Minnesota Vikings | |
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Position: | Running backs coach |
Personal information | |
Date of birth: | November 22, 1963 |
Place of birth: | Pago Pago, American Samoa |
Career information | |
High school: | Santa Ana (CA) Mater Dei |
College: | USC |
Undrafted: | 1986 |
Career history | |
As coach: | |
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Kennedy Polamalu (formerly Kennedy Pola, born November 22, 1963) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the running backs coach for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He was the offensive coordinator for the UCLA Bruins. Prior to that he was the offensive coordinator for the USC Trojans.
Polamalu was a fullback at USC from 1982 to 1985. His contributions helped the USC Trojans defeat the Ohio State Buckeyes, 20–17, in the 1985 Rose Bowl.
Polamalu coached running backs and special teams for the USC Trojans from 2000 to 2003. He coached Justin Fargas, Hershel Dennis and Tom Malone. Prior to that he coached at the high school level and for University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), San Diego State University and the University of Colorado at Boulder. He coached the Cleveland Browns in 2004 and the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2005 to 2009. On July 24, 2010, Polamalu accepted a position with USC to become the offensive coordinator. The hiring led Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher to publicly criticize USC head coach, Lane Kiffin, for not following generally accepted National Football League (NFL) protocol: that the head coach or athletic department of the interested team should call the other head coach and let him know that he will be contacting an assistant on their staff. Fisher was upset that Kiffin called and left a voicemail after Polamalu had already accepted the job. Kiffin then explained that he called Polamalu on Friday, July 23, to gauge his interest; after getting Polamalu's positive answer on Saturday, Kiffin called Fisher and left a message. On 26 July 2010, the Titans filed a lawsuit against Kiffin and USC for "maliciously luring" Polamalu away, asking for damages. On December 4, 2013, it was announced that Polamalu was hired to be the running backs coach at UCLA.