MARSHALL, Texas – The East Texas Baptist University football program announced the following two additions to the coaching staff heading into the 2023 season. Trevor Hopkins, a standout offensive lineman at Texas Lutheran University, and former ETBU All-American, Tyler Bates, will be assisting on the offensive side of the ball this year.
 
Hopkins will be the offensive coordinator and coach the offensive line, while Bates is the pass game coordinator and quarterback coach. Both bring NCAA coaching experience, as Hopkins comes from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor while Bates coached at NCAA Division I Lamar University in 2021 and 2022.
 
"Trevor fits the culture of ETBU and our football program," says head coach Calvin Ruzicka. "He's going to be a great mentor to our players and his philosophy on offense compliments what we want to do on defense."
 
Hopkins spent last year on the coaching staff at Mary Hardin-Baylor as the offensive graduate assistant and tight ends coach. He assisted offensive line coach Matt Cannata in recruiting, helped with the weekly breakdown and offensive game plan, and ran daily meetings/film sessions with the tight ends. He was a part of UMHB's run through the NCAA Division III playoffs to the semi-finals while also winning the American Southwest Conference championship. The UMHB offense finished the year top 10 in the nation for first down offense (4^th) and was top 25 in scoring offense (15^th, 41.3 ppg), total offense (17^th, 460.8 ypg), third down conversion (15^th, .494), and passing efficiency (11^th, 168.51). UMHB went 12-2 and a perfect 8-0 in the ASC.

A four-year letterman and ASC All-Academic team member for Texas Lutheran University, Hopkins was a two-time All-ASC center for the Bulldogs. In the spring 2021 season (COVID season), he was named to the All-ASC second team and them was a member of the 2021 fall third team. TLU went 21-14 in his four years finishing in second place in the ASC in 2019 with an 8-1 record and a 38-27 win over no. 6 Hardin-Simmons in Abilene. In his first season, TLU went 7-3 and then posted a 3-2 record in spring 2021.  In three of his four years, TLU's offense averaged over 400 yards per game with the most in 2019 at 424 yards per game.
 
He finished at Texas Lutheran in 2022 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology, with an emphasis in Criminal Justice.
 
A New Braunfels, Texas, native, Hopkins played at Canyon High School, where he was a four-year letterman and team captain. His father, Andy, coached offensive line for 31 years at various Texas high schools and colleges.
 
Ruzicka says on Bates, "He embodies everything we are about as a university and what we are trying to build in the football program. He was an elite athlete in two sports at ETBU and as an alum he is passionate about giving back to the young men in our program."
 
Bates will shift from ETBU baseball to the football program as an assistant coach. He was an All-American in both sports at ETBU and this past season helped the Tigers to their best season in program history. Prior to coaching baseball at ETBU, he spent two seasons at Lamar University as a football graduate assistant. His first season he was an offensive graduate assistant helping with wide receivers and kick returners. For the 2022 season, he was promoted to the running backs coach, where he was also responsible for the kick and punt returners.
 
As a football player, Bates was a 2014 USA Football Network All-American earning three All-ASC awards in his career. His senior season came in 2015 as ETBU tied for the ASC Championship for only the second time in program history. He holds four ETBU records in single season receptions (84), single season receiving yards (1,215), career receptions (256), and career yards (3,454). He is second all-time in career touchdowns at 33.

The two sport ETBU All-American student-athlete played baseball for ETBU from 2013-16 being drafted in the 38^th round of the 2016 MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Angels. He was an ABCA All-American on the second team in 2016, earning three ABCA All-Region awards. D3baseball.com also awarded him as an All-Region second team selection and he was an All-ASC first-team member three times. He held the ETBU all-time hits record at 206, for one season until teammate Conner Combs broke it in 2017 at 216 hits. In the ETBU record books, he is first in doubles (43), third in at-bats (604), fifth in triples (9) and steals (47), and 10^th in home runs (23). In four years, ETBU went from winning 16 games in 2014 to 31 in 2016, as he was a part of turning around the baseball program. 
 
He spent two seasons in the minor leagues with the Angels (2016) and the Colorado Rockies organization (2017). He posted 57 hits, 35 runs scored, played in 63 games, and had 28 RBI with 10 stolen bases.
 
Bates graduated from ETBU in 2014 with his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Criminal Justice and earned a Master of Science Degree in Nutrition from Lamar University in December 2022.
 
ETBU is entering their first year under Ruzicka, who spent the past five years as the defensive coordinator.