Scotty Walden (born November 15, 1989)[1] is an American college football coach. He is the head football coach for the University of Texas at El Paso, a position he has held since 2024. Walden had previously served as the head coach at East Texas Baptist University, Austin Peay State University, and interim head coach at the University of Southern Mississippi.
| Current position | |
|---|---|
| Title | Head coach |
| Team | UTEP |
| Conference | CUSA |
| Record | 2–9 |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | November 15, 1989 Cleburne, Texas, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Sul Ross State University B.A., History |
| Playing career | |
| 2008 | Dordt |
| 2009–2010 | Hardin–Simmons |
| 2011 | Sul Ross |
| Position(s) | Quarterback, safety |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 2012 | Sul Ross (OC) |
| 2013–2015 | East Texas Baptist (OC) |
| 2016 | East Texas Baptist |
| 2017–2018 | Southern Miss (WR) |
| 2019–2020 | Southern Miss (co-OC/WR) |
| 2020 | Southern Miss (interim HC) |
| 2020–2023 | Austin Peay |
| 2024–present | UTEP |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 36–29 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 1 ASUN (2022) 1 UAC (2023) | |
Playing career
editWalden graduated from Cleburne High School in Cleburne, Texas. Following high school he attended three different colleges: Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa (2008–2009), Hardin–Simmons University in Abilene, Texas (2009–2011), and finally Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas (2011–2012). He played football at all three institutions, and started as quarterback in 2008 and 2011.[2]
Coaching career
editWalden's coaching career began in the spring of 2012, while he was still an undergraduate at Sul Ross. He worked as an offensive assistant under offensive coordinator John Tyree; when Tyree stepped down at the end of the academic year head coach Wayne Schroeder named Walden to replace him. Sul Ross's offense flourished in 2012, and at the end of the season Joshua Eargle, the new head coach at conference rival East Texas Baptist University, hired Walden away to become offensive coordinator on his staff.[3]
Eargle resigned from the East Texas Baptist job in January 2016, and the university promoted Walden, then 26, to replace him. At the time of his hiring, the NCAA believed Walden to be the youngest college head football coach in the United States. After one year at East Texas Baptist, during which the team compiled a 7–3 record, Walden departed in 2017 to become the wide receivers coach at the University of Southern Mississippi under head coach Jay Hopson, replacing John Wozniak.[4] Walden gained the title of co-offensive coordinator in 2019.
Southern Miss named Walden interim head coach on September 7, 2020, after Hopson stepped down.[5]
On October 27, 2020, Walden was named the new head coach for Austin Peay.
Walden took over coaching duties after non-conference play in 2020–21 and led Austin Peay to a 4–2 record in the conference while the team finished 4–5 overall.
Walden was hired as UTEP Miners head coach on December 4, 2023.[6]
Head coaching record
edit| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | STATS° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Texas Baptist Tigers (American Southwest Conference) (2016) | |||||||||
| 2016 | East Texas Baptist | 7–3 | 3–3 | 4th | |||||
| East Texas Baptist: | 7–3 | 3–3 | |||||||
| Southern Miss Golden Eagles (Conference USA) (2020) | |||||||||
| 2020 | Southern Miss | 1–3 | 1–1 | ||||||
| Southern Miss: | 1–3 | 1–1 | |||||||
| Austin Peay Governors (Ohio Valley Conference) (2020–2021) | |||||||||
| 2020–21 | Austin Peay | 4–2 | 4–2 | 3rd | 21 | ||||
| 2021 | Austin Peay | 6–5 | 4–2 | T–2nd | |||||
| Austin Peay Governors (ASUN Conference) (2022) | |||||||||
| 2022 | Austin Peay | 7–4 | 3–2 | T–1st | |||||
| Austin Peay Governors (United Athletic Conference) (2023) | |||||||||
| 2023 | Austin Peay | 9–3 | 6–0 | 1st | L NCAA Division I First Round | 10 | 13 | ||
| Austin Peay: | 26–14 | 17–6 | |||||||
| UTEP Miners (Conference USA) (2024–present) | |||||||||
| 2024 | UTEP | 2–9 | 2–4 | ||||||
| UTEP: | 2–9 | 2–4 | |||||||
| Total: | 36–29 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
References
edit- ^ Hall, Erik (September 7, 2020). "Scotty Walden: 4 things to know about the new Southern Miss football interim head coach". Hattiesburg American. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
- ^ Kercheval, Ben (November 4, 2014). "The Next Kliff Kingsbury? Meet Scotty Walden, One of the Youngest OCs in America". Bleacher Report. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
- ^ Piellucci, Mike (October 5, 2016). "The Great Expectations of Scotty Walden, the Youngest College Football Head Coach in America". VICE. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
- ^ "Southern Miss hires DIII head coach to handle receivers". SunHerald. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
- ^ "Jay Hopson out at Southern Miss, Scotty Walden named interim coach". ESPN. September 7, 2020. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
- ^ Bonagura, Kyle; Rittenberg, Adam (December 5, 2023). "Walden, 34, leaves Austin Peay to take UTEP job". ESPN.com. Associated Press. Retrieved October 16, 2024.