is also in his second season as the running backs coach in 2018.
In his first season with the Bobcats, Texas State’s offense averaged over 389 yards of total offense and nearly 23 points during the final five games after netting just 304 yards and 13.4 points per contest in the first seven games.
Kuhr also coached a trio of running backs who combined for over 1,200 yards and five touchdowns. Anthony D. Taylor led the Bobcats in rushing with 486 yards and two TDs on 108 carries. Taylor also caught 15 passes for 159 yards and three TDs. Anthony Smith averaged 4.8 yards per carry and rushed for 352 yards and three TDs, while Robert Brown, Jr. tallied 305 yards rushing.
Kuhr rejoined head coach Everett Withers last season after coaching the running backs at Rutgers in 2016. There, he tutored one of the top nine Big Ten Conference leaders in all-purpose yards that season.
Kuhr went to Rutgers after spending two years on the coaching staff at James Madison. He served as the co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach for the Dukes in 2015 after coaching the running backs during the previous season.
In 2015, James Madison finished with a 9-3 record, advanced to the second round of the FCS playoffs and ranked among the Top 10 nationally in several statistical categories on offense. The Dukes led the country in third down conversion percentage (54 percent), and were second in scoring offense (44.3 ppg), third in total offense (528.8 ypg), third in first down offense (329), seventh in rushing offense (273.8 ypg) and ninth in red zone offense (89.4 percent).
Kuhr also coached running backs Cardon Johnson and Khalid Abdullah, who combined to rush for over 2,000 yards while the team netted 3,285 yards rushing with 36 touchdowns.
In his first season as running backs coach, JMU’s rushing offense amassed over 2,800 yards and 25 touchdowns. The Dukes averaged 215.5 rushing yards per game, which ranked second in the Colonial Athletic Association and 21st in all of FCS.
Kuhr went to James Madison after spending the 2013 season as a graduate assistant at Old Dominion, where he worked with the running backs and special teams.
He was an intern under Urban Meyer at Ohio State for two seasons where he coached the same personnel groups. That included mentoring running back Carlos Hyde, who went on to earn All-American honors. Kuhr also assisted in developing game strategies for Ohio State’s special teams against opposing defenses.
He went to Ohio State after a two-year stint as a special teams coordinator at Edward Waters College and began his coaching career as an assistant high school coach at Mandarin and at N.B. Forrest, where he served as offensive coordinator.
A native of Jacksonville, Fla., Kuhr earned his bachelor’s degree in sports management at Florida in 2013.
