Larry Hart named defensive tackles coach at Air Force
2/19/2026 9:08:00 AM | Football
Larry Hart joins the Air Force coaching staff as the defensive tackles coach, according to an announcement from head coach Troy Calhoun. Hart comes to the Academy after spending 2025 at Campbell University.
Hart joined Campbell's staff in Spring of 2024, coaching the defensive line and serving as run game coordinator. During that time, Campbell's defense jumped almost 70 spots in run-defense from 2024-2025 PFSN also listed them as the highest graded DL in the CAA Conference. Prior to Campbell, Hart spent three seasons at the University of Houston as a senior analyst where they finished top 10 nationally in sacks (2021) and saw back-to-back bowl wins after the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
Hart served as South Alabama's outside linebackers coach prior to that. Despite losing three of six individuals on the preseason depth chart for most of the 2018 season, Hart helped three members of the position group — Sean Grayer, Chason Milner and Taji Stewart — combine to post 15½ stops behind the line of scrimmage including 7½ sacks. Milner would end the year among the top 10 in the Sun Belt Conference in sacks per game while all three would set new career highs in both tackles for loss and sacks in a season.
Three different individuals would post career-high tackle totals under Hart's direction in 2019, led by Senior Bowl invitee, and honorable mention all-Sun Belt Conference selection Riley Cole; not only did he post 59 total stops, he ranked second on the team with nine tackles behind the line and third on the squad with three sacks. This secured Cole a camp invite from the Kansas City Chiefs. A.J. DeShazor was the highest graded Pro Football Focus (PFF) player on the team overall in 2019, and fourth overall with 61 tackles to lead the unit, tying for the team lead with a pair of fumble recoveries while also intercepting a pass, and Chris Henderson chipped in with 23 stops after posting 18 his first three years in the program combined.
Hart came to USA after serving on the staff of then head coach Steve Campbell at the University of Central Arkansas as defensive line coach during the 2016 and 2017 campaign, where he won the Southland Conference Championship title (2017) and earned back to back NCAA Playoff berths in 2016 and 2017 as well as consecutive 10 win seasons. After the 2017 season, UCA finished top 10 nationally in sacks. His efforts at UCA also helped Chris Terrell earn All-America honors from two different organizations as well as first-team all-Southland Conference accolades for Terrell and Chris Chambers.
He first served as a graduate assistant coach for two seasons at Arkansas State University, where he helped the Red Wolves to 16 wins, a pair of postseason bowl appearances and the 2015 Sun Belt Conference championship after going 8-0 in league play. In 2016, Hart was the defensive line coach at Holmes (Miss.) C.C.
After earning all-state honors as a player in each of his two years at HCC, he transferred to Central Arkansas where he would go on to record 21½ sacks in two seasons — a total that still ranks among the top five in the school's career record books today. Hart was chosen an All-American and the Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Year as both a junior and senior, recording 21 tackles for loss including 12 sacks during the 2008 campaign, and was later named to the league's All-Decade Team for the 2000s.
Following his senior season, Hart was selected in the fifth round of the National Football League draft — going 143rd overall, the highest selection in UCA's history at that time — by the Jacksonville Jaguars, going on to also sign with the Green Bay Packers and Oakland Raiders. He also played in both the Canadian and United Football Leagues before entering the coaching profession.
A 2009 graduate of Central Arkansas with a degree in health sciences, Hart received his master's degree in media and communications from Arkansas State in 2016. In 2021, Hart published his first book, The Recruit's Playbook, with Mango Publishing Company. In the Spring of 2024, Hart was inducted into the Holmes Community College Sports Hall of Fame. He is married to the former Juliet Rentz.
Hart joined Campbell's staff in Spring of 2024, coaching the defensive line and serving as run game coordinator. During that time, Campbell's defense jumped almost 70 spots in run-defense from 2024-2025 PFSN also listed them as the highest graded DL in the CAA Conference. Prior to Campbell, Hart spent three seasons at the University of Houston as a senior analyst where they finished top 10 nationally in sacks (2021) and saw back-to-back bowl wins after the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
Hart served as South Alabama's outside linebackers coach prior to that. Despite losing three of six individuals on the preseason depth chart for most of the 2018 season, Hart helped three members of the position group — Sean Grayer, Chason Milner and Taji Stewart — combine to post 15½ stops behind the line of scrimmage including 7½ sacks. Milner would end the year among the top 10 in the Sun Belt Conference in sacks per game while all three would set new career highs in both tackles for loss and sacks in a season.
Three different individuals would post career-high tackle totals under Hart's direction in 2019, led by Senior Bowl invitee, and honorable mention all-Sun Belt Conference selection Riley Cole; not only did he post 59 total stops, he ranked second on the team with nine tackles behind the line and third on the squad with three sacks. This secured Cole a camp invite from the Kansas City Chiefs. A.J. DeShazor was the highest graded Pro Football Focus (PFF) player on the team overall in 2019, and fourth overall with 61 tackles to lead the unit, tying for the team lead with a pair of fumble recoveries while also intercepting a pass, and Chris Henderson chipped in with 23 stops after posting 18 his first three years in the program combined.
Hart came to USA after serving on the staff of then head coach Steve Campbell at the University of Central Arkansas as defensive line coach during the 2016 and 2017 campaign, where he won the Southland Conference Championship title (2017) and earned back to back NCAA Playoff berths in 2016 and 2017 as well as consecutive 10 win seasons. After the 2017 season, UCA finished top 10 nationally in sacks. His efforts at UCA also helped Chris Terrell earn All-America honors from two different organizations as well as first-team all-Southland Conference accolades for Terrell and Chris Chambers.
He first served as a graduate assistant coach for two seasons at Arkansas State University, where he helped the Red Wolves to 16 wins, a pair of postseason bowl appearances and the 2015 Sun Belt Conference championship after going 8-0 in league play. In 2016, Hart was the defensive line coach at Holmes (Miss.) C.C.
After earning all-state honors as a player in each of his two years at HCC, he transferred to Central Arkansas where he would go on to record 21½ sacks in two seasons — a total that still ranks among the top five in the school's career record books today. Hart was chosen an All-American and the Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Year as both a junior and senior, recording 21 tackles for loss including 12 sacks during the 2008 campaign, and was later named to the league's All-Decade Team for the 2000s.
Following his senior season, Hart was selected in the fifth round of the National Football League draft — going 143rd overall, the highest selection in UCA's history at that time — by the Jacksonville Jaguars, going on to also sign with the Green Bay Packers and Oakland Raiders. He also played in both the Canadian and United Football Leagues before entering the coaching profession.
A 2009 graduate of Central Arkansas with a degree in health sciences, Hart received his master's degree in media and communications from Arkansas State in 2016. In 2021, Hart published his first book, The Recruit's Playbook, with Mango Publishing Company. In the Spring of 2024, Hart was inducted into the Holmes Community College Sports Hall of Fame. He is married to the former Juliet Rentz.
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