Slippery Rock University Athletics

Former women's professional football player and NFL Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship recipient Lisa Horton joined the SRU football staff in 2023 as an offensive assistant. Horton added the title of tight ends coach entering the 2024 season and will again have the same position responsibilities in 2025.
 
CAREER AT A GLANCE
• SRU marks her first collegiate football coaching role after putting together a storied career in Women’s Professional Football with the Pittsburgh Passion.
• Slippery Rock has compiled a record of 24-4 in Horton’s two seasons on head coach Shawn Lutz’s staff.
• A year ago, Slippery Rock’s tight ends caught 46 passes for 382 yards and five touchdowns. Kam Kruzelyak was an honorable mention All-America honoree in addition to garnering All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division accolades.   
 
COACHING TIMELINE
• 2024-Present: Slippery Rock (offensive assistant/tight ends)
• 2023: Slippery Rock (offensive assistant)
• 2022 (Summer): Cleveland Browns (assistant running backs)
• 2018-Present: Pittsburgh Passion (co-head coach/offensive coordinator)
 
CAREER PATH
• In 2022, Horton was awarded the NFL Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship with the Cleveland Browns and worked with the NFL staff in Cleveland as an assistant running backs coach that summer.
 
• Represented the U.S. Women’s Tackle National Team as an assistant coach in the 2022 IFAF World Championships in Finland.
 
• After finishing her playing career, Horton stepped into a coaching role with the Pittsburgh Passion, where she still serves as co-head coach and offensive coordinator.
 
ATHLETIC CAREER
• Horton began playing professionally for the Passion in 2003 and would go on to serve as the team’s starting quarterback for most of 15 years, eventually retiring in 2018 after passing for more than 18,000 yards and throwing 256 touchdown passes.
 
• Was a 14-time all-star selection and was named the league MVP four times while leading the Passion to three national championships. After her career, Horton was enshrined in the Women's Pro Football Hall of Fame and was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh.

• A two-sport athlete collegiately. Was Baldwin Wallace’s leading setter as a freshman and sophomore (2,360 assists / 81 aces) on the volleyball team before transferring to Cleveland State where she appeared in 100 games over junior and senior seasons for the Vikings’ softball team

PERSONAL
• Native of Middleburg Heights, Ohio.
• Earned a bachelor's degree from Cleveland State University and her master’s degree in exercise science and wellness promotion from The Rock in 2003.