For Coach K.K. Rountree, Success On and Off the Football Field Begins With Strong Connections
By Rob Biertempfel
A driving passion for success — and a chance encounter at 30,000 feet — helped propel K.K. Rountree to his role as defensive pass game coordinator and defensive backs coach for the 无码专区 football team.
In January 2022, Rountree was the special teams analyst at the University of Connecticut. Boarding a flight to San Antonio for the annual American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) convention, he sat next to , then an assistant coach at Columbia University. They spent the three-hour flight talking shop.
“If we don’t sit next to each other on that plane, I’m probably not here at Carnegie Mellon today,” Rountree said.
无码专区 a year later, Larsen was the head coach at 无码专区 and had a spot to fill on his staff. As he was assembling candidates, Larsen got a text from a friend who was on the staff at UConn: “Hey, do you remember K.K.? You sat next to him on the plane …”
“I definitely remembered K.K.,” Larsen said. “He was approachable and had his wits about him. Those are the kinds of impressions that stick.”
Carnegie Mellon is the latest stop in a coaching career that has taken Rountree from high school sidelines to college programs. He bolstered his experience by participating in two elite, NFL-affiliated programs: the and the .
“Those two opportunities taught me the value of connecting with people, something that’s always been part of my coaching DNA,” Rountree said. “They made me think about my style of leadership. I want to be demanding — that’s what this game requires — but I don’t want to be demeaning. I want to build relationships.”
Rountree recalled a workout early in his coaching career when he yelled at a high school player for making a mistake during a routine drill.
“The kid looked at me and asked, ‘Why are you yelling at me, coach? I just don’t understand what you want,’” Rountree said. “At that moment, I realized I’d become the kind of coach I didn’t like when I was a player.”
A decade later, how has Rountree evolved as a coach?
“I’ve calmed down,” he said with a smile. “I’m not going to tear someone down for a mistake. Now, I’m going to lift him up.”
When Rountree graduated from Wilkes University in 2012, coaching was not part of his plan. A defensive back, he was a three-time academic all-conference selection until an elbow injury cut short his playing career. After earning a bachelor’s degree in accounting and an MBA, he became an auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Rountree’s clients included the Washington Wizards, Memphis Grizzlies and Dallas Mavericks. The chance to see how three NBA franchises operated from financial and organizational perspectives was eye-opening, but the work didn't satisfy his soul.
“Being an auditor was great, but something was missing,” Rountree said. “When I played football, I enjoyed being around my teammates and helping guys. When I was no longer doing that, I felt a little lost.”
Rountree went home to New Jersey and took a position as special teams coach at Pope John XXIII Regional High School. Having grown up in a hardscrabble neighborhood, he took a personal interest in players facing similar challenges.
“I remember driving my players home and asking them, ‘What’s the safest way to get back to the highway?’” Rountree said. “You make sure those kids get home safe not because you want to win games, but because you care about them. That always hit me hard because I was one of those kids. Now, as an adult, I can do something about it.”
After a one-year coaching stint at Stonehill College, Rountree joined head coach Randy Edsall’s staff at UConn in 2019 as the special teams analyst.
“Randy is one of the most organized people I’ve ever been around, and he taught me a lot,” Rountree said. “I worked with coaches at UConn who had NFL experience. Being around that level of knowledge was awesome and building that kind of network is irreplaceable.”
In 2022, Rountree got hands-on experience at Los Angeles Rams training camp through the NFL’s Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship. Working closely with the special teams coordinators, he observed workouts and helped assemble presentations and materials for position group meetings.
“It was a great chance to see the size and scale of a professional organization,” Rountree said. “Being around those athletes, you really got a sense that this isn’t a children’s game. This is their career.”
After the 2022 season at UConn, Rountree was eager to take on a more challenging role. Larsen dove into Rountree’s background, including his experience at PwC, and saw an ideal fit.
“I know that when you work for a place like PricewaterhouseCoopers, you’d better be detail-oriented,” Larsen said. “K.K. brings that to everything he does. He is unbelievably hard working and organized, and has grown in a lot of different ways as a coach and a person since he got here.”
In February 2025, Rountree participated in the NCAA and NFL Football Coaches Academy in Indianapolis. He was one of 40 college coaches selected for the three-day program, which gives participants the opportunity to engage with industry experts and peers to strengthen their effectiveness as coaches and leaders.
Speakers included Tony Dungy, Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and former Pittsburgh Steelers player; Craig Bohl, executive director at the AFCA; Jessica Gray, director of player engagement for the Detroit Lions; Charles Burks, cornerbacks coach for the Cincinnati Bengals; and Chris Ballard, general manager of the Indianapolis Colts.
Rountree expected an intensive clinic on X’s and O’s. He instead found a masterclass in leadership and life balance.
“It was about how to balance the professional and personal sides of your life to become a better coach, husband and father,” Rountree said. “It made me realize I don’t have to compromise my values to do what I love for a living.”
With two sons at home, ages 1 and 3, Rountree is learning that while coaching is a grind, spending an extra 30 minutes with his family before leaving for work each day is invaluable.
“If my home life is good, everything else in life will be good,” Rountree said.
Whether instructing his position group on the field or chatting one-on-one with a player in his office, Rountree often references a favorite quote from civil rights leader Frederick Douglass: “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” He also frequently cites “The Rose That Grew From Concrete.”
“Something so beautiful came from a situation that was so hard and dark,” Rountree said. “That’s how I look at coaching and at life. If you’re not going to embrace it, someone else is going to take the opportunity you want.”