Larry Hart has been appointed as the defensive tackles coach for the Air Force football program, according to an announcement by head coach Troy Calhoun. Hart arrives at the Academy after serving on Campbell University’s coaching staff during the 2025 season.
At Campbell, Hart coached the defensive line and was run game coordinator starting in Spring 2024. Under his leadership, Campbell’s defense made significant progress, improving nearly 70 places in national run-defense rankings from 2024 to 2025. Pro Football Focus (PFSN) also recognized Campbell’s defensive line as the highest graded in the CAA Conference during his tenure.
Before joining Campbell, Hart worked for three seasons at the University of Houston as a senior analyst. The team finished in the top ten nationally for sacks in 2021 and achieved consecutive bowl victories following both the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
Hart’s previous experience includes serving as outside linebackers coach at South Alabama. Despite injuries that sidelined half of his preseason depth chart in 2018, he guided players Sean Grayer, Chason Milner, and Taji Stewart to a combined total of more than fifteen tackles behind the line of scrimmage, including seven and a half sacks. Milner ranked among the top ten in sacks per game within the Sun Belt Conference that year. All three players set personal records for tackles for loss and sacks during that season.
In 2019, three players under Hart posted career-high tackle numbers. Senior Bowl invitee Riley Cole earned honorable mention all-Sun Belt Conference honors with fifty-nine total stops and nine tackles behind the line; he later received a camp invitation from the Kansas City Chiefs. A.J. DeShazor led his unit with sixty-one tackles while also tying for most fumble recoveries on the team and recording an interception; Chris Henderson contributed twenty-three stops after limited action in previous years.
Earlier in his career, Hart served as defensive line coach under Steve Campbell at Central Arkansas during their Southland Conference Championship season in 2017. The program achieved back-to-back NCAA Playoff appearances (2016–17) and two straight ten-win campaigns. Central Arkansas concluded its 2017 season ranked among the nation’s top ten teams in sacks. His work helped Chris Terrell earn All-America honors from two organizations along with first-team all-conference selections for Terrell and Chris Chambers.
Hart began coaching as a graduate assistant at Arkansas State University where he contributed to sixteen wins over two seasons, two postseason bowl games, and a Sun Belt Conference championship with an undefeated league record in 2015. He then coached at Holmes Community College before moving into other collegiate roles.
As a player, Hart transferred to Central Arkansas after earning all-state honors at Holmes Community College. At UCA he recorded twenty-one-and-a-half sacks across two seasons—a mark still ranking among UCA’s best—and was twice named Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Year while earning All-American recognition.
Following college, Hart was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the fifth round of the NFL Draft—143rd overall—the highest selection from UCA up to that point—and spent time with both Green Bay Packers and Oakland Raiders rosters before playing professionally in Canada and other leagues.
Hart holds a bachelor’s degree from Central Arkansas (2009) and earned a master’s degree from Arkansas State (2016). In addition to his coaching career, he published “The Recruit’s Playbook” through Mango Publishing Company in 2021 and was inducted into Holmes Community College Sports Hall of Fame in Spring 2024. He is married to Juliet Rentz.
