With the first practice of the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets’ COVID-induced spring football season scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday, Jason Bachtel was introduced as the 24th head coach in the program’s history during a Friday morning press conference at the Bullion Suites inside the Mabee Center on the HPU campus.
“I’m extremely excited to be your next head football coach here at Howard Payne University, a place I truly hold very dear to my heart, a place that I call home, the place where I met my wife,” an emotional Bachtel stated during his initial comments. “My dad played football here, my uncle played football here, cousins, my son graduated from here. Howard Payne is home, Howard Payne is family. It’s great to be home.”
Bachtel and his wife Tara have been married for 19 years and the couple has four children: Talen – a December 2020 HPU graduate and former Yellow Jacket basketball player – Bailee, Brooklyn and Blaire.
Bachtel’s father Mark – a former Brownwood Lions head football coach – and uncle Kent are both members of the Howard Payne Athletics Hall of Honor.
“About 10 steps from my office door I get to look on the right side of the wall at two men that have been very dear in my life that sit right next to each other in the Howard Payne Hall of Honor, and that’s Mark Bachtel and Kent Bachtel,” Bachtel said. “Again it goes back to family. In my time here, I’m probably one of the first Bachtels in Howard Payne that was not an All-American and who is not in the Hall of Honor. But for me, I want to have the same impact that those guys have had on Howard Payne football history, and this is how I do it.”
A 2003 graduate of HPU, Bachtel was most recently the offensive coordinator for Class 4A Division I state champion Argyle, which posted a 16-0 record in 2020 while averaging 48 points and 444 total yards (223 passing, 221 rushing) per game, with a 66% rate of pass completions. Argyle never trailed at any point during the season and outscored opponents by 521 points over 16 games with a 32.5-point average margin of victory per game.
Bachtel also had high school coaching stints at Gatesville, Galena Park North Shore, North Forney and Scurry-Rosser.
Bachtel is also familiar with the American Southwest Conference as he served as offensive coordinator at East Texas Baptist the two seasons prior to making the move to Argyle. In two campaigns at ETBU, the Tigers averaged nearly 500 total yards per game and 37 points per game. ETBU’s offense recorded over 600 yards of total offense three times in the 2018 season. ETBU’s passing offense of 300.6 yards per game led the American Southwest Conference that year.
In 2019, Bachtel was one of only 10 college coaches named to the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine 40 Under 40 list.
Howard Payne Director of Athletics Hunter Sims said of Bachtel, “We believe he’s the perfect for Howard Payne University and our football program. When we set out to hire a new football coach we knew that person needed to embody three things – one was someone that was deeply rooted in their Christian faith, two was a proven winner and champion, which you are, and a man who could lead men to embody those traits as well. Coach Bachtel hits these marks and then some. He’s committed to his Christian faith and I don’t know that I’ve met anybody other than Dr. Hines who wants to see Howard Payne succeed holistically as much as he does.”
HPU President Dr. Cory Hines said of Bachtel, “His passion for excellence is evident in his desire to build a program that both competes for championships as well as develops men to be the people God dreams, which was definitely music to my ears. He loves Howard Payne, loves what we’re about, and I couldn’t be happier than he feels called to join us in shaping Howard Payne to become what she needs to be in the days ahead. I believe with all my heart our program is in great hands and the future is very bright, and I can’t wait to see how the Lord uses his gifts, abilities, passion, heart and strong connections to make our football program something we can all be very proud of.”
Bachtel was a three-year letterman during his playing days at HPU, as the Yellow Jackets won 19 games in that span under head coach Vance Gibson, including an 8-2 mark in Bachtel’s senior season. Bachtel started his coaching career as a student assistant at HPU under Gibson.
“From the days of playing for Vance Gibson in the late 90s and early 2000s, this is a day I always dreamed about – to follow in his footsteps, a guy that I admire, a guy I looked up to, and a guy that I still call a mentor, one of the greatest coaches in Howard Payne history,” Bachtel said. “I love him dearly but I also told him that I want to be better than him. How do we do that? It’s going to take our community, it’s going to take our alumni, it’s going to take our individual students, it’s going to take our football players, it’s going to take our president and our athletic director, and the whole Howard Payne community to rally around this group and rally around this program, and let’s continue to build on what Braxton Harris has already done, and what a great job he did.”
Harris left Howard Payne after three seasons to take the position of linebackers coach at NCAA FCS Division I school Campbell in North Carolina. In 2019 under Harris’ tutelage, Howard Payne finished on a three-game win streak for a 5-5 record – the best record for the Yellow Jackets since 2006.
With HPU’s first game of the spring season slated for Feb. 6, there is no time for Bachtel to ease into his new position.
“One of the greatest challenges I see in front of us now is coming in the next few weeks,” Bachtel said. “Obviously my first day on campus was just a few days ago, I just met the kids yesterday. They had a full fall practice schedule, then when you have your head coach leave the kids have to learn me, they have to learn who I am and what I stand for, and know that I’m here for them. Also, reassuring our coaches that everything is okay and we’re going to proceed with the program and what’s already been in place, and that they are very capable coaches who can continue without me being here.”
Any potential changes Bachtel would like to implement regarding offensive and defensive philosophies will likely wait until the conclusion of the five-game spring campaign.
“More than anything, I’m going to be in a support role for the guys that are already here,” Bachtel said. “We’ve got a very capable offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator. Scott Clough is also going to assist me with any head coaching assignments or duties we’re going to move forward with. There will be times I may not be in full capacity here where Scott will come in and take that role. We’re leaving our staff intact the way that it is and they’re going to continue to push forward. As far as the implementation of offense and defense that I would like to see, I’m going sit back and observe mostly and make sure I am their support model and a sounding board for them.”
Further elaborating on his offensive and defensive philosophies, Bachtel said, “The offense may not change, and there may be some tweaks. For anybody that’s watched over the past two or three years, you know I love the deep ball. We’re going to throw the deep ball a lot, sometimes we may live on the deep ball too much, but I like to score points. If you’re not trying, how do you do it? So I like to take shots.
“Defensively we’re going to play sound football, we have to be great tacklers. The biggest thing, and I think you’ve seen this in big time football, we’ve got to line up and and we’ve got to be sound in how we line up. If you do that, then you can let your kids play. I am a big proponent of keeping things simple and letting our kids know what our adjustments are on both sides of the ball, which lets them play fast and physical.”
Another challenge that comes with spring season is balancing recruiting. Bachtel expects to play a much more significant role in that aspect of the program in the coming weeks.
“I’m about to be the greatest recruiting coordinator in the ASC,” Bachtel said with a laugh. “Because of my role, I think it allows me to step back and become more involved in the recruiting aspect, making sure we continue to hold on to our commitments we’ve already got and then go and grab a few more. It’s going to alleviate some of the stress on our coaching staff and allow me to get out to some of the local schools and meet some of the coaches and grab some guys from around the area.”
Bachtel also made an impassioned plea for the community, alumni and greater Brownwood area to “come aboard” with support for the Yellow Jacket football program.
“For everybody in Brownwood, Early, Bangs, and the surrounding area, I ask that you rally around this program and come aboard,” Bachtel said. “To the alumni of Howard Payne University I ask that you come aboard, and to the alumni of the Howard Payne football program, I’m asking you strongly to please come back and be involved and let’s build it back to what we all love.”
Regarding the allure of returning to his alma mater at this particular time, Bachtel said, “The vision that was thrown in front of me, from our very first phone call to our very last phone call, eased my mind for where this school and this university was going and where we want to the football program.”
And where does Bachtel intend for Yellow Jacket football to go?
“We have a tough road ahead of us, our kids know that, our coaches know that, and I know that,” Bachtel said. “But we’re going to attack it head on, we’re going to strive for excellence. I played in the days when we were always in the national rankings and we would be fighting for a conference championship. Those days are ahead of us. Those are the days we want to get back to. We want to be one of the top programs in the conference, but we also want to be one of the top programs in the nation. We want to fight for a playoff spot, we want to play for a national championship. If any coach tells you that’s not their goal, why are they in the business? So that’s where we want to take it.”
[Story by Derrick Stuckly]
HPU 2020-21 football schedule
Saturday, Feb. 6 – Texas Lutheran, Noon
Saturday, Feb. 13- at Hardin-Simmons, TBA
Saturday, Feb. 20 – McMurry, Noon
Saturday, March 6 – at Sul Ross, TBA
Saturday, March 13 – ASC Seeding Playoff, TBA
