ST. JOSEPH – Four new faces have joined the Missouri Western Football coaching staff for 2015. Head coach Jerry Partridge has also announced some other minor changes to assignments with returning members of the staff.
Andy Ball joins the staff as an assistant coach and will work primarily with offensive linemen. Offensive Coordinator Todd Throckmorton will focus on working with tight ends after also working with linemen in previous seasons. Ball is no stranger to the area. He was born in St. Joseph while his father, Randy, was an assistant at MWSU. Randy was a head coach at Western Illinois and Missouri State and is now a pro scouting assistant for the Kansas City Chiefs. Andy comes to MWSU from Truman State University where he was offensive line coach, co-recruiting coordinator and special teams coordinator for three seasons. He also spent four seasons as an assistant at Missouri S&T and three seasons as an assistant at Culver-Stockton College. The 2001 Central Missouri graduate worked as a student assistant and graduate assistant on the Mules coaching staff for three seasons.
Scott Groner will step right out of his Griffon uniform and into the shoes of his mentor Jay White. Groner will be the team’s equipment manager in addition to working with specialists. The three-time All-American punter will also serve as assistant facilities director for the athletic department, assuming the role formerly filled by White, who accepted a position with the Kansas City Chiefs this spring.
Colin McQuillan and David McGarvey have joined the staff as graduate assistants. Neither are strangers to Griffon Football. McQuillan was a student assistant from 2010-12 and graduated from MWSU in 2012 with a bachelor’s in Physical Education. Since then, he has coached in the high school ranks, spending two seasons at Riverside High School in Wathena, Kansas and two at KC Wyandotte High School. He was also the head girl’s basketball coach at Union Star High School from 2008-2011. McGarvey’s father, Stan was the head coach at MWSU from 1991-96. McGarvey recently graduated from Missouri Valley College. His coaching experience includes two stints at Missouri Valley, where he worked with running backs and fullbacks in addition to serving as junior varsity head coach and offensive coordinator. He was also offensive coordinator at Marshfield High School, in Marshfield, Missouri from 2009-12. McQuillan will work with defensive backs while McGarvey will focus on wide receivers at MWSU.
Joel Beard will assume the role of passing game coordinator after working exclusively as a quarterbacks coach the previous two sesaons. Beard will now work with both the quarterback and wide receiver position groups to coordinate the Griffon passing attack. Longtime assistant Regi Trotter has been given the additional title of assistant head coach. Now in his 11th season as an assistant at his alma mater, Trotter also coaches defensive backs. After nine seasons as the wide receivers coach, Aaron Bell resigned from the Griffon coaching staff earlier this summer.
Partridge enters his 19th season as head coach and is the winningest coach in program history. His 107 MIAA wins rank him third all-time and first among active MIAA coaches. 2014 marked the 10th consecutive season his team had a record of .500 or better and the sixth-straight over .500. The 2015 team features 36 returning letter winners and 15 returning starters from last year’s team that went 7-4.
— MWSU Sports Information —