STEPHENVILLE – One of the best quarterback minds in the country is passing the torch as Tarleton head coach Todd Whitten has announced the hiring of Adam Austin as Tarleton’s newest quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator.
“I’m excited about the addition of Coach (Adam) Austin to our staff,” said Whitten. “He is one of the brightest young coaches in college football. He is a coach that is very familiar to the state of Texas and he has recruited and coached some very good quarterbacks in his young career. I have no doubt he will be very successful here.”
Austin comes to Tarleton with a rich history of coaching success, including eight seasons spent at Tarleton’s former Lone Star Conference rival Midwestern State and one season at NCAA Division I Eastern Kentucky.
Prior to his coaching career, Austin was a signal caller for the University of Arizona where he played in nine games from 2005-06. He threw for 549 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He led the Wildcats to wins over Stephen F. Austin and Stanford as a senior starter and helped Arizona become bowl eligible for the first time in eight years.
Following his playing career, Austin spent three years as a graduate assistant coach of tight ends, quarterbacks and wide receivers. He spent his first year at Grambling and won a SWAC Championship before spending the next two at Marshall.
He landed his first full-time gig as the quarterbacks coach for Midwestern State in 2011, where he won back-to-back league titles and was a part of the top scoring offense in NCAA Division II. He was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2013 – a title he would keep for six seasons with the Mustangs.
In 2017, the Mustangs had one of the top offenses in the nation. Midwestern State was No. 8 in the country in scoring at 42.5 points per game and No. 11 nationally in total offense at 483.3 yards per game. Austin was an NCAA Division II Coordinator of the Year finalist after the 2017 season. The following year, the Mustangs ranked No. 8 in the nation in total offense at 506.2 yards per game and No. 11 in scoring at 41.8 points per game despite being outdueled by Tarleton in overtime of their homecoming game 35-34 on a game-winning PAT block by Tyrell Thompson.
Individually, the 2018 offense was fueled by the trio of quarterback Layton Rabb, running back Vincent Johnson and wide receiver Juwan Johnson. That season under Coach Austin, Rabb was No. 6 in the nation with 324 passing yards per game while Johnson rushed for 1,037 yards and ranked No. 11 in the country with an average of 7.01 yards per carry. Juwan Johnson was No. 6 in Division II with 1,215 receiving yards.
He departed for Eastern Kentucky in 2019 as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the Division I level. After leaving EKU and heading to Garden City Community College for the 2020 season, Austin never coached a game for GCCC because of the COVID cancelled fall. He signed on with Missouri Southern State in February and coached one spring game – a 21-20 win against Southern Nazarene – before making the move back to Texas.
A native of Mundelein, Illinois, Austin graduated from Arizona in 2007 with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies. He earned a master’s degree from Marshall in 2010 in Adult and Technical Education. He resides in Stephenville with his wife, Aubri, and dog, Gunner.
With the addition of Austin to the growing football staff, there have been additional changes to the offensive side of the football. Scott Carey will now serve as the run game coordinator while Jonathan Beasley will be the recruiting coordinator.
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