鈥楲ast Chance U鈥� coach Clint Trickett鈥檚 long path to Marshall
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (BVM) — Clint Trickett鈥檚 football coaching career has largely been known for the amount of success he has had at such a young age. Immediately after he finished his playing career where he was quarterback for three seasons at Florida State before joining the West Virginia Mountaineers as a senior, Trickett would jump to the collegiate coaching ranks as a quarterbacks coach at junior college powerhouse East Mississippi Community College at only the age of 24. Now, years later, Trickett has moved to his second Division I program, once again back in the state of West Virginia, as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Marshall University.
For Clint, his football coaching career began before he was even born as his father, Rick Trickett, had been in the gridiron trenches for decades and still coaches today as an assistant offensive line coach at Jacksonville State University. Clint was too good of a player to jump into coaching right away as he would take his talents to Florida State, where his dad was on staff as the team鈥檚 offensive line coach.聽
Never truly breaking through the starting lineup with the Seminoles, playing behind future first round pick EJ Manuel, Clint would transfer to Morgantown where the family had lived previously as one of Rick鈥檚 stops included a time with the Mountaineers.
The then senior quarterback would play two seasons with the Mountaineers, throwing for 4,890 total yards and 25 touchdowns in 19 games. His redshirt senior season was where he would be his best, completing a Big 12 Conference–leading 67.1% (281-of-419) of his passes for 3,285 yards and 18 touchdowns. He was named a Davey O’Brien Award semifinalist that season as well, showing off his abilities on a national scale. Unfortunately for Clint, he would be forced to walk away from the game he loved due to a number of concussions his final season, but that didn鈥檛 stop him from staying close to the game.
Much like his father and his two older brothers, Travis and Chance, before him, Clint would bet on himself as a football coach. Though considered extremely young at just 24, Clint earned the opportunity of a lifetime when he joined the staff at EMCC as a quarterbacks coach, where the team had won a number of championships in recent years under head coach Buddy Stevens.
Proud to officially be the QB coach at East Mississippi CC! Home of the 2011, 2013, & 2014 JUCO National Champions! Lets get to work
— Clint Trickett (@CJTrickett9)
Not only would Clint get the opportunity to prove what he could do as a football coach to other coaches across the country at the junior college level, but he would also be able to show the world. In 2015, Clint鈥檚 first season at EMCC, the team was followed by a Netflix camera crew filming an up-and-coming docuseries on JUCO football called Last Chance U. Back then, nobody knew what the show would become, but years later the show has become a cultural phenomenon with five seasons and the spin-off 鈥淟ast Chance U: Basketball.鈥�
Following his two year stint in Scooba, Mississippi, Clint would go back to his Florida roots by joining Lane Kiffen鈥檚 staff at Florida Atlantic University as a tight ends coach. During his time at FAU, Clint would help Owls鈥� tight end Harrison Bryant, a current New Orleans Saint, become one of the best weapons in all of college football. In his last season, Bryant would record 1,004 yards receiving on 65 catches with seven touchdowns, finishing first among FBS tight ends in receptions and yards and winning the John Mackey Award, the first non-power five winner in the history of the award.
After three seasons as the team鈥檚 tight ends coach, Clint would be promoted to the Owls鈥� co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2020. Though the team wouldn鈥檛 have the most successful season, going 5-4 in nine games, Clint would earn an opportunity back in the state where he saw his most success as a collegiate quarterback as Marshall head football coach Charles Huff hired him as the team鈥檚 in pass game coordinator/wide receivers.
In his first season with the Thundering Herd in 2021, Clint helped wide receivers Corey Gammage and Willie Johnson earn Mid-Atlantic Conference honorable mention honors as the聽 team鈥檚 passing offense ranked 14th nationally with 3,830 yards through the air. In January, Clint was officially tabbed by Huff to run the offense through an announcement on the coach鈥檚 Twitter page before being officially recognized as offensive coordinator .
Fired up for our new OC/QB Coach 鈦︹仼, Let鈥檚 get it Trick Daddy! 馃敟鈿笍馃煝
— Charles C. Huff (@CoachHuff)
Given his meteoric rise in the college football coaching ranks, Clint should be expected to only continue succeeding well into the future. While football may be in his genes, Clint is well on his way to forging his own path in college football鈥檚 highest ranks. Clint Trickett is a name that Marshall fans and football fans in general should get used to hearing for years to come.
