Eric Buchanan is in his third season on the Cardinals’ coaching staff, but his second working with the LU safeties. Buchanan coached the Cardinals’ running backs in 2017.
The Cardinals produced one of the most opportunistic secondaries in the nation last season. Big Red ranked among the nation’s top 10 with 17 interceptions, with one returned for a score, in 2018.
Five players from the defensive side of the ball landed on the postseason All-Southland squad last year, including consensus All-American Davon Jernigan who ranked among the national leaders with four interceptions. Two of the Cardinals’ 2018 defensive all-conference selections came from the secondary.
In his first season with the program, Buchanan took over a position group that lost its top two rushers the year before, Buchanan was tasked with rebuilding the team’s running back corps. By the end of the season, better than 80 percent of the team’s production came from either first-year players or true sophomores.
Buchanan comes to the Golden Triangle from Iowa Western where he spent the 2016 season working as the Reivers defensive backs coach and special teams coordinator. Iowa Western has left a paper trail of success when it comes to putting its defensive backs in four-year schools. Just since 2001, 18 members of the Reivers’ secondary have gone on to play at four-year institutions, including 16 at the NCAA Division I level. Of those 16, 12 signed scholarships at the FBS level. That list includes five all-conference and all-region players and one All-American. It was no different during Buchanan’s time on staff.
Buchanan went to Iowa Western following an internship at TCU. Buchanan worked with the Horned Frogs’ defensive backs and specials teams during the 2015 season. That year, TCU posted an 11-2 overall record and finished seventh in the polls after a victory in the Alamo Bowl.
Buchanan played his collegiate football at TCU after a standout prep career at DeSoto High School. Buchanan was a four-year letterwinner for TCU where he worked his way into the starting lineup as a junior. He received his bachelor’s degree from TCU in 2006.
Following his graduation, Buchanan was invited to play in the inaugural Texas vs. the Nation High School All-Star game. Buchanan was an undrafted free agent signee by the Dallas Cowboys in 2007, and he played professionally with the Dallas Desperados.
Buchanan and his wife, Ciji, have two sons, Eric and CJ.
