Tarleton hires defensive coordinator, offensive line coach

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Courtesy Tarleton Athletics

Special to the Flash

TarletonSports.com

STEPHENVILLE (January 22, 2016) – Tarleton head football coach Todd Whitten has brought in two new coaches with Division I FBS football pedigrees, hiring Marcus Patton as the defensive coordinator and Bryson Oliver to lead the offensive line.

“I was thoroughly pleased with the response we received to these positions,” said Whitten. “Coach (Marcus) Patton is a very good defensive coordinator. His team played really solid defense last season and he has a good track record of putting good defenses on the field.

“Coach (Bryson) Oliver has been very well trained through his years at TCU and Oklahoma State,” he continued. “We’re very excited to have them on board.”


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Patton comes to Tarleton after spending the last two seasons as the defensive coordinator at Colorado Mesa. Last year, his Maverick defense was one of the best in the nation and finished in the top-10 in the country in multiple defensive categories including: fourth-down conversion defense, defensive touchdowns scored, and turnover margin with 28 defensive takeaways including 19 interceptions. Mesa also finished No. 11 in the nation in red-zone defense and No. 12 in the nation in scoring defense after allowing just 17.8 points per game.

“In today’s football, there’s going to be a lot of offense,” said Patton. “People are going to score points in today’s game, but you have be able to play good enough defense to give yourself a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter. It’s unrealistic to think that you can hold teams to the zero-to-three point range, but we want to keep it manageable and give yourself a chance to win the game. We’re going to do that with fundamental defense.

“I think one of my big strengths is teaching the fundamentals,” he continued. “We need to be able to tackle, be tough, and fly around. You can talk schematics all you want, but I’m a believer that you win football games with tackling and taking on blocks.”

Patton, who has also spent time as a collegiate assistant coach at Fairmont State, Seton Hill, UCLA, Indiana State, and South Florida, played football for Kansas State University from 2000-04. He joins former Wildcat, Jonathan Beasley, on the Tarleton coaching staff and was a student-athlete when Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Performance Rod Cole was the head strength and conditioning coach for Coach Bill Snyder’s team. Patton was also teammates with NFL athletes Darren Sproles, Jordy Nelson, and Terrence Newman.

A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Patton earned a bachelor’s degree in social science from Kansas State and then went on to coach four seasons at the high school level in Florida before returning to the college ranks as a defensive assistant. In his career, he has coached numerous all-conference players and had an NCAA All-American at Colorado Mesa last season. He has had over 10 former players continue their careers at the NFL level and was responsible for recruiting even more that went on to play professionally.


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Colorado Mesa is a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and NCAA Super Region 4, in which Tarleton competes, and the newest Texan coach is ready for the challenge of trying to stop the Lone Star Conference offenses – which boasted three of the top 20 scoring offenses in the nation last season; four including Oklahoma Panhandle State, who will join the LSC as an affiliate member this fall.

“Well we played against Kingsville last year and their new coach came from Colorado State-Pueblo, so I’m familiar with them,” he said. “We played Midwestern State early last year and so in preparing for them I’ve seen some film, but the Lone Star Conference has some dynamic players and great offensive minds. I love a challenge and that’s one of the reasons I took this job. The LSC has some really good offenses and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

Patton joined the coaching staff earlier this week and has already joined Coach Whitten and the rest of the Texan coaches in the recruiting process.

“Coach Whitten is a winner,” said Patton. “He has won here before. He showed me the vision of this school, and also being able to recruit football in the state of Texas, were big draws to making this decision for me. This is an opportunity where special things can be accomplished. I’m a competitor and this is an opportunity for me to come in and potentially win a national championship.”

Meanwhile, on the offensive side of the ball, Whitten has hired Bryson Oliver to coach the Texan offensive line after spending the last two seasons as a graduate assistant coach for the TCU Horned Frogs.

“Part of what drew me here is that Coach Whitten has been here twice before and all he does is win,” said Oliver. “I want to be a part of a winning program and Tarleton gives me that opportunity. Tarleton has always been competitive and to be competitive in a competitive league is very highly spoken for.”

Oliver comes to Tarleton after helping the Horned Frogs to a 23-3 record over the last two seasons, including a 47-41 win in triple overtime against Oregon in the Alamo Bowl last month. He had two of his offensive linemen earn All-Big XII honors last season, including center Joey Hunt who also earned second-team recognition as a junior in Oliver’s first season at TCU.

Prior to his time at TCU, Oliver spent two seasons as a graduate assistant coach on the Offensive Line with Oklahoma State as the Cowboys boasted an 18-8 record and earned a bid to the AT&T Cotton Bowl in his final season. He was the offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator at Tiffin University in Ohio after spending four seasons as a student assistant at Texas Tech from 2007-10, where he broke into the college coaching ranks.

“I never played college football and I was fortunate enough to get my start into coach with Coach (Mike) Leach at Texas Tech. While I was there, I studied under him and his staff and I actually have a pretty good relationship with (Tarleton assistant coach) Mason Miller because he would come up and help with camps and some other things because of the offense we run.


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“Players tend to get a beat on you as a person,” he continued. “If you truly care about a player, coach them hard, and know what you’re talking about, then a kid doesn’t care if you drive a Volvo, played college football, or whatever. The biggest thing that not playing college ball could have hurt was a lack of relationships, but I was very fortunate to get on with a staff of great coaches at Texas Tech.”

A native of Sweetwater, Oliver was a standout offensive lineman and graduated from SHS in 2004. He went on to receive his bachelor’s degree from Texas Tech in 2009 in History with a minor in Music.

Just like Patton, Oliver has joined the Texan coaching staff in the recruiting process. National signing day for football is set for Wednesday, February 3.

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