“College football: Angelo State's new football coach is Permian graduate Wagner” |
| College football: Angelo State's new football coach is Permian graduate Wagner Posted: 23 Dec 2010 04:03 PM PST SAN ANGELO Permian graduate Will Wagner was announced Thursday as the new head football coach at Angelo State University. Wagner has been an assistant coach at another Northwest Missouri State — an NCAA Division II program like Angelo State — since 1998. He has been the assistant head coach at Northwest Missouri State the last four seasons and will be a head coach for the first time. "I have never seen anyone present a better plan than Coach Wagner for elevating the competitiveness of a football program, not just on the conference level, but also on the national level," Angelo State athletics director Kathleen Brasfield said in a news release. "He's very impressive with the plan he will implement." Wagner takes the Angelo State head coaching job over from Dale Carr — also a Permian graduate. Carr was fired in November after compiling a 28-36 record in six seasons with the Rams, including a 2005 playoff appearance in his first season at the helm. Four finalists were interviewed for the position, including Abilene High head coach Steve Warren and former Angelo State and San Francisco 49ers standout Pierce Holt. At Northwest Missouri State, Wagner helped the program win 10 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association under head coach Mel Tjeerdsma while winning three NCAA Division II titles and losing in the championship game four other times. "In the last couple of years I started to figure out that I'm ready to do this," Wagner said in Angelo State's news release. "I just see it being a perfect fit right now. It's a program that wants to get back to its tradition and its history of winning, and I believe I'm the guy that can take it the next step." Wagner is a 1992 Permian graduate who was the leading receiver on Permian's Class 5A Division II state championship team in 1991, which is the last title in the program's history. In the final that season, the Panthers beat a San Antonio Marshall squad led by future NFL star Priest Holmes. He went on to start at defensive back all 47 games for Hardin-Simmons University from 1992-95, which included four NAIA playoff berths and a spot in the NAIA semifinals in 1993. Wagner's last game as a player in 1995 was a second-round playoff loss to Central Washington and quarterback Jon Kitna. Wagner still holds the Hardin-Simmons career interception record with 23. After his playing career, Wagner was a graduate assistant in 1996 and 1997 for Hardin-Simmons before moving on to Northwest Missouri State as a graduate assistant for two years. He became a defensive backs coach before getting promoted to assistant head coach before the 2007 season. At Angelo State, he inherits a roster that had four Permian Basin players during the 2010 campaign — offensive lineman Stephen Boyles (Permian), linebacker Trevor Owens (Monahans), fullback Avery Rigg (Crane) and fullback Drew Allen (Iraan). "Our success here has been a combination of a lot us doing a lot of work together and Will was an integral part of that," Tjeerdsma said in comments provided by Angelo State. "I'm thrilled for him. I think it's a great opportunity and I think it's great for Angelo State." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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