| Larry Kentera | |
| Birth Date: | 17 April 1924 |
| Player Years1: | 1947–1949 |
| Player Team1: | Arizona State |
| Player Positions: | Center, linebacker |
| Coach Years1: | 1951–1958 |
| Coach Team1: | Palo Verde |
| Coach Years2: | 1969–1965 |
| Coach Team2: | Stockton / San Joaquin Delta |
| Coach Years3: | 1966–1970 |
| Coach Team3: | Arizona State (assistant) |
| Coach Years4: | 1971–1978 |
| Coach Team4: | Arizona State (DC) |
| Coach Years5: | 1984 |
| Coach Team5: | Northern Arizona (assistant) |
| Coach Years6: | 1985–1989 |
| Coach Team6: | Northern Arizona |
| Coach Years7: | 1991 |
| Coach Team7: | Winnipeg Blue Bombers (LB) |
| Coach Years8: | 1992 |
| Coach Team8: | Arkansas Miners (assistant) |
| Coach Years9: | 1994 |
| Coach Team9: | Kiel Baltic Hurricanes |
| Coach Years10: | 1996 |
| Coach Team10: | Kiel Baltic Hurricanes |
| Overall Record: | 26–29 (college) 73–58–4 (junior college) |
| Bowl Record: | 0–2 (junior college) |
| Championships: | 3 SoCentral (1951–1952, 1955) 1 Big Eight (CA) (1959) |
Lawrence "Lazo" Kentera (born April 17, 1924) is a former American football coach and player. He served as the head football coach at Northern Arizona University from 1985 to 1989, compiling a record of 26–29.[1] He spent many years as a defensive assistant at his alma mater, Arizona State University, under head coach Frank Kush.[2] Kentera was also the head football coach at two junior colleges, Palo Verde College in Blythe, California from 1951 to 1958 and San Joaquin Delta College—known as Stockton College until 1963—in Stockton, California from 1959 to 1965.[3] [4] [5]
Kentera was the linebackers coach for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League (CFL) in 1991, working under head coach Darryl Rogers. In 1992, he followed Rogers to serve as an assistant coach for the Arkansas Miners of the short-lived Professional Spring Football League (PSFL).[6] In 1994 and 1996, Kentera was the head coach of the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes in the German Football League, and from 2005 he was working in football in Serbia, the country in which he was born.
Assistant coaches on Kentera's staffs at Northern Arizona included four future National Football League (NFL) head coaches: Bill Callahan, Brad Childress, Marty Mornhinweg, and Andy Reid.[7]