Tarleton State University Athletics

When the 2025 football season begins, Tarleton State alumnus Scott Carey will begin his eighth season with Tarleton State Football as the offensive line coach, and his second as co-offensive coordinator. Head coach Todd Whitten announced on April 5, 2024, that Carey had been promoted, in charge of the run game.
 
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. Offensively, Tarleton ranked fourth in the country in pass yards per completion (14.5), fifth in red zone offense (.933), ninth in first downs (300), tied-13th in sacks allowed per game (1.14), 22nd in total offense (415.8 yards per game), 23rd in rushing offense (191.1 yards per game), 28th in scoring offense (30.7 points per game), 34th in tackles for loss allowed per game (4.71) and 42nd in passing offense (224.7 yards per game). Tarleton State had the No. 1 rusher across all of FCS (Kayvon Britten, 1,982 yards) and the No. 1 receiver across all of FCS (Darius Cooper, 1,450 yards). Britten and Cooper collected a combined nine All-American honors, including both earning Associated Press FCS All-America First Team. There were five offensive players total named UAC All-Conference, with Cooper and Britten on First Team, followed by quarterback Victor Gabalis, offensive lineman Layton Ernst and offensive lineman Tuli Teuhema on Second Team.
 
The offensive line has powered a run game that has been a staple with Carey at the helm, posting the best rushing offense in the conference in 2023 with 201.7 rushing yards per game (12th in the FCS) and 25 rushing touchdowns (16th in the FCS). Carey's OL played a part in the Texans' best year of total offense at the D1 level in 2022, as the Texans averaged 436.8 yards per game and 6.1 yards per play, with both marks being tops in the Western Athletic Conference. Over the past seven seasons, the Texans have had eight First Team All-Conference offensive linemen, seven on Second Team All-Conference, and five honorable mentions.
 
"I'm blessed to receive this honor and I'm so appreciative of everything surrounding this program and university," Carey said at the time of his promotion. "Tarleton State and Stephenville – this is home for me and my family and will always be home. There is no better place, and I can't wait to further aid this program as we continue our Division I success."
 
Carey was part of all four of Tarleton’s first NCAA Division I campaigns. Tarleton’s reclassification period was special nationwide, as the Texans posted the third highest winning percentage in a reclassification period since 2004 at .610 (25-16). Among all Texas D1 and D2 programs since 2018, the Texans own the best winning percentage in the state at .725 (58-22).
 
Since returning to the Texan sidelines in 2018, his impact on the offensive line has been nothing short of impeccable.
 
In Carey’s first year at Tarleton, he helped lead the biggest turnaround in program history. The Texans went 12-1, capturing the school’s first outright LSC title and advanced to the NCAA regional finals for the first time. Carey’s offensive linemen helped pave the way for the best rushing offense in the country as the Texans ran for 4,301 yards and 310 yards per game. All five offensive linemen were named All-LSC in 2018. Senior OT Deon Sheppard arguably had the best individual season in school history, collecting a school-record four All-America honors, D2CCA all-region, the LSC Offensive Lineman of the Year and first team All-LSC. Carey also coached Jovan Pruitt to honorable mention All-America honors and first team All-LSC. Israel Lorenzo, Wesley Hooks and Noah Perez were named honorable mention All-LSC under Carey.
 
Tarleton followed up in 2019 with a second consecutive undefeated regular season and LSC Championship. Having only returned two offensive linemen from the previous season with significant playing time, Carey’s men in the trenches rose to the occasion by leading the charge to one of the most elite offenses in the country. The Texans boasted the second-best offense (531.7 YPG) and the fourth-best scoring offense in the nation (45.0 PPG) with a balanced attack of 248.0 rushing yards per game and 283.7 passing yards per game. All five starters from the offensive line were named All-LSC while three (J.P. Pierre, Noah Perez and Cody Hayes) earned All-America recognition.
 
In Tarleton’s final two seasons in the Lone Star Conference and NCAA Division II, Carey coached five different Tarleton offensive linemen to All-America honors (Sheppard, Pruitt, Perez, Pierre and Hayes). Kendall Dearth and Zach Perry were the first Tarleton offensive linemen in program history to earn Division I accolades by being named to the Phil Steele Preseason All-Independent Team. Dearth also shined in the classroom in the spring of 2021 as a Scholar Baller First Team recipient for the National Academic Momentum Award.
 
Carey’s ties to Tarleton run deep after starring on the field for the Texans as a four-year letterman on the offensive line from 1994 to 1997, including as a junior during Whitten’s first Stephenville stop in 1996.
 
After his playing days, Carey ventured out to Northeastern State and Colorado Mines to begin his coaching career and found early success with an LSC championship in 2000 and a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championship in 2004. Carey’s 2004 team at Colorado Mines also boasted the nation’s top player as Carey’s offensive line oversaw the protection of Harlon Hill Trophy winner Chad Friehauf and the Mines offense was ranked as high as No. 1 in the nation in passing offense, No. 2 in total offense and sixth in scoring offense that season. Under Carey's tutelage, Travis Yenne was a two-time All-American (2004-05) and earned RMAC Offensive Lineman of the Year in 2005.
 
His success allowed him the opportunity to return to his alma mater in 2006 when he joined Sam McElroy’s coaching staff at Tarleton as the offensive line coach. Carey and the Texans saw immediate success as they shared the LSC South Division title in 2006 and the league title again in 2009. Also, in 2009, Carey and the Texans advanced two rounds deep in the NCAA playoffs after upsetting Texas A&M-Kingsville on the road in double overtime.
 
Tarleton rushed for 143.3 yards per game and 26 touchdowns during that playoff-bound 2009 campaign. The Texans also averaged 386.2 yards of total offense per game, outscored their opponents by more than 10 points per game, and converted on 85% (40-of-47) of their red-zone opportunities that season.
 
In 2008, the Tarleton offense boasted the league’s second-best rushing attack at 187.2 yards per game to go along with 375.5 yards of total offense per game. The Texans saw their feature running back, Roderick Smith, rush for 1,024 yards and earn first team all-LSC accolades.
 
In 2007, the Tarleton front five paved the way for an average of 452.2 yards of total offense per game, including 175.5 yards per game on the ground. Three Tarleton offensive linemen earned All-LSC accolades in 2007, including a pair of first team honorees. In Carey’s debut season as a coach for Tarleton in 2006, the Texans' offensive line helped Tarleton average 370.6 yards of total offense per game. Tarleton’s offensive line blocked for the LSC South Division Offensive Back of the Year in Michael Sampson and the LSC South Division Co-Freshman of the Year in Smith.
 
During his five years as a coach at Tarleton, the Texans were 36-20 with two LSC championships. Carey spent time as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach over the span.
 
After leaving Tarleton after 2010, Carey returned to Colorado Mines for three seasons and then came back to Texas for three years as the offensive line coach for now-NCAA Division I Abilene Christian. He spent the 2017 season at McGregor High School.
 
In his return to Golden, Colorado, in 2011, Carey’s group of offensive linemen tied for second in the RMAC in fewest sacks allowed (23) and the Mines offense led the conference and finished eighth nationally with 305.9 passing yards per game. The offense finished 42nd nationally with 31.6 points per game and 48th nationally with 401.6 yards of total offense per game. Quarterback Clay Garcia led the RMAC in passing yards (3,123) and running back Dan Palmer led the conference in rushing yards per game (92.4). Palmer's 1,016 rushing yards are the third-most in school history and just the third 1,00-yard season by a Mines running back in school history.
 
Carey, a native of Killeen, Texas, graduated from Killeen High School in 1993 before coming to Tarleton. He graduated with his undergraduate degree in kinesiology from Tarleton in 1997 and earned a master’s degree in college teaching from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, in 2001.
 
He resides in Stephenville with his wife, Danielle, who earned her master’s degree and was a graduate assistant basketball coach for Tarleton in 2008-09. The couple has two sons, Gabe and Eli.