Albert Rutherford Kennedy was an American football player and coach. He played college football at both the University of Kansas for three seasons, from 1895 to 1897, including one as team captain, and at the University of Pennsylvania, for one season in 1899. Kennedy also played one year of professional football immediately after graduating from Penn. During this time he played in the first professional football game ever played in Madison Square Garden which was also the first indoor professional football game ever played. After his one and only year of playing professionally, he returned to his home state of Kansas and coached football at Washburn University, at the University of Kansas (1904–1910), and at the Haskell Institute—now known as Haskell Indian Nations University (1911–1915), compiling a career record of 95–36–10. His 52 wins with the Kansas Jayhawks football team are the most in the program's history. He remains, as of 2021, the last coach to lead the Jayhawks to a perfect season.

The Kansas Jayhawks football program is the intercollegiate football program of the University of Kansas. The program is classified in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Bowl Subdivision (FBS), and the team competes in the Big 12 Conference. The Jayhawks are led by head coach Lance Leipold.