Ohio Valley Conference

Before he embarked on an illustrious coaching career, Kidd had a stand out athletic career at Eastern in which as the school’s quarterback broke most passing records before graduating.  In 1953 he was an All-OVC selection and honored as a ‘Little All-American’.  Kidd served as a student assistant on the EKU football team that went undefeated in 1954.  He was named assistant Colonel football coach in 1963 and promoted to head coach in 1964. 

Kidd went on to coach at Eastern for almost 40 years in which time he won two national championships (1979 and 1982), 16 OVC titles and set a record for 17 NCAA Division I-AA playoff appearances.  He was sixth on the all-time career wins list (315) at the time of his retirement in 2002.  55 of Kidd’s players earned All-America status, 202 were First Team All-OVC honorees, and 41 of his players went on to play in the NFL.  He was chosen as Division I-AA National Coach of the Year twice and was a 10 time OVC Coach of the Year during a 39 year career at Eastern in which he only had two losing seasons.