Jason Bachtel

Jason Bachtel was named head coach of the HCU football program on Jan. 4, 2024 after spending one year as the program's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2023.

Bachtel spent the 2023 season as the Huskies’ offensive coordinator, playing a pivotal role in the program’s first winning season and leading the Southland Conference’s number two scoring offense. The Huskies’ running game led the SLC with 158.4 yards per game in 2023 with three different running back posting 100-yard rushing performances and four different players averaging at least 4.5 yards per carry. Wide receiver Karl Reynolds earned first team all-conference honors while offensive lineman Christian Hood was a second team honoree.

Bachtel also oversaw a Husky passing attack that accounted for 209.3 yards per game and 15 touchdowns through the air. Starting quarterback Colby Suits finished the season with 1,919 yards and 13 touchdowns, ranking fourth in both categories for a single season in program history. Suits and running back Champ Dozier each earned SLC Offensive Player of the Week honors during the season.

A Texas native, Bachtel is a well-known coach across the state who has coached at both the high school and college levels. He spent two seasons prior to joining the Huskies as the head coach at Howard Payne University in Brownwood. While leading the Yellow Jackets, Bachtel posted back-to-back 7-3 seasons for a 14-6 record as a collegiate head coach. In his two years at the helm, HPU averaged 489.45 yards of total offense per game and scored 38.4 points per game. In 2021, the Yellow Jackets boasted the number five passing offense in all of NCAA Division III and the 13^th-best total offense. In 2022, HPU improved to 10^th-nationally in total offense.

In 2020, Bachtel helped guide Argyle High School to a Texas 4A state championship as offensive coordinator, masterminding an offense that scored more than 48 points per game. He spent two seasons as offensive coordinator at East Texas Baptist University in 2018 and 2019, ranking sixth nationally in total offense in 2018 and 12^th nationally in 2019. In 2019, Bachtel was one of just 10 college coaches included in Dave Campbell Texas Football Magazine’s 40 Under 40 list.

Bachtel served as the offensive coordinator at North Forney High School in 2017, leading an offense that averaged 53 points per game and posted a 10-3 overall record. Prior to North Forney, he spent eight seasons at Scurry-Rosser High School with seven of those years as head coach. He finished his stint at Scurry-Rosser with a 32-32 overall record and was named district coach of the year in 2013 after leading the team to a 12-1 record, the best in school history. He also had stints as an assistant coach at both Galena Park and Gatesville High School before Scurry-Rosser.

Bachtel was a three-year letterwinner at quarterback for Howard Payne from 1999-2001. He graduated from HPU in 2003 with a B.S. in history before earning a master’s in educational administration from Lamar in 2018.

He and his wife Tara have four children: Talen, Bailee, Brooklyn and Blaire.