Andre Coleman has served as the Wildcats’ wide receivers coach since 2013 and was named the pass game coordinator prior to the 2016 season. A dynamic receiver and kick returner during his playing days, Coleman hasn’t wasted any time making an impact as a coach.
Coleman coached a position group that recorded the most receptions and yards ever by a Snyder-coached team in 2013 before shattering both those marks in 2014 with 230 receptions for 3,097 yards.
Tutoring a young position group in 2016, the top two receivers – Byron Pringle and Dominique Heath – were both sophomores, while redshirt freshman Isaiah Zuber was fourth on the squad. Heath finished third in school history among sophomores with 45 catches, while Zuber was fourth among freshmen with 24.
A former NFL kick returner, Coleman also helped Pringle to a seventh-place national ranking in kickoff-return yards, while his 659 kickoff-return yards ranked fifth in school history. Pringle, who had a 99-yard kickoff return touchdown against Texas Tech, went on to earn First Team All-Big 12 honors, the fourth-straight year K-State had the first-team honoree at returner.
The 2013 group was paced by Tyler Lockett ,now with the Seattle Seahawks, who ranked 11th nationally with 105.2 receiving yards per game and 19th in the NCAA with 11 touchdown receptions en route to All-America honors. Lockett, who was a candidate for the Biletnikoff Award, set the school’s single-game receiving yardage record at Texas (237) before smashing his own mark later in the season against Oklahoma (278). He also tied the single-game school record with three receiving touchdowns on three occasions. The 2013 Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year thanks in part to Coleman, Lockett obliterated the school’s single-game all-purpose yardage record with 440 against Oklahoma, a mark that ranked as the fifth-most in FBS history.
Although Lockett was the driving force behind Coleman’s successful receiving corps in 2013, he was hardly the lone threat as Sexton and senior Tramaine Thompson gave the Wildcats solid No. 2 and 3 options for Coleman. Thompson, who left K-State No. 12 on the all-time receiving list, was an Honorable Mention All-Big 12 kick returner thanks to Coleman’s tutelage.
Coleman was also instrumental in helping coach a third-straight Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year honoree in kick returner Morgan Burns, who also went on to earn First Team All-America honors. The latest in a long line of dynamic kick returners – which, for all intents and purposes, began with Coleman himself in the early 1990s – Burns ranked first in the nation with four kickoff-return touchdowns and third with a 33.5-yard average.
Prior to returning to K-State, Coleman spent the previous three seasons on head coach and former K-State offensive lineman Eric Wolford’s staff at Youngstown State. In 2011 and 2012 at Youngstown State, Coleman worked with no seniors and only one junior as he coached multiple freshmen and sophomores who were called into action early in their careers to the tune of 109 total receptions by underclassmen. He helped YSU post a 7-4 record, including a 31-17 victory at Pittsburgh, which served as the school’s first-ever victory over a BCS opponent.
During his first season as the receivers coach in 2011, Coleman guided a group that caught 22 of a school-record 27 touchdown passes, while the Penguins’ 227.5 passing yards per game were the second most in school history and the highest since 1972. Christian Bryan set school freshman records in receptions (46) and yards (722) under Coleman’s watch, while his yardage total was the most by a freshman at the FCS level that season. Coaching the tight ends in his first season on the staff in 2010, Coleman’s group hauled in 17 receptions and two touchdowns, helping YSU’s offense set a then-school record at 412.0 yards per game.
A 1993 All-America and All-Big Eight performer, Coleman left his mark at K-State during his four years by accumulating 3,443 all-purpose yards, including 1,556 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns on 95 receptions and 1,458 kickoff-return yards on 60 returns. He still sits in K-State’s top 10 in 13 offensive or return categories, including top marks in both single-game all-purpose yards per play (27.0 vs. Missouri in 1993) and career all-purpose yards per play (18.2), a third-place ranking in career kickoff-return attempts and a fourth-place mark in kickoff-return yards.
The Hermitage, Pennsylvania, product was drafted in the third round of the 1994 NFL Draft by San Diego and put together a solid five-year professional career playing for the Chargers, Seattle Seahawks and Pittsburgh Steelers.
Coleman coached a position group that recorded the most receptions and yards ever by a Snyder-coached team in 2013 before shattering both those marks in 2014 with 230 receptions for 3,097 yards.
Tutoring a young position group in 2016, the top two receivers – Byron Pringle and Dominique Heath – were both sophomores, while redshirt freshman Isaiah Zuber was fourth on the squad. Heath finished third in school history among sophomores with 45 catches, while Zuber was fourth among freshmen with 24.
A former NFL kick returner, Coleman also helped Pringle to a seventh-place national ranking in kickoff-return yards, while his 659 kickoff-return yards ranked fifth in school history. Pringle, who had a 99-yard kickoff return touchdown against Texas Tech, went on to earn First Team All-Big 12 honors, the fourth-straight year K-State had the first-team honoree at returner.
The 2013 group was paced by Tyler Lockett ,now with the Seattle Seahawks, who ranked 11th nationally with 105.2 receiving yards per game and 19th in the NCAA with 11 touchdown receptions en route to All-America honors. Lockett, who was a candidate for the Biletnikoff Award, set the school’s single-game receiving yardage record at Texas (237) before smashing his own mark later in the season against Oklahoma (278). He also tied the single-game school record with three receiving touchdowns on three occasions. The 2013 Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year thanks in part to Coleman, Lockett obliterated the school’s single-game all-purpose yardage record with 440 against Oklahoma, a mark that ranked as the fifth-most in FBS history.
Although Lockett was the driving force behind Coleman’s successful receiving corps in 2013, he was hardly the lone threat as Sexton and senior Tramaine Thompson gave the Wildcats solid No. 2 and 3 options for Coleman. Thompson, who left K-State No. 12 on the all-time receiving list, was an Honorable Mention All-Big 12 kick returner thanks to Coleman’s tutelage.
Coleman was also instrumental in helping coach a third-straight Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year honoree in kick returner Morgan Burns, who also went on to earn First Team All-America honors. The latest in a long line of dynamic kick returners – which, for all intents and purposes, began with Coleman himself in the early 1990s – Burns ranked first in the nation with four kickoff-return touchdowns and third with a 33.5-yard average.
Prior to returning to K-State, Coleman spent the previous three seasons on head coach and former K-State offensive lineman Eric Wolford’s staff at Youngstown State. In 2011 and 2012 at Youngstown State, Coleman worked with no seniors and only one junior as he coached multiple freshmen and sophomores who were called into action early in their careers to the tune of 109 total receptions by underclassmen. He helped YSU post a 7-4 record, including a 31-17 victory at Pittsburgh, which served as the school’s first-ever victory over a BCS opponent.
During his first season as the receivers coach in 2011, Coleman guided a group that caught 22 of a school-record 27 touchdown passes, while the Penguins’ 227.5 passing yards per game were the second most in school history and the highest since 1972. Christian Bryan set school freshman records in receptions (46) and yards (722) under Coleman’s watch, while his yardage total was the most by a freshman at the FCS level that season. Coaching the tight ends in his first season on the staff in 2010, Coleman’s group hauled in 17 receptions and two touchdowns, helping YSU’s offense set a then-school record at 412.0 yards per game.
A 1993 All-America and All-Big Eight performer, Coleman left his mark at K-State during his four years by accumulating 3,443 all-purpose yards, including 1,556 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns on 95 receptions and 1,458 kickoff-return yards on 60 returns. He still sits in K-State’s top 10 in 13 offensive or return categories, including top marks in both single-game all-purpose yards per play (27.0 vs. Missouri in 1993) and career all-purpose yards per play (18.2), a third-place ranking in career kickoff-return attempts and a fourth-place mark in kickoff-return yards.
The Hermitage, Pennsylvania, product was drafted in the third round of the 1994 NFL Draft by San Diego and put together a solid five-year professional career playing for the Chargers, Seattle Seahawks and Pittsburgh Steelers.
