Although the 2010 campaign will mark his sixth overall year with the East Carolina program, Donnie Kirkpatrick will begin his first season on Ruffin McNeill's staff after accepting an opportunity to remain with the Pirates as inside receivers coach. Kirkpatrick, who initially arrived in Greenville in December, 2004 as receivers coach, also will continue to serve as ECU's tireless recruiting coordinator - a duty that has produced notable results such as Top 40 status in several national recruiting publications. His first year with the Pirates was noteworthy as he tutored newcomer Aundrae Allison to a record-setting campaign which resulted in a new school single-season standard in reception yards (1,024), a No. 2 all-time rank in catches made (83) and first-team All-Conference USA designation. In 2006, he fine-tuned a corps that featured a pair of all-league performers in Allison and walk-on Phillip Henry who also headlined a group that averaged over 12 yards per reception and accounted for a total of 3,024 receiving yards - the third-highest single-season total in East Carolina history at that time. Later in the spring, Allison became the first ECU receiver since 1999 to earn selection in the NFL Draft as the Minnesota Vikings chose the Kannapolis, N.C. native in the fifth round. Kirkpatrick successfully mixed a blend of experienced and young talent in 2007 which resulted in 224 catches - 74 of those coming in combined fashion from sophomore All-Conference USA selection Jamar Bryant (team-leading 48) and C-USA All-Freshman Team member Dwayne Harris (26). In addition, a pair of his receivers played critical role during two notable victories during the '07 campaign as Juwon Crowell snared a 34-yard touchdown pass with no time left at UTEP to force overtime and Bryant was on the other end of a 36-yarder on a third-and-eight play that set up ECU's game-winning field goal against Boise State in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl. The 2008 campaign perhaps displayed Kirkpatrick's resolve and flexibility after losing his top two pass catchers at mid-season. Instead, he turned to Alex Taylor, who entered his junior year without a college reception, and freshmen Darryl Freeney and Joe Womack, and the trio combined on 62 catches down the stretch to give the Pirates' passing game a lift on the way to a C-USA title. He simply reloaded a year later, using a record-setting performance by Harris to help East Carolina capture its second-straight league championship. The first-team All-Conference USA selection's 83-catch, 978-yard effort ranked second on the Pirates' single-season charts, but pushed his career reception number to 167 - a new school standard. Harris and Freeney (718) combined for 1,696 yards, nearly 60 percent of the unit's 3,043 total reception yardage. Before joining the ECU staff, Kirkpatrick served as wide receivers coach at Western Carolina during the 2003 and 2004 seasons which followed a three-year head coaching tenure at Chattanooga, which began in 2000.While WCU topped the Southern Conference in passing offense (239.8 ypg) in 2003, Kirkpatrick tutored Catamount receivers Lamont Seward and Michael Reeder, who both ranked among the top four receivers in the SoCon with a combined 132 catches. Kirkpatrick orchestrated one of the top aerial attacks in SoCon history while guiding the UTC program from 2000 to 2002, ranking first in passing offense (339.1 ypg) and total offense (453.5 ypg) during his initial year in Chattanooga. His offensive units also finished third in passing in 2001 (192.7 ypg) and second in 2002 (220.4) during that span, which followed a successful year as UTC's offensive coordinator. The Mocs' topped the SoCon in passing (326.5 ypg) and stood third in total offense (454.4 ypg) in 1999, riding the efforts of DeMatteo, who led the league in receiving (76-977), and record-setting quarterback Chris Sanders, who captured conference passing and total offense individual titles. In addition, UTC set Southern Conference single-season records that year for most pass attempts (496) and completions (300). In all, Kirkpatrick was responsible for two of the top three passing (3,730 in `00, 3,591 in '99) seasons in SoCon history. Prior to his move to Chattanooga, Kirkpatrick spent three years on Ron Cooper's staff as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator at Louisville (1995-97) where he initiated the development of Cardinals' quarterback Chris Redman, who finished his career as one of the top passers in school and Conference USA history. Redman, who ended his collegiate career with a league-record 12,541 yards and 84 TDs on 1,031-of-1,679 passing, threw for 1,773 yards as a freshman and 3,079 yards as a sophomore under Kirkpatrick's direction in 1996 and 1997. Kirkpatrick also served on Cooper's staff at Eastern Michigan for two seasons, handling wide receivers in 1993 before earning a promotion to assistant head coach, quarterbacks and running backs coach in 1994 where he worked directly with former Detroit Lions starting quarterback Charlie Batch. He also spent four seasons at South Carolina (1989-1992) as quarterback coach and recruiting coordinator after obtaining his first full-time coaching position at Appalachian State in 1984, which lasted five seasons. He earned a bachelor's degree in education from Lenoir-Rhyne College in 1982 before following with a master's in secondary education from Appalachian State in 1984. Kirkpatrick, 50, is married to the former Misty McReery of Lexington, N.C., and the couple are the parents of two children - Molly and Davis. |
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