Ronnie Vinklarek

	Position: Offensive Line
	Fourth Year: Southwest Texas-1981

03/08/2012

Owls Open Spring Practice on Friday

Spring Game set for March 30

01/06/2013

Armed Forces Bowl Week activities

Gallery of the events and activities leading up to the Armed Forces Bowl

09/26/2012

Rice-Marshall Photo Gallery

Images from the Owls' overtime loss to Marshall

09/02/2012

Rice-UCLA

The Owls opened the sesaon vs. UCLA on August 30

08/04/2012

2012 Fall Camp First Practice

The Owls held their first practice of their 2012 Fall Camp at Rice Stadium on Saturday.

Ronnie Vinklarek joined the Rice football staff as the offensive line coach on February 28, 2009.

Vinklarek will oversee a total overhaul of the Owls offensive line in 2012, after the graduation of players who had a combined total of 166 career starts. He will welcome one returning starter in redshirt sophomore Drew Carroll and a JC All America transfer in Nate Richards, who will join with a group of talented redshirts to form the Owls offensive line.

Vinklarek, has 20 years of coaching experience at the collegiate and professional level and is no stranger to the Houston area or Conference USA. He coached the linemen at the University of Houston from1988-93 and at SMU from 2004-07. He also coached at the high school level in Houston, coaching the defensive line at Spring Branch High School in 1983-84.

While at Houston, he mentored the offensive line that protected Andre Ware during his Heisman Trophy winning season (1989) and was selected to coach in the 1990 Blue-Gray Game after helping UH to a 10-1 season. He originally came to Houston as a graduate assistant under former Houston Oilers and Washington Redskins head coach Jack Pardee and was promoted to full-time assistant in 1990.

Vinklarek coached in the NFL for three seasons. He broke into the league in 2000 with the Tennessee Titans as their defensive quality control, linebackers and special teams coach. He moved on to the Buffalo Bills in 2001 and coached their offensive line for two seasons. In 2002 the Bills offensive line paved the way for a 4,359-yard passer in Drew Bledsoe, a 1,439-yard rusher in Travis Henry and two 1,200-yard-plus receivers in Eric Moulds and Peerless Price.

Prior to joining the Owls, he coached the offensive line for the Edmonton Eskimos of the CFL. He broke into the coaching ranks as the seventh and eighth grade coach at Hill Country Middle School after graduating from Southwest Texas in 1981. From 1983 to 1984, was the defensive line coach for Spring Branch High School in Houston before becoming the defensive coordinator at Marble Falls (Texas) High School from 1984-86.

He also served as offensive line coach at Oklahoma State (1998 & 1999), Valdosta State (1997) as well as with the CFL's Birmingham Barracudas (1995).

A Flatonia, Texas, native, Vinklarek is married to the former Marianne Britz. The couple has two sons, Trevor and Trent.