Keith Burns is in his third season as a Spartan assistant football coach. In 2006, Burns will coach the cornerbacks and oversee special teams play.

The San Jose State assistant also has served the program as the defensive coordinator in 2004 and the tight ends coach and special teams coordinator in 2005. Last season, he helped develop Bryan Watje into a first-team All-Western Athletic Conference tight end, nurtured the improvement of punter Waylon Prather and guided kicker Jared Strubeck to honorable mention freshman All-American recognition.

Heading into his 22nd season as a college football coach, Burns was the head coach at the University of Tulsa (2000-02) and has worked in the Pacific-10 Conference, the Southeastern Conference and the old Southwest Conference. As the head coach of the Golden Hurricane, his teams had a 7-28 win-loss record, but formed the foundation for Tulsa’s turnaround in 2003 that resulted in a Humanitarian Bowl appearance.

As an assistant coach, he has coordinated defenses at San Jose State, Arkansas, Southern California and the University of the Pacific. At Rice, he was the defensive pass coordinator and special teams coach. Burns also was the offensive coordinator in his final season at Pacific (1988).

His outstanding work as an assistant coach was recognized in 1998 as one of five finalists for the Frank Broyles Award given annually to the nation’s number-one assistant coach.

The native of Hurst, Texas was a three-time letterwinner at the University of Arkansas during the 1980 through 1982 seasons. He and his wife, Yvonne, have three sons, K.C., Tanner and Davis.

With a rock-solid work ethic and his vast experience on the professional and collegiate levels, Kentucky head coach Rich Brooks is bringing much-needed stability and direction to Wildcat football.

Taking over a team that had endured three years of changes and turmoil prior to his arrival, Brooks is using a steady approach in rebuilding a program that has been dealing with the effects of NCAA probation.

After taking charge of Kentucky football on Dec. 30, 2002, Brooks began by attracting a top-notch, diverse group of coaches. The UK staff is well-respected in the industry and features a broad range of experiences in pro, college, and high-school football.

On the field in his first season, the Wildcats posted several accomplishments. On offense in 2003, Kentucky's average points per game was the second-highest mark in school history for a new coaching staff. For the entire season, Kentucky outscored its opponents, 328-321.

Despite fielding the second-youngest defense in the Southeastern Conference, the Wildcat defenders allowed 22.8 points per game in regulation play, UK's best mark since 1993; made significant improvement in reducing big plays; and held nine consecutive opponents under 30 points (in regulation play), the first time that had happened in one season in 22 years.

Brooks and the staff topped their first full year with a 2004 recruiting class that was widely hailed as Kentucky's best in a long time.

The 2004 season provided mighty challenges as the Wildcats fielded the youngest starting lineup in the Southeastern Conference. The young team showed progress late in the season, however, as in their last two games the Wildcats posted a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Vanderbilt and came within 12 seconds of a stunning upset at Tennessee.

Brooks’ teams also have posted accomplishments in the classroom. In 2003, a school-record-tying six players qualified for Academic All-America nomination; that mark was raised in 2004 as nine Wildcats earned nomination for Academic All-America.

Brooks has made numerous public and charitable appearances while at UK and has been very accessible to the media as he works to enlarge the Wildcat fan base.

Prior to Kentucky, Brooks was the assistant head coach and defensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons from 1997-2000. The 1998 campaign was the most successful in Falcons’ history. With Brooks’ defense generating a league-leading 44 takeaways, Atlanta advanced to its only Super Bowl appearance in franchise history.

Late in the ’98 season, Brooks took over the team when head coach Dan Reeves developed health problems. Brooks was the interim head coach for the final two games of the regular season, and the Falcons’ two wins clinched the division championship and home field advantage in the divisional round of the playoffs. Reeves returned to the sidelines during the playoff games.

Brooks was head coach of the St. Louis Rams in 1995-96. The Rams had a 13-19 record in those two seasons, the team’s best two-year stretch since 1989-90. The Rams won only nine games in the two years prior to his arrival and won just nine games in the two years following his departure.

As head coach at the University of Oregon from 1977-94, Brooks won more games than any coach in school history. After taking over a downtrodden program in ’77, the milestones came steadily:

· the Ducks’ 6-5 record in 1979 was the first winning mark since the 1970 season and Brooks was named Pacific-10 Conference Coach of the Year and the District IX Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association; the school also set a record for average home attendance, the first of four times that mark was shattered under Brooks’ leadership;

· back-to-back winning seasons in 1979-80 was the first time that feat had been accomplished in 16 years;

· Oregon reached the national rankings during the 1987 season for the first time in 17 years;

· Oregon defeated Tulsa in the 1989 Independence Bowl, the Ducks’ first bowl berth and eight-win season in 26 years;

· Oregon followed with a bid to the 1990 Freedom Bowl, the first back-to-back bowl berths in school history;

· Oregon returned to the Independence Bowl in 1992;

· The 1994 season was Brooks’ best; the Ducks captured nine wins, the most since 1948; won the Pacific-10 championship and played in the Rose Bowl for the first time in 37 seasons; Brooks won the Bear Bryant Award as the National Coach of the Year by the Football Writers Association of America, was chosen the Pac-10 Coach of the Year, and became the first coach in school history to take the Ducks to four bowl games.

Additional achievements at Oregon included Brooks’ sterling 14-3-1 record against arch-rival Oregon State in the annual game known as the “Civil War.” Oregon also broke various attendance records in six consecutive years from 1987-92, including marks for total home attendance, average home attendance, and single-game attendance. His teams advanced to four bowls in the last six seasons.

Brooks coached many of the top players in school history. When he left the school after the ’94 season, he had coached the top three passers in school history, including future NFL performers Chris Miller and Bill Musgrave, and also produced the school’s all-time leading rusher. Brooks’ Oregon teams featured five first-team All-Americans, 32 first-team all-conference performers, two first-team Academic All-Americans, two winners of the Morris Trophy (emblematic of the top lineman in the Pacific-10), and 39 NFL draft choices.

Brooks also had strong coaching staffs at Oregon. Three former assistants, Mike Bellotti, Bob Toledo, and Bill Maskill, went on to head coaching positions on the collegiate level and several of Brooks’ assistants ascended to jobs in the NFL ranks.

In addition to his guidance of the Ducks, Brooks served as a head coach and/or assistant coach in several post-season all-star games, including the East-West Shrine Game, the Blue-Gray Classic, the Senior Bowl, the Hula Bowl, and the Japan Bowl.

Brooks’ combination of administrative skills and coaching acumen prompted the University to offer him the dual role of director of athletics and head football coach, which he performed from 1992-94. In recognition of his numerous contributions to the school, Oregon named its football field “Brooks Field” in his honor in 1995.

Born in Forest, Calif., Brooks competed in football, basketball, baseball, track, and boxing at Nevada Union High School in Grass Valley, Calif.

He began his collegiate career at Oregon State from 1959-62 under Coach Tommy Prothro, considered one of the top offensive strategists in the history of football and the man Brooks credits as having the greatest influence on his coaching philosophy.

Brooks was a single-wing tailback on the freshman team, then played defensive back for three years on the varsity. He was a part-time starter as a defensive back as a sophomore, then became a regular starting DB the next two seasons. As a senior, he nabbed five interceptions for a team that went 9-2 and won the Liberty Bowl. He also was a reserve quarterback in addition to playing in the secondary.

He completed his bachelor’s degree in 1963 and stayed in Corvallis to work on his master’s degree and help coach the OSU freshman team. After completing his master’s, Brooks became an assistant coach in 1964 at Norte Del Rio High School in Sacramento, Calif.

In 1965, he returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach. He guided the defensive ends and later the defensive line for a total of five seasons. During that span, OSU had two final rankings in the nation’s top 15, finished second in the Pac-8, and Brooks coached All-Americans Jess Lewis and Jon Sandstrom.

Brooks rejoined Prothro in 1970 as linebackers coach at UCLA, then moved with Prothro to the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams in 1971-72 as special teams and fundamentals coach. Brooks returned to Oregon State as defensive coordinator in 1973, then went back to the NFL in 1974-75 as defensive backs and special teams coach for the San Francisco 49ers. He coached linebackers at UCLA in 1976, helping the Bruins to a top-20 final ranking, before accepting the head coaching position at Oregon shortly after the season.

Brooks and his wife, Karen, have four adult children – daughters Kasey and Kerri and sons Denny and Brady – and four grandchildren.