University of South Alabama Athletics

Kane Wommack enters his third year as the head coach of the South Alabama football program after a record-setting 2022 season in which the team won 10 games and made a trip to the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.
 
He is also a member of the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Board of Trustees.
 
Last season, the Jags finished 10-3 and finished second in the Sun Belt Conference West Division. The ten wins were the most of any South Alabama team during FBS play and tied the school record for wins in a season dating back to the inception of the program. South Alabama had 14 players selected to all-conference teams at the end of the year with La’Damian Webb and Yam Banks earning first-team honors and Banks earning All-American honors at the end of the year.
 
The program had a pair of players – Jalen Wayne and Darrell Luter, Jr. – named to the Reese’s Senior Bowl and were selected to participate in the NFL Combine. James Jackson was also selected to play in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl following the season.
 
In his first season at the helm, the Jags finished 5-7 dropping four games by one score or less. The Jags had eight selections to the all-conference teams including Jalen Tolbert earning Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Year honors. Tolbert was selected to play in the Reese’s Senior Bowl and was invited to the NFL Combine, before being selected in the third round by the Dallas Cowboys.
 
A finalist for the award given to the top NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision assistant coach last season, Kane Wommack was named the head football coach at the University of South Alabama on Dec. 12, 2020.

Wommack (pronounced WAH-mick), 34 at the time of his hiring and one of the youngest head coaches in college football, became the third head coach since the inception of South’s program and the youngest at the NCAA FBS level.  The Jaguars’ defensive coordinator in 2016 and ’17, he returned to the program after working three years as linebackers coach at Indiana including serving as the Hoosiers’ defensive coordinator his final two seasons.

Wommack was one of five finalists for the Broyles Award in the fall after his efforts helped IU post a 6-2 mark overall on the way to finishing 12th in the final Associated Press poll after earning an invitation to the Outback Bowl.  His unit led the Big Ten Conference with both 17 interceptions and a 64 percent red zone defensive rate — ranking first in the country in the latter category and second in the former — while also pacing the league with 20 takeaways and 3.12 sacks per contest.  The Hoosiers also finished 10th nationally in turnover margin (1.00) and were among the top 25 in scoring (20.2 points per game) and passing efficiency (120.96 rating) as well in 2020.

Following the season, seven members of the IU defense earned all-Big Ten honors including a school-record four — Jamar Johnson, Jerome Johnson, Micah McFadden and Tiawan Mullen — first-team selections.  Mullen also became the first cornerback in program history to earn first-team All-America honors after being recognized by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) while McFadden was a third-team Associated Press All-American.

In his first year as the youngest Power 5 defensive coordinator, Wommack led IU to top-50 rankings nationally in scoring, total, rush and pass defense for the first time since 1993.  His efforts helped the Hoosiers hold four opponents to three points or less, the most in one season since limiting five to three or fewer in 1945.

Wommack was the Jaguars’ defensive coordinator and linebackers coach during the 2016 and ’17 campaigns, leading a unit that was among the top 10 in the country in passing defense (174.6 ypg) while allowing over 10 points fewer than the previous season — the fifth-best improvement in the NCAA FBS that fall — his first year on the staff.  In 2017, South was in the top 15 nationally in both red zone defense and fumble recoveries as the Jags recorded 20 takeaways both seasons he was in charge of the defense.

Under his direction, Jeremy Reaves — currently with the Washington Football Team in the National Football League — was a two-time first-team all-Sun Belt Conference selection and the program’s first-ever individual to receive an individual award from the league after being named the Defensive Player of the Year in 2017.  After ranking in the top 10 in the nation in both sacks and tackles for loss in 2016, Randy Allen was voted first-team all-Sun Belt while linebackers Bull Barge, Roman Buchanan, Kalen Jackson and Darrell Songy each earned all-league accolades during Wommack’s two years at South.

Prior to his arrival at South, Wommack was the defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Eastern Illinois, where he helped the Panthers make a first-round appearance in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoffs while finishing in the top 25 of the final national poll in 2015.  That fall, EIU’s defense ranked second nationally in interceptions (19), third in takeaways (31), fourth in pass efficiency defense (103.0), eighth in red zone defense (67.3%) and 10th in tackles for loss (98) while Dino Fanti was named the 2015 Ohio Valley Conference co-Defensive Player of the Year.  In his first year with the program, the Panthers ranked second in the league in scoring defense and fourth in takeaways as four members of the unit earned all-OVC honors.

Wommack also has experience having worked at Tennessee-Martin in 2010, Jacksonville State in ’11 — where he helped the Gamecocks claim a share of the OVC championship — and Ole Miss during the 2012 and ’13 seasons.

He began his collegiate playing career at Arkansas, where he was a fullback in 2005 and ‘06, helping the Razorbacks win the Southeastern Conference West Division title his second year.  After transferring to Southern Mississippi, Wommack helped the Golden Eagles to three straight bowl appearances before earning his undergraduate degree in political science in 2009; he began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant while at the school.

Wommack and his wife Melissa have three sons: Asher, Tatum and Jones.  His father, Dave, had more than 35 years of experience coaching at the collegiate level, including serving as defensive coordinator at Ole Miss before retiring following the 2016 season.