Donnell Kirkwood Jr. was named North Dakota’s running backs coach in March of 2023 and will be entering his second season at UND in 2024.
With the help of Kirkwood Jr.’s direction, the Fighting Hawks rushed 399 times for 1,879 yards and 30 touchdowns in 2023, averaging 4.7 yards per touch. Gaven Ziebarth emerged as the top running back for UND and recorded 107 touches for 700 yards and nine touchdowns, averaging 6.54 yards per touch. Ziebarth marks allowed him to finish the season ranked No. 16 nationally in rushing yards per carry (6.54) and No. 4 in the MVFC in rushing yards per game (70.0). Isaiah Smith was also productive in the backfield with 95 rushes for 594 yards and a pair of scores while averaging 6.3 yards per touch. Smith ranked as the No. 10 running back in the conference at the end of the season and averaged 54.0 yards per game. Luke Skokna completed UND’s three-headed monster in the backfield and rushed 57 times for 266 yards and three touchdowns. As a unit, UND’s backfield ranked No. 5 in the conference in rushing offense and averaged 156.3 yards on the ground per game.
Before coaching at UND, Kirkwood Jr. coached the running backs and was the director of player personnel at Western Illinois in 2022. Under his direction, Erin Collins became the first running back at WIU to go over 150 yards rushing in a single game since 2016. Kirkwood Jr. also ran all scout special teams, helping the Leathernecks rank No. 2 nationally in punt return yardage allowed, only allowing teams an average of -0.50 yards per return.
Prior to that, he was on the staff at Northern State in 2020 and 2021 and coached the running backs. With his leadership, the Wolves piled up 1,485 yards rushing and scored 15 touchdowns on the ground during the 2021 season.
His coaching experience also includes serving as the running back coach for Minnesota's Southwest High School from 2015 to 2019. He was also the special teams coordinator and defensive backs coach during the 2019 season.
Kirkwood Jr. played for the University of Minnesota from 2010 to 2014. During his time with the Golden Gophers, Kirkwood Jr. won the 2014 Paul Giel Award and was named the 2013 Offensive Back of the Year and 2013 Offensive Player of the Year. He led Minnesota with 926 yards rushing and six touchdowns during his sophomore season.
Kirkwood Jr. earned his bachelor's degree in youth studies from the University of Minnesota in December of 2013.
