KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Former Chiefs wide receiver Derrick Alexander is returning to Kansas City as the next head coach of the Avila University football team.
"I am ecstatic about the opportunity to be a head coach," Alexander said in a statement from the school. "I have so many things that I want to do but I know it's going to take time. I am ready to get to work!"
The Eagles are coming off the first 10-win season in program history, the second KCAC championship in three years and their first NAIA playoff berth.
"We are very excited to welcome Derrick back to Avila University as our head football coach," Avila Director of Athletics Shawn Summe said in a statement. "Derrick has the personality, work ethic and football knowledge to continue to grow our football program, but more importantly is committed to helping our football players grow off the field as much as on the field. Derrick really impressed everyone he spent time with at Avila with his genuine approach to coaching and leading young men."
Alexander, a Detroit native and first-round pick in the 1994 NFL Draft, played four seasons for the Chiefs from 1998-2001, racking up 213 catches for 3,685 yards with 19 touchdowns.
He also played two seasons with Cleveland (1994-95) and Baltimore (1996-97) and one with Minnesota (2002) during a nine-year NFL career.
Alexander finished fourth in the NFL averaging 17.8 yards per reception, fifth with 10 touchdowns and seventh with 1,391 yards in 2000 for Kansas City — his best NFL season.
He worked as an analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and an engineer at Cerner after completing some graduate work.
Alexander took part in the NFL Players Association’s coaching internship program in 2015 after leaving Cerner, spending that season as the wide receivers coach at Wilmington College in Ohio.
He served as wide receivers coach, passing game coordinator, academic coordinator and director of football operations at Avila from 2016-18 before becoming the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator at Morgan State in the NCAA’s Football Championship Series division (2019-21).
Alexander, who starred at the University of Michigan in college, spent last season as the wide receivers coach for NCAA Division II Wayne State in his native Detroit.
"In my final season as an assistant at Avila we were 7-3, which was the best record in school history (at the time),” Alexander said. "I am fortunate to be taking over a team that has just won the conference and made its first playoff appearance. I am looking forward to keeping the momentum going.”
The 2018 season, when Alexander helped Avila to a seven-win season, was the program’s first winning season since 2003.
A member of the Chiefs Ambassadors since 2009, Alexander took part in the NFL’s Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship three straight years, including 2017 with the Chiefs, and coached wide receivers at the 2020 NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.
Former Eagles coach Marc Benavidez, who was the Eagles’ winningest coach at 39-12 during the last five seasons, left for William Penn last month.
Prior to Benavidez’s tenure, another former Chiefs player, Eric Hicks, served as head coach in 2017.
