Keiser University football coach Myles Russ is entering his third season leading the Seahawks with a story most coaches never have to tell: less than a year ago, he was relearning how to eat and walk after a rare autoimmune illness left him hospitalized in intensive care for two and a half weeks. Now, with a clean bill of health, the West Boca alumnus says he is simply grateful to still be standing on the sideline.
Russ was hospitalized with Guillain-Barré syndrome in West Palm Beach during the 2025 season, according to WPBF, and was intubated for five days as the condition progressed. The rare disorder occurs when the body's immune system attacks peripheral nerves, causing rapid muscle weakness or paralysis, and it affects only an estimated 3,000 to 6,000 people in the United States each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most cases follow a viral or bacterial infection, and standard treatments include plasma exchange or intravenous immunoglobulin therapy to clear the damaging antibodies, per the Mayo Clinic.
A Sudden Onset During the Playoff Push
The onset reportedly came shortly after Keiser's home game against Southeastern University on November 8, 2025, when Russ began experiencing sudden numbness in his limbs and body heaviness before his condition escalated enough to require intensive care, according to Grokipedia. He missed two games while hospitalized, including a Keiser playoff contest that the Seahawks won without him on the sideline, per WPBF's report.
Russ returned to coaching on December 13, 2025, leading Keiser to a 36-27 victory over the College of Idaho in the NAIA Football Championship Series semifinals, according to Keiser University Athletics. The win pushed the program to its third consecutive appearance in the NAIA national championship game, a remarkable turnaround for a coach who had been in the ICU just weeks earlier.
From ICU to a New Outlook
Russ said he learned much from the health scare and gained a newer outlook on life, and that the experience helped him move forward, per WPBF's report. He now teaches his own journey back to full health to his players, saying that talking openly about it with the team brought the group closer together, the outlet reported.
The scare came in the middle of a career that had already made Russ one of the more decorated young coaches in NAIA football. Keiser named him head coach on January 29, 2024, succeeding inaugural head coach Doug Socha, who left to take the head coaching job at NCAA Division II Lenoir-Rhyne, according to Keiser University Athletics. Russ had spent six seasons with the program as running backs coach, recruiting coordinator, and assistant head coach before the promotion.
A Championship Résumé Built Fast
In his first season as head coach, Russ guided Keiser to a 12-0 regular season and a national championship game berth, earning him the American Football Coaches Association's NAIA National Coach of the Year award in December 2024, making him the second consecutive Keiser coach to win the national honor, per the AFCA. He backed that up in November 2025 with a second straight Sun Conference Coach of the Year honor after leading Keiser to a 10-0 regular season and its fourth straight conference title, according to Keiser University Athletics.
Across his first two seasons as head coach, Russ compiled a 24-2 overall record and a perfect 13-0 mark in Sun Conference play, according to Wikipedia's entry on the coach, with both losses coming in NAIA national championship games. Before coaching, Russ was a star running back at Robert Morris University from 2007 to 2010, finishing as the program's all-time leading rusher with 4,271 yards and earning 2010 Northeast Conference Offensive Player of the Year honors.
Looking Ahead to the 2026 Season
Keiser, which launched its football program in 2018 and captured its first NAIA National Championship in December 2023 with a 31-21 win over top-ranked Northwestern College, is set to open its 2026 season on September 5 against Division II opponent Anderson in South Carolina. The Seahawks will host their first home game on September 26.
For Russ, who is a West Boca alumnus now guiding the program he helped build as an assistant, the upcoming season carries a different kind of weight after everything that came before it. He has said he is grateful simply for the ability to continue coaching, a sentiment that now anchors the message he brings to his players as Keiser chases another national title.
