Earlier today, Howard Payne (D-III - TX) announced the hire of Jason Bachtel as their new head coach.
Bachtel is an alumnus of the school who graduated in 2003 after lettering for the Yellow Jackets for three years as a quarterback.
The rise to small college head coach comes after Bachtel served as the offensive coordinator at Argyle HS (TX), where he helped guide the program to a 4A state title this past season. While Bachtel's offense at Argyle put up over 48 points per game during their 16-0 run, perhaps the most impressive feat of their season was they never trailed at any point of the season and beat teams by an average of 33 points per game, scoring 521 more points than their opponents at season's end.
Before taking the job as Argyle's play caller, Bachtel spent two seasons as the offensive coordinator at East Texas Baptist (D-III - TX), where he also directed on of the most explosive offenses in college football at the time.
Athletic director Hunter Sims shared the following in the school's release:
“On top of his strong track record of success, both in Texas high school football and in NCAA Division III football, Coach Bachtel’s commitment to being Kingdom-minded, service-oriented and excellence-driven in every aspect will be of great benefit to the Yellow Jacket football team, the HPU Department of Athletics and Howard Payne University as a whole.”
“My wife and I are excited to be back home,” Bachtel shares in the release. “We look forward to the future of Howard Payne University and seeing how we can play a small but important role in the lives of the student-athletes at Howard Payne.”
Bachtel will be formally announced later this week.
So far this off season, there have been four Division III head coaching changes, and two of them remain open. Keep track of all NFL and college head coaching jobs via this page.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.