Scotty Walden Football Camps

Head Coach | Scotty Walden

Innovative and energetic are two words Austin Peay State University Director of Athletics Gerald Harrison used to describe his hiring of Scotty Walden as the university’s 21st head football coach in November 2020.

Walden, who at age 30 is the youngest head coach at the Division I level, takes over at Austin Peay after serving as head coach at Southern Miss to start the 2020 season. He was named the Golden Eagles’ head coach after the opening game of the 2020 campaign after three seasons on the USM staff, including one season as co-offensive coordinator.

Considered one of the youngest and brightest offensive minds in collegiate football, the American Football Coaches Association tabbed Walden as a Top 35 coach under 35 years of age in 2019.

Prior to his move to Southern Miss, Walden was the head coach at East Texas Baptist during the 2016 season. Promoted following Joshua Eargle’s departure to join Austin Peay’s coaching staff as offensive line coach and run game coordinator, he was the youngest head coach (26 years old) at any NCAA school that season. He led the Tigers to a 7-3 mark in his lone season at the ETBU helm, and they led all Division III teams in scoring offense (49.9 points per game) while finishing second in total offense (564.3 yards per game) and sixth in passing offense (365.3 yards per game).

In his three years as offensive coordinator at ETBU, Walden’s offense re-wrote the program’s record book for individual, single game, and season records while being nationally known for passing and scoring. In his time as an assistant, ETBU football student-athletes broke a combined 26 individual and team records.

A highly regarded offensive innovator, Walden has shared his philosophies on the national level with his peers. In summer 2015, he was a special speaker at the Spread Offense Football Clinic in Chicago. His first national speaking engagement came when he was a special speaker at the 2012 Nike Coach of the Year Clinic in Dallas.

Walden and his wife Callie have a son, Luca.