Nate Dreiling will be coaching college football next season.
And as expected, it won’t be at Utah State, where Dreiling worked as the Aggies’ interim head coach and defensive coordinator during the 2024 season.
First reported by ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Dreiling will be the new defensive coordinator at Arkansas State.
The Arkansas State post will be Dreiling’s third stint as a defensive coordinator at the FBS level, after two years spent as the DC at New Mexico State, followed by last season at USU.
In an interesting turn of fate, Dreiling will be coaching in the same conference — and same division — as the man who hired him at Utah State: former Aggie head coach Blake Anderson, who was recently named the offensive coordinator at Southern Mississippi.
Both Arkansas State and Southern Miss are in the West division of the Sun Belt Conference.
The 34-year old Dreiling took over at USU in July of last year, following the unexpected termination of Anderson by Utah State.
During his stint as the head coach at USU, Dreiling led the Aggies to a 4-8 record, though the team did win three of its final five games, including a win at Wyoming, the first win over a rival by Utah State since 2019.
In addition to his role as interim head coach, Dreiling was tasked with turning around the Aggies’ defense, which had struggled mightily in the two seasons previous to Dreiling’s arrival in Logan. That task ultimately proved too difficult to pull off in a single season, and the Aggies finished the year ranked among the five worst teams at the FBS level in scoring and total defense.
Dreiling was nonetheless praised by Utah State athletic director Diana Sabau after his tenure at the university came to an end, during the introductory press conference of new Aggies head coach Bronco Mendenhall.
Her comments largely focused on the job Dreiling did to help navigate the program through Anderson’s untimely firing, plus the tragic death of defensive back Andre Seldon Jr.
“He stepped up during a challenging time,” Sabau said. “He did a fantastic job keeping this team together. And he is a phenomenal coach and even better human. I am confident he will have a long coaching career ahead of him.”
That career will, as it turns out, continue at Arkansas State, where Dreiling will work for Red Wolves’ head coach Butch Jones.
Arkansas State finished the 2024 season 8-5 overall with a win over Bowling Green in the 68 Ventures Bowl.
