Andy LaRussa

Biography

Andy LaRussa joined the WKU Football coaching staff in December 2018 and currently serves as the team's Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator. The 2025 season will be his seventh with the Hilltoppers. LaRussa has coached several of the top special teams players in Conference USA since joining the program, including WKU's first CUSA Special Teams Player of the Year, Lucas Carneiro, who claimed the award in 2024 after going 18-for-19 on field goals with 18 straight makes. The 18 made field goals are the longest streak in program history, and included an impressive six-for-six on field goals of 50-plus yards. There were two makes of 54 yards, which were tied for the second-longest makes in program history, and a game-winning kick against Jax State in the regular-season finale that sent the Hilltoppers to the CUSA Championship Game. Carneiro became the only CUSA kicker to go 6-for-6 from 50-plus yards in a season since 1996, while only four others have gone at least 3-for-3. Carneiro finished the 2024 season fourth in the league in scoring, second in the league in scoring by a kicker, second in the league in field goals made and first in the league in field goal percentage. He was named CUSA's Special Teams Player of the Week three times, he was a First Team All-CUSA selection and he was the only kicker in the league that was named a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award. In 2024, LaRussa also oversaw long snapper Rex Robich, who was a Second Team All-CUSA selection, and