Introduction
William Russell Kinard (born December 16, 1933) is a former American football player and coach. He played professionally as a defensive back for the Cleveland Browns and Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL) and the Buffalo Bills of the American Football League (AFL) . Kinard played college football at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) before being drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the second round of the 1956 NFL Draft. He played professionally for four seasons and retired in 1960. Kinard later served as the head football coach at Ole Miss from 1971 to 1973 and at Gardner–Webb University in 1978, compiling a career coaching record of 20–14–1.
Coaching career
In 1970, Kinard's older brother, a former Ole Miss and NFL star, Frank "Bruiser" Kinard, became the athletic director at Ole Miss. He hired the younger Kinard to be the new Ole Miss Rebels football coach. After the third contest of the 1973 season, Johnny Vaught replaced Kinard, returning for his second stint as Ole Miss' athletic director and head football coach.
Head coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ole Miss Rebels (Southeastern Conference) (1971–1973) | |||||||||
| 1971 | Ole Miss | 10–2 | 4–2 | T–4th | W Peach | 20 | 15 | ||
| 1972 | Ole Miss | 5–5 | 2–5 | T–7th | |||||
| 1973 | Ole Miss | 1–2 | 0–0 | ||||||
| Ole Miss: | 16–9 | 6–7 | |||||||
| Gardner–Webb Runnin' Bulldogs (South Atlantic Conference) (1978) | |||||||||
| 1978 | Gardner–Webb | 4–5–1 | 2–5 | T–5th | |||||
| Gardner–Webb: | 4–5–1 | 2–5 | |||||||
| Total: | 20–14–1 | ||||||||
| #Rankings from final Coaches Poll. °Rankings from final AP Poll. | |||||||||