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UMR Football Coaching Staff

KIRBY CANNON will begin his ninth season as the head football coach at UMR looking to guide the team to its third straight winning season in the 2007 campaign.

The Miners finished 2006 with a 6-5 record on the heels of a 7-4 mark in 2005, which was the program’s first winning record since 1985. As an NCAA Division II independent, UMR has used its record-setting offense to make strides on the field, as it had the nation’s top passing offense last fall and won three games over teams from the NCAA Division I-AA ranks; the Miners have five wins over I-AA opponents in the last two seasons.

UMR averaged 350.9 yards per game through the air in 2006 behind the arm of Joe Winters, the national leader in total offense. A year earlier, the Miners set new modern day records for points scored with 379 and in yards per game with 433.8.

Cannon came to UMR in 1999 with the task of rebuilding a Miner program that went through a difficult stretch during the 1990s. The Miners went 3-8 in 2004, which included a victory over No. 23-ranked Central Missouri State, while facing a schedule that included three teams that made the NCAA Division II playoffs. The Miners showed annual improvement in their play during Cannon's tenure while playing in the powerful Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association through the 2004 season.

Cannon, who had been an assistant coach at Western Illinois University prior to his selection as the Miners' head coach in December 1998, played against the Miners while at Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University) and coached against UMR as an assistant at Truman State University.

A native of Alexandria, Mo., Cannon faced the Miners as a quarterback at MSU, where he received his bachelor's degree in physical education in 1981. He began his coaching career that year as well as the defensive coordinator at Ozark High School in southwest Missouri and helped lead that team to its first playoff appearance in school history.

After that two-year stint, Cannon went into the collegiate ranks as a graduate assistant coach at Iowa State University with his primary duties being his work with the tight ends and special teams. Cannon, who also completed work on his master's degree at ISU in 1985, spent one of those two years as the head coach of the junior varsity program and one year as acting recruiting coordinator.

His next position was as the defensive coordinator at North Central College in Naperville, Ill., where he helped a struggling program improve to a 19-18-1 mark over the next four years -- the school's best four-year record in 30 seasons. That helped him get the position of defensive backs coach at Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State) in 1989. He was elevated in 1993 to defensive coordinator.

While at Truman, Cannon also served as recruiting coordinator and helped bring in players that led the Bulldogs to a record of 42-22 over a six-year span and to three appearances in the NCAA Division II playoffs. Truman State finished second to Division II power Pittsburg State in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association in each of the playoff years.

When Bulldog head coach Eric Holm left Truman State after the 1994 season, Cannon followed him to Northern Michigan University to serve in the same roles for the next two years. Northern Michigan had winning seasons during both of those years and had a two-year record of 14-6.

Prior to his arrival at UMR, Cannon was an assistant coach at Western Illinois University, primarily coaching the defensive backs. Over that span, WIU was ranked second in NCAA Division I-AA in 1997 and reached the national semifinals in 1998, falling in that round to eventual runner-up Georgia Southern.

While at MSU, Cannon played quarterback for the Bears' football team and pitched for the baseball team. He held the school record for career pitching wins (25) until it was broken in 2003 by Philadelphia Phillies draft choice Brad Ziegler. He received his bachelor's degree in physical education from the university in 1981.

At UMR, Cannon will work on the defensive side of the ball for the sixth straight season after working with the offensive backs during his first three seasons at the helm of the Miner program.

Cannon and his wife, Lisa, have one son (Josh).

TRAVIS BOULWARE is beginning his 21st season on the Miner staff as the defensive backfield coach. He came to UMR in 1987 from Washburn University, where he served as the defensive backs coach. In 1986, Washburn's defense ranked first against the pass in the Central States Intercollegiate Conference. While coaching the defensive backs for a majority of his tenure at UMR, Boulware coached the running backs during the 1997 and 1998 seasons. He returned to the secondary in 1999.

Boulware, a 1982 graduate of Tennessee Technological University, played defensive back for the school's football team for two seasons. Prior to that, he spent two years at Chowan Junior College in North Carolina. Boulware also received his
master's degree from Tennessee Tech.

A native of High Point, N.C., Boulware also served as UMR's baseball coach for 13 seasons from 1991-2003. The Miners were 20-19 in the 2003 season, their second winning season in his final three years as head coach. UMR also finished as runners-up in the MIAA Tournament to NCAA Division II World Series participant Central Missouri State in 1997.

JOSH RICHARDS, who served on the Miner coaching staff as the running backs coach during the 2006 season, has been elevated to the position of offensive coordinator for the University of Missouri-Rolla football program.

Richards took over for Marc Kolb, who stepped down from the post in February to take a similar position at Tusculum College. He will assume the reins of an unit that ranked as the top passing offense in NCAA Division II and ranked among the top 10 nationally overall a year ago. He worked with the team during the spring practice season.

The starting running back for the Miners, last season, Matt Padilla, finished with 1,120 all-purpose yards and did not have a fumble all season.

Richards – who played his high school football at Rolla High School – joined the Miner coaching staff in 2005 after a four-year stint as the head coach at John F. Hodge High School in St. James, Mo. In his last two seasons at the high school level, his teams averaged more than 330 yards and over 30 points per game with a team that included current Miner wide receiver Chad Shockley.

Prior to taking the head coaching position in St. James, Richards spent two years as the head coach of the freshman team at Rolla High School and one year as the head coach of the junior high team at Waynesville High School.

Richards is a graduate of Central Methodist University, where he was the captain of the Eagles’ 1997 team and a three-year letterman in the program. He started at quarterback for CMU’s team for two seasons.

ANDY BALL, who has served on the coaching staffs at Culver-Stockton College and the University of Central Missouri, has been named as the new offensive line coach for the University of Missouri-Rolla football team. Ball has spent the last three seasons at Culver-Stockton as the offensive line and strength coach, while also working with various aspects of the special teams.

Prior to his stint at Culver-Stockton, Ball served as a graduate assistant on the staff at Central Missouri. He worked in all aspects of the Mules’ program, including assisting on special teams, game planning and video breakdowns as well as strength and conditioning. Ball also directed the UCM summer speed camp.

As a student assistant, he assisted in coaching the outside linebackers and special teams. He received his bachelor’s degree from UCM in 2001 and his master’s degree from the university two years later.

Ball’s father, Randy, previously served as the head coach at Western Illinois University and Missouri State University.

KYRAN WEAVER, a four-year letterwinner for the University of Missouri-Rolla football team, has joined the Miner coaching staff as the new defensive line coach.

Weaver finished his playing career after the 2005 season and spent the 2006 campaign as a student assistant coach while completing work on his bachelor’s degree in biological sciences. He coached the defensive line during the 2006 season when the Miners finished with a 6-5 record

During his career at UMR, Weaver played on the defensive line and had a career-high 47 tackles during the 2002 season. He had 14 tackles and three sacks in his senior year and also had an interception which he returned for a touchdown.

His younger brother, Kellen, is a redshirt freshman linebacker on the 2007 Miner roster.

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