When the 2025 football season begins, Michael Walton will begin his 25th season as a collegiate football assistant coach and his sixth at Tarleton State as the special teams coordinator. He will lead the safeties in 2025.
The Texans just posted a historic campaign in 2024, going 10-4 overall and 6-2 in United Athletic Conference play, winning their FCS Playoffs debut against Drake before dropping a tight contest at No. 4 South Dakota in Vermillion in the second round. On Nov. 30, 13-seed Tarleton hosted Drake in the first round of the FCS Playoffs winning 43-29 at Memorial Stadium. The Texans became the fifth team in the history of the FCS Playoffs (Division I-AA Playoffs), which goes back 46 years, to win their first playoff game at the FCS level in their first year eligible after reclassifying from NCAA Division II. Two of those five teams comprised of the four-team playoff field in that initial round of the FCS Playoffs – Florida A&M and UMass, in 1978. The other two programs are currently in the FBS; Troy in 1993 and UCF in 1990. The Texans earned the No. 13 seed in the FCS Playoffs among the 24-team field across 129 FCS programs in just their first year of championship eligibility. They had become just the first team fresh off of reclassification to make the playoffs since 2009 (South Dakota State). Tarleton State was named No. 12 in the final AFCA FCS Coaches Poll of the season, and No. 13 in the final Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll of the season. Tarleton State was ranked in both polls every single week of the 2024 campaign, from the preseason through the postseason. The Texans were just one of 11 teams nationwide to never leave the polls, joined by Idaho, Illinois State, Montana, Montana State, North Dakota State, South Dakota, South Dakota State, UC Davis, UIW and Villanova. Tarleton State started 2024 7-1, with a six-game winning streak, their best start and their longest winning streak in the D1 era. On Special Teams, the Texans didn’t allow a single blocked kick or blocked punt the entire season, plus they were fourth nationally in punt return defense (2.8 yards per), fifth in kick return defense (15.3 yards per) and 10th in net punting (40.8). Punter Adrian Guzman was named UAC All-Conference Second Team.
In the Texans’ final year of their four-year reclassification period in 2023, he helped the Texans finish 8-3 overall and 4-2 in conference play. They finished second in the inaugural United Athletic Conference despite being picked to finish sixth in the 2023 Preseason UAC Coaches Poll. Walton’s unit brought excitement to the third phase of the game. The Texans led the UAC in yards per kickoff return (24.3), which was the eighth best mark in the FCS, and were second in yards per punt return (18.2), which was good for fourth in the FCS. Tarleton State was also one of 20 FCS teams that didn’t allow a single kick to be blocked in 2023. Walton coached running back Deangelo Rosemond to UAC Second Team All-Conference honors as a returner. The specialist returned 18 kicks for 462 yards (25.7 yards per return), with a long return of 65 yards.
In 2022, Walton coached punter Jake Walrath to average 40.18 yards per punt with a long of 58 with 13 punts inside the 20-yard line. Kicker Adrian Guzman was 8-of-12 on field goals, 3-of-4 from 40-49 yards out and 37-of-38 on extra points.
Walton was part of Tarleton's 6-5 season in their second year at the NCAA Division I level in 2021. Walton was also a part of Tarleton’s first NCAA Division I campaign in the unprecedented spring football season of 2021. The Texans went 5-3 in their first season at the FCS level and earned their first win over a Division I program against FBS Independent New Mexico State on Feb. 21. Under Walton’s leadership, the Texans returned three special teams touchdowns and added a safety return off a PAT. Tarleton blocked three kicks and didn’t surrender one.
Walton came to Tarleton following his second consecutive season as the assistant head coach and defensive coordinator for his alma mater, Eastern New Mexico. In 2018, Walton commanded a Hounds defense that finished third in the LSC. Eastern New Mexico's best defensive effort of the year came in its annual Wagon Wheel Game with West Texas A&M as the Greyhound shutout the Buffs for the first time since 1992.
His career began as a four-year letterman for the Greyhounds from 1996-99. Walton was named to 12 different All-America teams in his final two seasons as a Hound and was named the school’s Greatest Greyhound recipient on three different occasions (1997-99). He finished his career as the program’s all-time leading tackler (515) and was the 1998 LSC South Division Defensive Lineman of the Year. In his senior season, Walton led the Greyhounds to the first of back-to-back LSC South Division Championships.
Walton traded the pads for a clipboard the following season when he transitioned to the coaching staff where he stayed for the next seven football seasons as an assistant coach over various positions. He was a safeties coach for one the best defensive units in Greyhound history during that 2000 season. His defense ranked No. 14 in the nation in total defense and No. 10 in pass defense efficiency. He shifted to the offensive side of the ball for four seasons before being named the defensive coordinator in 2006.
His time in Portales led him to the NCAA Division I level as a special teams coordinator and cornerbacks coach for Sam Houston State, led by none other than Todd Whitten. During his time at SHSU, Walton’s special teams unit boasted the country’s top-ranked punt coverage and punt return units.
Walton and Whitten remained together with the Bearkats for three seasons before Walton moved on to earn the defensive coordinator role with New Mexico Military Institute for the 2010 season. He quickly returned to the LSC by being named the DC for Angelo State, where he stayed from 2011-13 and elevated the Rams defense to the No. 1-ranked rushing defense in the country in 2012.
His impact once again led him to the FCS level and a return to the Piney Woods as he joined the Stephen F. Austin staff in 2014 as the special teams coordinator and safeties coach. With Walton on the staff, the Lumberjacks qualified for the FCS playoffs that season and he remained with the ‘Jacks through the 2016 season before making his return to Division II. Walton left SFA to take the defensive coordinator position at Missouri Western in 2017 before making his return to Eastern New Mexico in 2018.
A native of Earth, Texas, Walton holds two degrees from Eastern New Mexico – a bachelor’s degree in special education and a master’s degree in sports administration. He is married to Alicia Polaco-Walton and they have two daughters, Lucia and Grace.
