Kentucky offensive line coach John Schlarman dies after battle with cancer
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky football offensive line coach John Schlarman died Thursday morning after a two-year battle with cancer.
"I'm heartbroken to learn about the passing of my friend, John Schlarman," UK head coach Mark Stoops said in a news release. "My prayers go out to LeeAnne and the kids, Joseph, Benjamin, Matthew and Evelyn, through this very difficult time.
"John was everything we all strive to be — honest, tough, fair, respected. Kentucky football won't be the same without him but his legacy will never fade. He was a fighter and we will strive every day to honor his warrior spirit."
Schlarman, who also played at Kentucky from 1994 to 1997, was diagnosed with stage four cholangiocarcinoma, a rare form of cancer that starts in the bile ducts, in the summer of 2018. He was one of two assistant coaches to work at UK throughout Mark Stoops’ tenure as coach.
Stoops hired Schlarman on his first UK staff in 2013 as the offensive line coach for coordinator Neal Brown’s “Air Raid” offense — Schlarman had previously worked with Brown at Troy — but during his tenure coaching at his alma mater he became a key figure in Kentucky’s transformation into a physical, power-run-centric offense.
Under Schlarman’s leadership, Kentucky developed one of the best offensive lines in the country. The group, dubbed the “Big Blue Wall” by UK’s marketing department, was named a semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award, which goes annually to the country’s best offensive line, in 2016 and 2019.
Schlarman coached four different linemen who were named first-team all-SEC by at least one publication since 2016. Offensive guard Bunchy Stallings was named a first-team All-American in 2016.
Kentucky had one offensive lineman selected in each of the last two NFL drafts after having only one lineman drafted between 1994 and 2018. Three current UK linemen — left tackle Landon Young, center Drake Jackson and right tackle Darian Kinnard — are candidates to be picked in the 2021 draft.
The offensive line’s success coincided with the emergence of star running back Benny Snell, who left UK as the program’s career rushing leader and the program’s only player to rush for at least 1,000 yards in three consecutive seasons. In 2019, the group thrived paving the way for Paul Hornung Award winner Lynn Bowden and the SEC’s top-ranked rushing offense.
“You’ve got to be able to run the ball,” Schlarman said last fall. “At certain times of the game, at certain times of the year, you’ve got to be able to run the ball to succeed. I feel like even back in those years (at Troy) that was the emphasis. We just happen to be running it a little bit more now. I guess it shows up a little bit more in terms of the statistics or whatever. That’s always been my mentality: You’ve got to be able to run it. That’s going to pay off and win games for you.”
While Schlarman’s teaching was instrumental in the development of Kentucky’s offensive linemen, the example he set since his cancer diagnosis was equally important in the locker room.
Before missing Kentucky’s trip to Missouri in October, Schlarman had coached in every game while undergoing treatments. He rarely missed practices despite enduring painful side effects.
“I owe that man a debt of gratitude that I can never pay,” Young said earlier this season. “It’s not just getting me ready for football, getting me ready for the next level of football and getting me ready to try to lead my team as best as I can throughout this season. He leads me to be a man. To be able to see him with everything that he goes through, he shows us what a true definition of a man is and there are no excuses.
“… He comes out here and gives it everything he’s got because he loves this sport and he loves us. We’re all like kids to him as well.”
Stoops presented Schlarman with the game balls from Kentucky’s historic wins at Florida in 2018, which snapped a 31-game losing streak in the series, and at Tennessee earlier this season, the Wildcats’ first win in Knoxville since 1984.
As the side effects from his treatments began to mount, Schlarman addressed the team before the Tennessee game, which ended up being his last game before being forced to step away from the team. Stoops credited that speech with motivating players to the victory.
"I don’t know the future, I don’t know what it has to bring," Schlarman said in 2018 after his diagnosis. "I don’t know what’s in front of me with this stuff, but nobody with cancer probably does. ... I don’t know what next week, next month, next year is going to bring, but I’m going to take it day by day and just keep on grinding."
Follow Jon Hale on Twitter at @JonHale_CJ.