HCU Names Jason Bachtel as New Head Football Coach

Bachtel spent the last season as the Huskies' offensive coordinator

HOUSTON - On Thursday afternoon, HCU President Robert Sloan and Director of Athletics Steve Moniaci announced the hiring of Jason Bachtel to become the third head football coach in program history. An introductory press conference will be held Wednesday, Jan. 10, at 11:00 a.m. on the HCU campus in Denham Hall located at the southeastern end of the Brown Administrative Complex.

"We are thrilled to have Jason Bachtel as our new head coach in football," said Sloan. "He brings a wealth of coaching experience to this new position, and, just as important, already has a track record of success here at HCU. We are especially grateful for his commitment to the university and our student-athletes. His knowledge of our players, recruits, and coaches already represents a huge plus for us. I'm very confident that he will establish a winning program as the years go by."

"We're excited to announce Jason Bachtel as our new head football coach here at HCU," said Moniaci. "Coach Bachtel has been a winner throughout his coaching career, has strong ties throughout the state of Texas and was the right candidate to take what was started this past season and build on that foundation going forward. We're excited to see where this program is going to go under Coach Bachtel's leadership and we can't wait for Aug. 31 and the start of the 2024 season at SMU."

"My family is excited to continue this journey with HCU football," said Bachtel. "We're excited about where this program is and where we're going to take it. I'm extremely grateful for our leadership, Dr. Sloan and Steve Moniaci, for affording me this opportunity to take over. Coach Harris did a great job of building a foundation last year and we're going to continue to build that foundation even greater and take things to new heights. Obviously, we have the number one recruiting class in FCS so the thing we have to do now is finalize that class. We've got some transfers we need to bring in for spring ball and get ready for the fall."

"We have a great group of returning players on this football team. We have a core nucleus that is outstanding. We're excited to continue the process of building those guys into great husbands, men and leaders but also great football players on the field. We have some really talented guys on both sides of the ball. We're excited about the pieces we already have in place. Those guys we have on campus right now, those guys who believe in what we started, are the keys to the growth of this program while we add pieces around them. We're excited to get going."

Bachtel spent the 2023 season as the Huskies' offensive coordinator, playing a pivotal role in the program's first winning season and leading the Southland Conference's number two scoring offense. The Huskies' running game led the SLC with 158.4 yards per game in 2023 with three different running back posting 100-yard rushing performances and four different players averaging at least 4.5 yards per carry. Wide receiver Karl Reynolds earned first team all-conference honors while offensive lineman Christian Hood was a second team honoree.

Bachtel also oversaw a Husky passing attack that accounted for 209.3 yards per game and 15 touchdowns through the air. Starting quarterback Colby Suits finished the season with 1,919 yards and 13 touchdowns, ranking fourth in both categories for a single season in program history. Suits and running back Champ Dozier each earned SLC Offensive Player of the Week honors during the season.

A Texas native, Bachtel is a well-known coach across the state who has coached at both the high school and college levels. He spent two seasons prior to joining the Huskies as the head coach at Howard Payne University in Brownwood. While leading the Yellow Jackets, Bachtel posted back-to-back 7-3 seasons for a 14-6 record as a collegiate head coach. In his two years at the helm, HPU averaged 489.45 yards of total offense per game and scored 38.4 points per game. In 2021, the Yellow Jackets boasted the number five passing offense in all of NCAA Division III and the 13th-best total offense. In 2022, HPU improved to 10th-nationally in total offense.

In 2020, Bachtel helped guide Argyle High School to a Texas 4A state championship as offensive coordinator, masterminding an offense that scored more than 48 points per game. He spent two seasons as offensive coordinator at East Texas Baptist University in 2018 and 2019, ranking sixth nationally in total offense in 2018 and 12th nationally in 2019. In 2019, Bachtel was one of just 10 college coaches included in Dave Campbell Texas Football Magazine's 40 Under 40 list.

Bachtel served as the offensive coordinator at North Forney High School in 2017, leading an offense that averaged 53 points per game and posted a 10-3 overall record. Prior to North Forney, he spent eight seasons at Scurry-Rosser High School with seven of those years as head coach. He finished his stint at Scurry-Rosser with a 32-32 overall record and was named district coach of the year in 2013 after leading the team to a 12-1 record, the best in school history. He also had stints as an assistant coach at both Galena Park and Gatesville High School before Scurry-Rosser.

Bachtel was a three-year letterwinner at quarterback for Howard Payne from 1999-2001. He graduated from HPU in 2003 with a B.S. in history before earning a master's in educational administration from Lamar in 2018.

He and his wife Tara have four children: Talen, Bailee, Brooklyn and Blaire.