UTRGV head football coach Travis Bush announced the hiring of Mike Schultz on Friday, who has more than 40 years of coaching experience, including 37 at the NCAA Division I level, as an assistant coach.
Schultz’s collegiate coaching stops include serving as the head coach at Lamar (2017-19), offensive coordinator at Texas State (2011-15), Middle Tennessee State (2010), Illinois (2009), and TCU (1998-2009), assistant head coach/running backs/secondary at New Mexico (1992-97), running backs/secondary coach at Texas State (1990-91) and Tennessee Tech (1983-84), linebackers coach at Texas (1985), tight ends coach at Kansas State (1982), wide receivers and tight ends coach at UTEP (1981), and quarterbacks and running backs coach at Sam Houston (1979-80).
Schultz spent the last two seasons as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Marlin High School in Marlin and was also the defensive coordinator at Westwood High School in Round Rock from 1986-89.
“I’ve known Coach Schultz for over 20 years, and we’re privileged to add him to our coaching staff,” Bush said. “Coach Schultz was the offensive coordinator at TCU when I started out as the offensive graduate assistant in 2001, and he was very instrumental in grooming me to coach at the collegiate level. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the staff, as well as a valuable perspective from his time as a head coach at the Division I FCS level. Coach Schultz has recruited high schools and junior colleges in Texas his entire career and has great ties across the state. He will add immediate value to our program.”
Schultz has a strong reputation for running efficient, high-octane offenses. In 2014, his Texas State offense ranked in the top 25 in the nation in total and rushing offense. In both 2014 and 2015, his offenses averaged more than 415 yards of total offense. Schultz coached 31 all-conference performers at Texas State.
At TCU, his teams ranked in the top 40 nationally in scoring offense six times, total offense five times, and rushing offense five times between 2002 and 2008. He also coached four 1,000-yard rushers while helping the program to seven bowl games, five rankings in the top 25 at the end of the season, five seasons of 10 or more wins, and two conference championships. Schultz coached 44 all-conference performers at TCU. Throughout his career, Schultz has coached in 11 bowl games.
During his second season as the head coach at Lamar, Schultz took a team picked 10th out of 11 preseason Southland Conference Coaches Poll and rallied them to the first NCAA Division I FCS postseason appearance in program history. By the end of the 2018 season, the Cardinals had posted their second winning season since the program’s return in 2010 and only its third since 1979. Schultz’s squad notched one of the top single-season turnarounds in the nation, going from 2-9 in 2017 to 7-5 in 2018, closing the regular season with a six-game winning streak that included wins over three nationally ranked programs and the conference co-champion.
During his three seasons at Lamar, Schultz coached 20 all-conference selections, including four first-teamers, a newcomer of the year, and a lineman of the year. He also produced two All-Americans.
Two players from Schultz’s 2018 team went on to play professionally, including Rodney Randle with the Los Angeles Chargers and Davon Jernigan with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL.
Schultz coached several other future NFL players, including Pro Football Hall of Fame running back LaDainian Tomlinson, who was TCU’s all-time leading rusher before becoming a superstar with the Chargers, and quarterback Andy Dalton, who has been in the NFL since 2011 and is currently with the Carolina Panthers.
“I am really excited about being at UTRGV,” Schultz said. “It is a great community and I look forward to working with Coach Bush. I have done a lot of things in my football career but have never started a program from the ground up. I look forward to being involved with that process.”
Originally from Houston, Schultz graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Teaching from Sam Houston in 1979. He played one season of football at Sam Houston after playing receiver for two seasons at Tyler Junior College.
