Donnell Kirkwood Jr. Named Running Backs Coach at Wyoming

LARAMIE -- Wyoming has found its new running backs coach.

Donnell Kirkwood Jr. is Laramie bound and will replace the program's longest-tenured coach, Gordie Haug, who oddly is heading to the University of North Dakota.

Kirkwood led the running backs in Grand Forks the previous two seasons.

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He also lined up at that position at the University of Minnesota from 2010-14. Wyoming head coach Jay Sawvel was a defensive coach in Minneapolis during four of those seasons.

“I’m very excited for this opportunity to be on staff with coach Sawvel,” Kirkwood said in a press release. “Just to be back with coach Sawvel -- and be around a coach with great intensity and passion that saw me grow as a player -- is special. It is exciting to be a running back and coach running backs at this level, and it is something I cherish. I’m ready for gamedays in War Memorial Stadium and ready to play Cowboy tough football.”

Kirkwood was expected to be retained by new UND head coach Eric Schmidt, according to the Grand Forks Herald. Instead, he continues a recent trend at the school of running backs coaches leaving for other jobs, becoming the fifth to vacate the position in the last decade.

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North Dakota ranked 25th in the FCS in rushing last fall, averaging nearly 187 yards per game on the ground. The Fighting Hawks amassed 2,243 yards in 2024, led by running back Isaiah Smith. The senior averaged 6.8 yards per carry while rolling up 705 yards on 103 attempts. Gaven Ziebarth also added 534 yards. That duo accounted for 16 of UND's 27 rushing touchdowns.

Kirkwood Jr. coached the running backs and was the director of player personnel at Western Illinois in 2022 after spending the 2020-21 seasons at Northern State, Wyoming head basketball coach Sundance Wicks' alma mater. Kirkwood also led the backs at Minnesota's Southwest High School from 2015-19.

“We are very excited to have Donnell coaching our running backs,” Sawvel said in a prepared statement. “Donnell was a great team player at Minnesota and very mature person that brought it every day. Coach Kirkwood has worked his way up the ladder in his coaching career. Every head coach he has coached with has been very impressed with his work and we are excited to have him at Wyoming.”

He was named the 2014 Paul Giel Award recipient during his senior year of college. That honor goes to the Minnesota player who demonstrates concern for the school and unselfishness on and off the field.

Standing 5-foot-10 and weighing in at 206, Kirkwood rushed for 1,474 yards out of the Gophers' backfield. The Florida native also added 11 touchdowns while appearing in 53 games.

- University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players