Texas State moves quickly, hires FCS coach G.J. Kinne as Bobcats' next head coach

SAN MARCOS — Texas State's expedited search for a head football coach yielded quick results as it announced the hiring of Incarnate Word coach G.J. Kinne on Friday, just days after firing Jake Spavital on Sunday.

Kinne, who turned 34 Thursday, is in his first season as a head coach and has Incarnate Word (10-1) in the FCS playoffs. The seventh-seeded Cardinals will host Furman in a second-round game Saturday. Kinne will continue to coach the team through the playoffs.

He signed a five-year deal. Terms were not released.

“I’m excited to hit the ground running and compete for championships,” he said in a statement. “We are going to surround our players with excellent coaches, who down to their roots are teachers at heart. We are going to play fast, have relentless energy, and when the going gets tough, have the mental confidence to win tight games in the second half and represent the state of Texas.”

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Kinne was picked over Washington State offensive coordinator Eric Morris and Sam Houston State head coach K.C. Keeler; both candidates were interviewed on Zoom, but only Morris had an in-person interview.

Kinne, a native of Mesquite, began his high school career as the quarterback at Canton, coached by his father, Gary Joseph Kinne, before finishing at Gilmer when his father took a coaching job at Baylor. Kinne started his college career at Texas, redshirting in 2007 before transferring to Tulsa. He started 38 games in three seasons there, throwing for 9,472 yards and 81 touchdowns.

After a six-year journeyman career in the NFL, CFL and USFL, Kinne accepted a graduate assistant position at SMU in 2017. He switched to different jobs over the next four years — as an offensive analyst for Arkansas in 2018, an offensive special projects coach for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2019, Hawaii's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2020, and Central Florida's co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2021.

This season, Incarnate Word is the FCS' national leader in scoring, at 53 points per game, and total yards per game (582), while the Cardinals' defense allows the fewest points per game (19) and second-fewest total yards per game (338).

“We are beyond excited to have G.J. lead the next era of Texas State football,” Bobcats athletic director Don Coryell said in a statement. “We had a tremendous pool of candidates and interest in this role, and coach Kinne stood out from them all as he is a proven mastermind behind a new-wave offense, a champion with an NFL background and has a pedigree rooted in Texas.”

His relationship with the state's high school football coaches, so critical in recruiting, and the ability to develop players were among Texas State's most important criteria, President Kelly Damphousse said.

"It was also important that our next coach understood that my commitment to increasing institutional support for football is coupled with an expectation for success on field, including the minimum goal of quickly building a team that is bowl eligible," Damphousse said.

"After meeting with several candidates with a wide variety of experience this week, it became clear to me that coach Kinne is the right person to lead our football program forward. My job now is to ensure that he and his coaches have the infrastructure and financial resources they need to regularly compete for conference championships.”

Spavital, who was let go with one year left on his initial five-year contract, went 13-35 in his four seasons. The Bobcats finished next-to-last in the Sun Belt West Division at 4-8 overall and 2-6 in conference.

An introductory press conference hasn’t been scheduled by Texas State but is expected early next week.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas State hires Incarnate Word's G.J. Kinne as head football coach