Nixon joins Wonder Boys football coaching staff

Story date: July 9, 2011 Brings 13 years experience to Arkansas Tech football

By Sean Ingram sportseditor@couriernews.com Arkansas Tech University athletic director and head football coach Steve Mullins said Friday that assistant coach Jo Nixon has joined the Wonder Boys family. The St. Petersburg, Fla., native, who began his duties Friday, brings 13 years of coaching experience and an extensive background to Russellville. Nixon, who will coach the defensive secondary at Tech, replaces Ryan Wallace, who became defensive coordinator at Hot Springs High School. I am excited about the experience and enthusiasm Jo will add to our staff, Mullins, who is entering his 15th season at the helm of the Wonder Boys, said. Nixon spent the 2010 season as the linebacker coach and recruiting coordinator at Stillman College, an NCAA Division II school in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Nixon, who played linebacker and defensive end at both Hinds Community College (1991-92) and Florida State University (1993-95), spent the 2009 season as defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Alabama State University, an NCAA D-I FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) school in Montgomery. His defensive unit ranked third in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) in total defense, scoring defense and led the league in rushing defense. Nixon began his collegiate coaching career in 1998 as a student assistant working with the secondary at Jacksonville State University.



He spent two seasons (2001-02) as a defensive line coach at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in Miami, Okla., and helped lead the Norse to a 17-6 two-year record, the 2002 SWJCFC championship and the Red River Bowl title. Nixon coached Michael Pruitt, a 2002 NJCAA all-American and the NJCAA Defensive Player of the Year, as well as eight NCAA Division I players and three future NFL Draft picks. I am looking forward to being a part of the Arkansas Tech program and the new Great American Conference, Nixon said. I look forward to doing great things here. Nixon spent two years (2003-04) as the defensive line coach at Central Oklahoma University in Edmond, where he coached four all-Lone Star Conference players and was part of UCOs 2003 NCAA Division II playoff team that finished 9-3. From 2006-08, Nixon served as defensive coordinator, secondary coach, special teams coordinator and assistant head coach at Langston University in Langston, Okla. The Lions went 21-11 and reached the NAIA national quarterfinals in 2008. Nixons defensive units ranked sixth (2006), fifth (2007) and second (2008) in the NAIA in total defense. He coached 14 all-conference players, one conference player of the year and one NAIA all-American. Nixon earned his bachelors degree in broadcast and mass communications from Central Oklahoma in 2006 and is earning his masters degree in sports management from the United States Sports Academy. His first coaching job was in 1996 as a defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Florida State University High School in Tallahassee. He spent a year as defensive coordinator and secondary coach at St. Petersburg High School in St. Petersburg, Fla. Nixon, a member of both the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and Black Coaches Association, (BCA), produced a video series in 2008 for the AFCAs monthly magazine covering 3-4 defenses, served as a participant in the AFCA Professional Development Series from 2007-10 and coached the linebackers for the West Team in the inaugural Russell Athletic/HBCU Senior Bowl in Montgomery, Ala., in 2009.