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Tarleton State University
STEPHENVILLE, Texas—Tarleton State University names two assistant coaches—Trevor Ervin and Jacalyn Walker-Austin—who join head coach Mark Eakin in overseeing collegiate rodeo’s largest team in the nation.
Ervin will serve the men’s rodeo team and Walker-Austin the women’s.
“We are pleased that Trevor has accepted the position of Tarleton’s assistant rodeo coach, and we’re very excited for our current and future student rodeo athletes to have him join our program,” said Eakin, who recently led the men’s team to a 2015 College National Finals Rodeo national championship—the third in program history and first since 2005. “Trevor brings tremendous experience and a great passion for the sport of rodeo that will continue to build on Tarleton’s success and winning tradition.”
Ervin is not entirely new to the Tarleton rodeo program. He completed an internship under Eakin and has served as a part-time assistant rodeo coach since 2013. Ervin now transitions to a full-time role with the Department of Rodeo Activities and replaces former assistant coach Tibba Smith, who left the university to pursue a new career.
“I am very excited about this new opportunity to work full time with the Tarleton State rodeo teams. It was an opportunity that I could not pass up,” Ervin said. “The reputation and winning tradition that Tarleton has created over the decades is known across the nation, and I’m honored to be a part of continuing that tradition.”
Ervin has competed for the College of Southern Idaho and Sul Ross State University as well as on the amateur rodeo circuit, qualifying for several finals as a calf roper and team roper.
Ervin earned a bachelor’s in animal production with an equine emphasis in 2013 from Tarleton.
Walker-Austin is a four-time CNFR qualifier in both goat tying and breakaway roping. She began her collegiate rodeo career at Central Wyoming College and continued competing in the arena for Utah Valley University and Idaho State University.
“I am thrilled for the opportunity to be a part of the Tarleton rodeo team. It’s an honor to be involved in such a prestigious university as Tarleton State,” said Walker-Austin. “We look forward to building on the past achievements of the program and even more success in the future.”
She holds an associate of general studies from Central Wyoming, a bachelor’s in community health education from Utah Valley, and currently is pursuing a master’s of health education from Idaho State.
“Jacalyn is not only a top-notch rodeo athlete, but she is a dedicated educator and mentor with a talent for sharpening the skills and drawing out the leadership qualities of student rodeo athletes,” said Eakin.
The first rodeo team at Tarleton was formed in 1947. Since then, student competitors have won seven national championship titles and 24 individual national titles, plus numerous event and team championships within NIRA’s Southwest Region.
To learn more about Tarleton rodeo’s winning tradition visit www.tarleton.edu/rodeo.
Tarleton, a member of The Texas A&M University System, provides a student-focused, value-driven educational experience marked by academic innovation and exemplary service, and dedicated to transforming students into tomorrow’s professional leaders. With campuses in Stephenville, Fort Worth, Waco, Midlothian and online, Tarleton engages with its communities to provide real-world learning experiences and to address societal needs while maintaining its core values of integrity, leadership, tradition, civility, excellence and service.
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