PROVO, Utah – BYU head football coach Kalani Sitake today announced the hiring of Eric Mateos as the offensive line coach on Jeff Grimes’ offensive staff.
Mateos joins the Cougar football program after spending the past two seasons as the offensive line coach at Texas State where he had an All-Sun Belt performer each of his two years. Prior to his stint with the Bobcats, Mateos served as the tight ends coach at LSU in 2016 after starting the season as an offensive line graduate assistant under Grimes.
“Eric is a great person with quality character that will fit in phenomenally with our players and staff,” Grimes said. “He will take our young group a step further and is a master at building confidence and group cohesiveness. I know our players will really respond well to him.”
Midway through the 2016 season, Mateos was named tight ends coach by Ed Orgeron and helped lead the Tigers to a victory over Louisville in the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl. The LSU tight ends combined for 27 catches for 420 yards and three touchdowns that season.
Before joining Grimes at LSU, Mateos worked with another offensive line guru, Sam Pittman, at Arkansas from 2013-15. Under Pittman and Mateos, the Razorbacks surrendered the fewest sacks in the SEC each of the three seasons. The Razorback offensive line also produced a First-Team All-American and two Freshmen All-Americans in his first season. They were also the only school in the nation to have two 1,000-yard rushers in 2014.
In 2015, Arkansas finished second in the SEC in scoring offense (40.2 points per game) and total offense (456.8 yards per game). When Pittman left for Georgia, Mateos served as an interim offensive line coach in the Liberty Bowl and the Razorbacks gained 569 yards on offense.
Mateos began his coaching career as an assistant offensive line coach at Southwest Baptist in 2011 before serving a one-year stint in 2012 as the offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator at Hutchinson Community College. There, he tutored the top junior college offensive guard prospect in the country and the Blue Dragons broke 15 school records on offense.
A two-year starter at Southwest Baptist, Mateos was the starting center and team captain in 2009 and 2010. In his first season, the Bearcats ranked fifth nationally in total offense, averaging 482 yards per game. The following year, Southwest Baptist ranked third in the nation with 505 yards of total offense. He began his playing career at Hutchinson, where the 2008 team advanced to the Region IV championship game.
Mateos earned his bachelor’s degree in public relations at Southwest Baptist in 2011 and a master’s degree from Arkansas in 2015.