Mason Miller was hired as Tarleton State’s offensive coordinator on January 31, 2023. He enters his fourth season overall with the Texans, but 2023 will mark the first time he has roamed the Memorial Stadium sidelines since 2016. He is also the tight ends coach for the team.
Miller arrives back in Stephenville where he coached for three seasons from 2014-16. He was the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach all three years, serving under head coach Todd Whitten in 2016. He was most recently at Mississippi State the last three seasons as the offensive line coach, adding the title of Run Game Coordinator for the Bulldogs last year.
The 25-year coaching veteran has spent time on coaching staffs at Tarleton State, Mississippi State (2020-22), Washington State (2018-19), Nevada (2017), McMurry (2009-13), New Mexico State (2005-08), Southeastern Louisiana (2003-04) and Washington & Lee (2000), among others over the course of his coaching career.
“I think so much of Mason Miller, he’s a first-class person who I’ve worked with in the past,” Whitten said at the time of his hiring. “Our players really enjoyed his coaching style, and he has a knack for coaching, teaching and working with young men. He’s a really smart, creative football coach. He’s been with some of the best football minds out there, with Mike Leach, Hal Mumme and guys like that. He’ll be good for our program and he’ll be good for our players.”
Miller joined the late Mike Leach’s staff as offensive line coach upon his arrival to Mississippi State in 2020. Over his final two years with the Bulldogs in the 2021 and 2022 seasons, Miller’s offensive line ranked No. 2 in the SEC and No. 15 in the FBS in offensive line efficiency. MSU also led the SEC and ranked No. 3 in the FBS in lowest percentage of tackles for loss allowed during that period.
Miller coached left tackle Charles Cross for two seasons in Starkville before Cross was selected as the No. 9 overall pick in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks. Miller helped Cross to All-America and All-SEC honors at State in his senior season as he posted an SEC leading 84.9 pass blocking grade (Pro Football Focus) and did not allow a sack all season.
His offensive line paved the way for quarterback Will Rogers to lead the SEC in passing yards per game in 2021 and 2022.
Prior to Mississippi State, Miller spent two seasons as offensive line coach at Washington State (2018-19).
Miller’s OL in Pullman allowed the fewest sacks in the Pac-12 in each of Miller’s two seasons. In 2019, Miller guided OT Abe Lucas to All-Pac 12 second team honors and OG Josh Watson to All-Pac-12 honorable mention honors.
The Cougars had the top passing offense in the FBS for both of Miller’s two seasons on staff, leading the nation with 437.2 passing yards per game. They allowed 20 sacks in 2019 and just 13 in 2018, both pacing the Pac-12.
The 2018 OL at WSU was named as a semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award, given to the nation’s best offensive line. Three Cougars earned All-Pac-12 awards that season. Most notable of the group was Andre Dillard who was first team All-Pac-12, second team All-American by Sports Illustrated, rated the top pass blocking OT in the country (Pro Football Focus) and was drafted in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles.
In Miller’s lone season at Nevada as offensive line coach (2017), the Wolfpack averaged 127.2 rushing yards per game and 270.42 passing yards per game as part of a balanced attack. Miller coached OL Austin Corbett to first team All-Mountain West honors that season as well as helping C Sean Krepsz to honorable mention All-MWC honors. Corbett was later drafted by the Cleveland Browns with the 33rd overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
At Tarleton State, Miller led his line to third nationally in total offense in 2014, averaging 522.8 yards per game, scoring 43.7 points per game. Exceptional offense continued in 2015, as the Texans averaged 38.1 points and 451.2 yards per contest.
Miller was the head coach at McMurry in 2013, leading the War Hawks to multiple school records offensively including total yards (5,775), yards per game (523.1) and points scored (424). Before being appointed as the head coach, Miller was an assistant for four seasons from 2009-12. During that stretch, McMurry experienced three consecutive winning seasons, something that had happened just six other times in the university’s 87-year football existence. Miller was hired as the offensive line coach but was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2011 where he flourished. His first season calling plays saw McMurry rank 18th nationally and second in the American Southwest Conference in scoring offense with 37.7 points per game. McMurry set the NCAA Division III single game total offense record with 863 yards vs. Texas Lutheran.
In 2012, Miller’s second season as OC and McMurry’s first at the D2 level, the War Hawks averaged more than 433 yards per game with 367 coming from the passing attack.
Miller worked with the offensive line at NM State from 2005-08 under Hal Mumme. He coached four all-conference linemen at NM State including Nick Cole who played for the Philadelphia Eagles at one point.
He helped Hal Mumme start the Southeastern Louisiana program from scratch and served as running backs coach in 2003 before handling offensive line duties in 2004 where the Lions led the nation in total offense.
“Our family is very excited about returning to Stephenville where we spent three wonderful years with friends and family,” Miller said. “We are grateful for our time at Nevada, Washington State, as well as Mississippi State. However, we are glad to be home.
“Megan and I are so grateful to Dr. Hurley, Lonn Reisman, and especially Coach Whitten for bringing us back,” Miller added. “It has been a very welcoming experience. This has always been a special place for us.”
Miller will inherit a successful offense from a season ago, a Texan group that led the WAC in yards per game (436.7) and rush yards per game (174.6), finishing second in scoring average (31.0 PPG). Tarleton State is also set to return their 1,000-yard running back Derrel Kelley III, their 1,000-yard wide receiver Darius Cooper, along with their 10 touchdown reception wide receiver Jaden Smith.
Whitten, who engineered that offense, will hand over play calling duties for the first time in his Tarleton tenure, in what will be his 14th season at the helm in Stephenville.
“I think it’s time to turn this over to somebody else, and Mason Miller, to me, is the perfect guy to do that,” Whitten said. “I’m going to step away from being the offensive coordinator and being the play caller. It will be the first time that I’ve ever done this, so it will be an adjustment for me, but I think it’s the best thing for our team and best thing for our offense. I just think it’s the right time, and I’ll be able to better serve as ‘the CEO’ of the program.
“I think often times that change is very good,” Whitten added. “I think Coach Miller will bring some fresh, new ideas, a little bit of a new approach. Our core values are not going to change. We’re going to make a real commitment always to running the ball, being balanced, being explosive and taking shots. These are all things that Coach Miller and I’ve done together before. We are really on the same page in regard to how we want to look and how we want to go and play offense. For me, he was just the perfect guy to sort of replace myself with, and I just have a lot of faith. I believe he’s just about as good as anybody in the country.”
Miller picked up the headset for the first time as a student coach at Valdosta State following a two-year playing career there. He graduated from Valdosta State in 1997 and took a job at Valwood High School in 1998 where, as the offensive coordinator, he helped turn around a team that went 1-19 in the previous two seasons. With Miller leading the offense, Valwood High School earned a playoff berth in 1998 and a state championship in 1999. Miller’s offense was the state of Georgia’s top-ranked offense in 1999.
All-in-all, Miller has guided different offenses to among the best in the nation at every level of NCAA football, including the best offense in the nation at Southeastern Louisiana (2004). He’s also helped produce top-five offenses nationally at Tarleton, New Mexico State and McMurry.
