The Stetson Hatters (Pioneer) have hired Mike Jasper as the school’s next football coach. Jasper was the head coach of Bethel University in McKenzie, Tennessee for the previous six seasons.
Jasper played collegiately at UT Martin, Middle Tennessee but ended his career at Bethel and was a 7th-round draft pick by the Buffalo Bills in 2011. After four seasons with five different professional teams, Jasper became an assistant coach for Buffalo Bishop Timon High School. In 2015, he took the same offensive and defensive line coaching role with Mount Juliet High School in Tennessee. From 2016 through 2018, he was the offensive line coach for Bethel.
Jasper was named head coach of the NAIA’s Bethel Wildcats in 2019 and started with 5-6 and 3-4 records in his first two seasons. In 2021, the Wildcats improved to 7-4 overall and tied for 3rd in the Mid-South Conference’s Bluegrass division. In 2022, Jasper led Bethel to an undefeated regular season and an NAIA Playoff appearance but lost to Keiser in the first round. Jasper was named NAIA Region 1 Coach of the Year in 2022.
In 2023, Bethel started the season 10-1, captured the Mid-South title, and was selected as the seventh seed for the NAIA Playoffs. The Wildcats won the second-round matchup 40-13 against Evangel but saw their run ended for the second year in a row by Keiser. Keiser would go on to win the NAIA Championship. Bethel went 7-3 overall while finishing 3rd in the Mid-South in 2024. Jasper has a 44-20 overall record and is 25-16 in conference games.
Jasper will replace Brian Young, who resigned after four years with the Hatters. Young went 13-30 overall and 5-25 in PFL games in his four seasons leading Stetson.
Photo Credit to Stetson University Athletics
