Kurt Crain, who joined the South Alabama staff in July of 2008, is beginning his second season working with Jaguar linebackers and his first as an associate head coach.
In the program’s first season, inside linebackers Justin Dunn and Charlie Higgenbotham ranked first and third on the team with 40 and 26 total tackles, respectively, while helping the defense allow under 235 yards and seven points per outing. Dunn would pace the team in stops in each of its first four games, while fellow inside linebacker Enrique Williams — who would end up with 24 tackles to tie for fourth on the squad — accomplished the feat in two of the season’s final three contests.
Bryson James would chip in 23 stops as Crain’s unit accounted for 16½ tackles for loss while also forcing three fumbles.
Crain was an Associated Press All-American at linebacker at Auburn, helping lead the Tigers to a 19-3-2 (80%) mark, the 1987 Southeastern Conference championship and a pair of bowl berths — AU defeated Southern California in the Citrus Bowl his junior year before tying fourth-ranked Syracuse in the Sugar Bowl in his final collegiate appearance. The Tigers finished in the top 10 of the final AP rankings in each of those seasons, ending the 1986 campaign sixth while being voted seventh the following year.
Selected as team captain his senior season, Crain recorded team-leading totals with 168 tackles — still the second-highest figure on the AU season record charts — and five interceptions to add first-team all-SEC accolades to his All-America honors. He also was chosen first-team all-conference the previous fall as his 156 stops, which ranks fifth on the season record list, paced the team.
Crain finished his collegiate career with 324 tackles, four sacks and seven interceptions, and still holds school records with 19 solo stops and 26 total tackles in a 1986 contest against Georgia. And, Crain’s 152 total assists still stand ninth on the school’s all-time list.
He began his collegiate career at Memphis, earning a pair of letters. The Tigers went 11-9-2 during his tenure, picking up a pair of victories over Mississippi State, a 20-point defeat of Mississippi in his collegiate debut and a 17-17 tie against 17th-ranked Florida State his sophomore season.
Following his time on the Plains, Crain was drafted by the Houston Oilers. He played two seasons in the NFL, spending time with both the Oilers and the Green Bay Packers.
He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Auburn in the early ’90s. Crain then moved on to Troy, where he coached linebackers during the 1991 season under Larry Blakeney. Crain then spent the 1992 campaign at Texas Christian with Pat Sullivan, coaching the outside linebackers. Following his stint with the Horned Frogs, Crain returned to his alma mater. While at Auburn, he coached the Tiger defensive line from 1993-95 and then moved to the outside linebackers in 1996 — AU was 36-9-1 (79.3%) during that stretch, finishing all four years ranked in the AP’s final top-25 poll. That included ending his first season back with the program fourth in the country after going 11-0.
Before Crain arrived at USA, he had been hired as the defensive coordinator for the All-American Football League team in Birmingham, Ala.
Crain and his wife Susan have three children: sons Jacob (20), who is a student assistant with the USA football program, and Blain (16), and daughter Shelby (17).
The Crain File
Born: Dec. 31, 1964, in Birmingham, Ala.
Education:
Auburn ’88, bachelor’s degree in education
Collegiate Playing Experience:
Two years, linebacker, Memphis
Two years, linebacker, Auburn
Named Associated Press All-American in 1987
Two-time first-team all-Southeastern Conference selection
Coaching Experience:
Auburn — graduate assistant, 1990
Troy — assistant coach, 1991
Texas Christian — assistant coach, 1992
Auburn — assistant coach, 1993-96
South Alabama — assistant coach, 2008-09; associate head coach 2010-
Family: Wife, Susan; Two sons, Jacob (20) and Blain (16), and one daughter Shelby (17)
