Larry Strain, with his brother Dave, transferred to Randolph County during high school to play football. Larry played football, basketball and baseball at Randolph County. He earned his degree from the University of Alabama.

Strain was a player on Ron Watters first Randolph County Tigers team in 1979 that lost the state championship game to Stevenson 9-0.

He spent eight years as an assistant at Handley 1987-1994 and a few years away from the game.

Strain accepted his first job as a head football coach at Woodland in 1999. His Bobcats went 100-78 over the next fifteen seasons. Strains teams reached the playoffs ten consecutive seasons during his time with the program. He also led the Bobcats to runner-up finishes at the Super Six in 2004 and 2006. He is the winningest coach in school history.

Strain also coached the girls basketball team at Woodland from 2000-2014. His 2013 and 2014 squads won the Class 2A State Championship and finished as the runner up in 2011.

He took over the football program for one year at White Plains in 2014 with a record of 2-8. Following the 2014 season, Coach Strain moved to Handley to replace Mike Battles Sr. as head football coach.

He was named Class 2A Coach of the Year in 2004 by the Alabama Sports Writers Association and was an assistant on the coaching staff for the 2005 football North-South All-Star game and the 2013 basketball All-Star game.