MEET THE
COACHES
WILL WAGNER { head coach }
As a senior in high school, Wagner helped lead Odessa Permian to the 1991 Texas 5A Division II State Championship. Wagner and his wife, Andrea, have two sons, Brooks and Brayden.
angelo state university ram football
At Northwest Missouri, Wagner first served as a graduate assistant coach for two seasons before being hired full time as defensive backs coach, a job he held even after being named assistant head coach prior to the 2007 season. Under his tutelage, the Bearcats averaged nearly 18 interceptions per season from 2004–10. Twelve of his defensive backs combined to earn 18 All-MIAA honors, including Myles Burnsides, a two-time All-American who was named National Defensive Player of the Year in 2008. In 2009, 11 Bearcats picked off 25 passes, the second-highest total in the nation. In Wagner’s final season, Northwest Missouri finished 12-2 and advanced to the D-II national semifinals before losing to Minnesota Duluth, 17-13. As a player, Wagner was an AllAmerican defensive back at HardinSimmons University, where he played from 1992–95 and earned selection to the university’s 20th Anniversary Team. He started a record 47 games for the Cowboys, set school records for interceptions in a season (8) and set an American Southwest Conference record for career interceptions (23). He also coached as a graduate assistant at Hardin-Simmons from 1996–97.
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West Texas native Will Wagner took over as Angelo State’s head football coach in 2011 after 11 seasons as an assistant coach at perennial NCAA Division II powerhouse Northwest Missouri State University. During his first two seasons as head coach, the Rams offense and defense improved by leaps and bounds. The 2012 Ram defense was No. 2 in the Lone Star Conference and No. 32 in NCAA Division II. The 337.4 yard per game the defense limited teams was the lowest total in 10 years. The offense gained 362.3 yards per game in 2012 which is the 13th most in ASU history. The 2012 season included a 28-23 win over rival No. 19 ACU for the first time since 2005. The team also stays involved in the public with the Rams Read program and helping the San Angelo community by volunteering to clean up and do handy work at houses around town. While at Northwest Missouri, Wagner helped lead the Bearcats to 10 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) championships, seven national championship games and three national titles. During his tenure, the Bearcats were 1088 (.931) in the 12-member MIAA.