Kurt Anderson (American football)

Kurt Kristoffer Anderson (born August 8, 1978) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the offensive line coach at the University of Arkansas. Anderson played college football at the University of Michigan. After his playing career, Anderson became a professional football coach. He served as the assistant offensive line coach for the Buffalo Bills in the National Football League (NFL). In the 2015 season, Anderson took over head offensive line coaching duties for training camp and the first six weeks of the regular season for the suspended Aaron Kromer.^[1]

High school

Anderson attended Glenbrook South High School in Glenview, Illinois. He was a 1996 Parade All-American linebacker.^[2] He earned a full scholarship to The University of Michigan.

College career

Anderson was a two-year letterman on the offensive line (2000–2001)^[3] for the Wolverines and was the starting center. He received the Hugh R. Rader Jr. Memorial Award^[4] as the team's top offensive lineman and was selected All-Big Ten Conference by the conference coaches following the 2001 season. He was a member of the 1997 Michigan squad that won the 1998 Rose Bowl on the way to a national championship. He also played in the 1999 Citrus Bowl, the 2000 Orange Bowl, the 2001 Florida Citrus Bowl, and the 2002 Florida Citrus Bowls. He signed as an undrafted free agent with the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL)in 2002.^[5]

Coaching career

In 2005, Anderson was an assistant coach at Indiana State where he worked with the offensive tackles and tight ends. In 2006, Anderson was a defensive quality control coach at The University of Michigan.^[6] Anderson spent the 2007^[7] season as a graduate assistant coach for the offensive line. Anderson joined the Eastern Michigan staff on April 2, 2008^[8] as tight ends coach before shifting to the offensive line and run game coordinator in 2009. In 2010, Eastern Michigan finished with 2,080 yards rushing. The Eagles' ground attack was extremely effective during the 2011 campaign, Eastern Michigan rushed for 2,620 yards and 16 touchdowns on 575 carries for the 14th-best ground attack in the nation. A record two-year combined total of 4,700 yards for Eastern Michigan. On January 28, 2013, Anderson joined the Buffalo Bills staff as an offensive quality control coach.^[9] On January 26, 2015, it was announced that Anderson was retained and promoted to assistant offensive line coach, by newly-named head coach Rex Ryan.^[10] In 2015, Anderson coached the Buffalo Bills offensive line that paved the way to 2,432 yards rushing, 152 yards rushing per game, 4.8 yards per attempt, and 19 rushing touchdowns; all marks were best in the NFL on the season.^[11] On January 9, 2016 Anderson was introduced as the offensive line coach at the University of Arkansas by head coach Bret Bielema.^[12][13]

Family

Anderson is married with five children, wife Jennifer, sons Hawken and Torin, daughter Dagny and twins Odin and Raina. His grandfather, Bob Nowaskey, played for the Chicago Bears of the NFL and the Baltimore Colts and Los Angeles Dons of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC).^[14] His father, Donald Anderson, played college football at Northwestern University and in the NFL with the New Orleans Saints.^[15] Kurt's older brother, Erick Anderson, is a fellow Michigan alumnus who won the Butkus Award in 1991 playing linebacker for the Wolverines and played in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs and the Washington Redskins. Another older brother, Lars, played football at Indiana University Bloomington.

References

External links

• Arkansas profile
• Buffalo Bills profile
• Eastern Michigan profile