Coker's 2001 Miami team was named the consensus national champion after an undefeated season that culminated with a victory in the Rose Bowl over Nebraska.
After a stint as a television analyst for ESPNU, he became head coach for the University of Texas at San Antonio, whose Roadrunners football team began play in 2011.
He is most known for coaching RBs Thurman Thomas and Barry Sanders at Oklahoma State, and Jeremy Shockey, Andre Johnson, Bryant McKinnie, and Edgerrin James at Miami.
After Butch Davis was hired by the NFL's Cleveland Browns, Coker, previously the offensive coordinator, was promoted to head coach.
Coker had immediate success as head coach, guiding the Hurricanes to a 12–0 record and the national championship in his first season after dominating a Frank Solich-led Nebraska Cornhuskers team in the Rose Bowl.
Even at the time, some people doubted how much credit Coker deserved for his start, believing that other coaches might have been able to accomplish the same thing with the talent he inherited.
The Ohio State defense shut down the Miami offense, forcing the Canes to kick a FG that brought the game into overtime.
[7] After the Hurricanes scored a touchdown in the first possession of overtime to take a 24–17 lead, Ohio State faced a 4th and 3 on the Miami 6-yard line that they needed to convert to keep the game alive.
This pass fell to the ground, and Coker and the Miami coaching staff went on to the field, celebrating what they believed was their 2nd straight national championship.
Nevertheless, the Hurricanes won the Big East Conference and defeated their arch-rivals, the Florida State Seminoles, for the second time that season in the Orange Bowl.
[14] The Hurricanes ended the season on a happy note by defeating instate rival Florida Gators, 27–10, in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta.
In the season opener, Coker lost to FSU for the first time when the Hurricanes blew a snap of a potential game-tying field goal.
[20] Coker was reported to be on the hot seat entering the 2006 season, with many speculating that he would need to at least take the team to a BCS bowl in order to keep his job.
[21] Miami began the 2006 season with a 1–2 record, with losses to Florida State and a 31–7 defeat to Louisville, leaving the team unranked in the AP Poll for the first time since 1999.
After the team's October 14 win against FIU was marred by a bench-clearing brawl, questions were raised in the media as to whether Coker would resign or be fired, but he was again given a vote of confidence by the school administration.
All but one of the players returned the next week, as Miami jumped out to a 10–0 lead over Georgia Tech, but struggled in the fourth quarter, losing the game by a score of 30–23.
The following week, the Hurricanes lost to Virginia Tech, 17–10, as ESPN College Football analysts questioned Coker's management of the clock in the game's final minutes.
Coker was allowed to coach the team in the 2006 MPC Computers Bowl on December 31, 2006,[24] in which Miami defeated the Nevada Wolf Pack, 21–20.