Larry Lacewell, the long-time football coach and athletic director at Arkansas State University, has died, his wife, Criss, confirmed.
Lacewell, who was 85, died at his home in Jonesboro on Tuesday night.
A Fordyce native, Lacewell led ASU to a 69-58-4 record from 1979-89 with four NCAA Division I-AA playoff appearances from 1984-87, including a championship game appearance in 1986 when the Red Wolves (then known as the Indians) lost to Georgia Southern 48-21 in Tacoma, Wash.
Lacewell, who also was ASU’s athletic director while he served as football coach, left in 1990 to become Tennessee’s defensive coordinator. He previously was Oklahoma’s defensive coordinator and as an assistant coach helped the Sooners win three national championships.
Lacewell left Tennessee in 1992 to become scouting director for the Dallas Cowboys. He worked for the Cowboys until retiring in 2004.
Lacewell, inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1996, played halfback at Arkansas A&M (now the University of Arkansas-Monticello) and began his coaching career in 1959 at Alabama for Coach Bear Bryant, another Fordyce native.