Arkansas is making a big statement with the hiring of Auburn Director of Player Personnel Kenny Ingram as the new defensive line coach. FootballScoop reported the move Friday afternoon.
Ingram hails from Memphis, a major recruiting territory for the Razorbacks, he played his college ball in Arkansas for the Red Wolves from 1989-92, he was the defensive coordinator for the Memphis Tigers in 2009 before returning to Arkansas State to coach the defensive line to a Sun Belt Championship in 2012.
Ingram was a standout in the 80s at Whitehaven High School in his hometown of Memphis. Whitehaven is the home of two of Arkansas's top 2020 linebacker targets, Bryson Eason and Martavius French. The school has produced more than 25 Division-I signees over the last 10 years.
Despite Ingram's connections to Memphis, Auburn didn't sign any players out of Tennessee during his time with the program, so we'll see how big of an impact he can make on the Hill with this staff using the neighboring state as an extension of the Natural State.
The defensive line job has been open for almost two months since coach John Scott Jr. departed to coach at South Carolina, and despite moving through a few candidates for his replacement, they finally landed on a candidate slightly out of left field given his current role.
However, Ingram has been a high school coach, a linebackers coach, a defensive line and defensive tackles coach, a defensive coordinator, a director of player personnel and player development, giving him a multitude of qualifications for the job.
Before returning to Auburn as the director of player personnel for the second time in 2017, during the 2015 and 2016 seasons, Ingram served as defensive tackles coach at the University of Cincinnati, helping the Bearcats to a 2015 Hawaii Bowl berth.
From 2013-14, he served as Auburn’s director of player development, coming to Auburn with head coach Gus Malzahn from Arkansas State.
Prior to Arkansas State, Ingram was an assistant coach at Memphis from 2006-09, coaching the linebackers; he was promoted to defensive coordinator at Memphis in 2009. The Tigers went 2-10 that season and the coaching staff was sent packing.
Ingram was a part of two bowl teams in his four years at Memphis, including the 2007 New Orleans Bowl and the 2008 St. Petersburg Bowl.
Ingram joined the Memphis staff after spending the 2005 season as defensive line coach at Tennessee State University, where he was responsible for recruiting his hometown area of Memphis and west Tennessee.
He was the head coach at Melrose (Tenn.) High School from 2002-04 and posted a 37-4 overall record after serving as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator from 2001-02. He led the school to one appearance in the state finals and a pair of appearances in the state semifinals, returning the program to prominence. In his three seasons at Melrose, he coached 17 players who signed scholarships to play college football.
A three-time Regional Coach of the Year and the Commercial Appeal's 2004 Coach of the Year for Metro Memphis, he was selected to serve as the Liberty Bowl All-Star Game defensive coordinator in 2003 and was a member of the Tennessee East-West Shrine All-Star Game coaching staff that same season.
Once the hiring is official, Chad Morris will have all his assistant coaches for the 2019 season and the Hogs will look to make a big turnaround after a historically bad 2-10 season in 2018.
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