James Gilbert enters his second year as an assistant football coach at Pittsburg State University. Gilbert serves as the Gorillas’ Running Backs Coach.
Gilbert joined the Gorillas staff after serving as an offensive graduate assistant and special teams assistant at Purdue University in 2023. Prior to Purdue, Gilbert served as running backs and full backs coach at the University of Central Oklahoma in 2022.
Gilbert also served as running backs coach at Marian University in 2021 after serving as an assistant coach at Lawrence Central High School in Indiana in 2020.
Gilbert played his graduate transfer fifth-year season at Kansas State University in 2019 after playing for four years for Ball State University (2015-18). He earned honorable mention All-Big 12 honors (2019) and first team All-Mac honors (2016) while rushing for 3543 yards and 37 touchdowns for his collegiate career.
The Indianapolis, Ind., native signed as a free agent running back with the Los Angeles Rams for the 2020 season. He played for the Pittsburgh Maulers of the United States Football League in 2022.
Gilbert earned a bachelor’s of science degree in communications from Ball State in 2018 and a master’s of science degree in academic advising from K-State in 2019.
