Kane Keirnan is in his fourth season as an assistant coach with the Illinois State football program and begins his second working with the Redbird wide receivers. He previously was part of the team as a player and later as a student assistant coach.
In his role as the offensive assistant coach for the past two seasons, Keirnan assisted members of the offensive coaching staff with day-to-day coaching and preparation and worked closely with the offensive line.
The Redbird offensive line was a key factor in ISU’s historic success in 2014 and helped in setting 15 school single-season records.  ISU also finished the season ranked in the top 10 nationally in rushing yards per game with 241.3 and No. 9 in scoring offense with 38.3 points per game.
Keirnan returned to Illinois State after a two-year stint as an offensive graduate assistant coach at New Mexico, where he worked with the Lobo wide receivers and tight ends.
In his previous stint at ISU, Keirnan was an offensive student assistant for Spack and then offensive coordinator Luke Huard, working with the tight ends and H-backs.
In 2011, the Redbirds showed a 52.4-yard improvement in the running game, up from 131 rushing yards per game in 2010 to 183.4 yards per game in 2011. The offense ranked No. 3 in the nation in fewest sacks allowed, and the team finished the regular season ranked 17th. In 2010, the Redbirds ranked second in the Missouri Valley Conference and 15th in the nation with a 258.4 passing-yards-per-game average and ISU’s 321 total points was the 10th-best yearly total in school history.
Keirnan signed a scholarship with Illinois State as an H-back in 2008, but three ankle surgeries between the years 2008 and 2009 ended his playing career, which led him to staying involved in the program as a student assistant before earning his degree in 2012.
A 2008 graduate of Glenbard West High School, Keirnan earned all-state, all-area, all-conference and academic all-conference honors in 2006 and 2007. Before that, Keirnan spent two years at Montini Catholic High School in Lombard, Ill., where he took part in the school’s first-ever state championship appearance in 2004.
Keirnan and his wife, Melanie (Piekos), reside in Normal with their dogs, Buddy and Jaxon, and are expecting their first child in February.
