Kirkpatrick served as head football coach at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for three seasons, from 2000 to 2002.
[1] He led South Caldwell to the football state championship final his senior year in 1977.
[2] A native of Granite Falls, North Carolina, Kirkpatrick attended nearby Lenoir-Rhyne, where he was a four-year letterwinner on the football team from 1978 to 1981.
[2][3] From 1984 to 1988, Kirkpatrick served as a graduate assistant for Appalachian State where he worked with the quarterbacks, running backs, and defensive ends.
[2] In 1989, Kirkpatrick joined Sparky Woods' staff at South Carolina as the quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator.
[5] From 2016 to 2018, Kirkpatrick served as the offensive coordinator on Mike Houston’s staff at James Madison.
[4] When Mike Houston became the head coach of the East Carolina Pirates football team in December 2018, he announced that many of his staff members at James Madison would be coming with him, including Donnie Kirkpatrick.
Kirkpatrick and his wife, Misty (McReery), have two children: a daughter, Molly, and a son, Davis.