HOUSTON CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Director of Athletic Performanc
- Director of Athletic Performance
Job Titles:
- Assistant AD / Compliance & Academics
- Compliance & Academics
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Coach
- Title / Assistant Coach
Job Titles:
- Graduate Assistant ( FB / SB )
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Coach
- Title / Assistant Coach
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Athletic Trainer
- Title / Assistant Athletic Trainer
Job Titles:
- Director of Operations
- Recruiting Director
Job Titles:
- Coach
- Director of Operations
- Head
- Title / Director of Operations
- Title / Head Coach
Cameron Sitler recently is in his eighth season as an assistant coach for HBU's indoor volleyball program. He was named the head coach for the Huskies' beach volleyball program following the 2018 season, after two years as associate head coach and one as assistant coach.
Sitler led the Huskies to the first-ever Southland Conference beach volleyball championship and earned Southland Conference Coach of the Year honors. Lauren Huggins and Alison Stanfill, the league's Freshman of the Year, were named Pair of the Year and of the tournament. They were joined on the all-conference team by Danielle Okeke and Natalie Bennett. Huggins was also named SLC Beach Volleyball Student-Athlete of the Year and was joined on the all-academic team by Stanfill, Okeke and Bennett.
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Coach
- Title / Assistant Coach
Job Titles:
- Special Asst. to the Head Coach / Running Backs / Special Teams Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Coach
- Title / Assistant Coach
Job Titles:
- Quality Control
- Title / Quality Control
Job Titles:
- Sports Dietitian
- Title / Sports Dietitian
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Coach
- Title / Assistant Coach
Clayton VanderLaan was named assistant baseball coach at HBU in June 2021.
Previously, VanderLaan was the head coach at the University of St. Thomas in Houston for two seasons, overseeing the Celts return to varsity baseball after more than a half-century without a program. He had a 24-27 record, going 17-16 in 2021 and 7-11 in the pandemic-shortened inaugural season in 2020. VanderLaan spent the 2017-18 academic year at Division II Saginaw Valley State, taking over the head coaching position in April of that season.
Prior to his collegiate coaching career, VanderLaan was the pitching coach for three seasons at St. Thomas High School in Houston, capping his tenure by winning the 2017 TAPPS Division I championship. He guided the St. Thomas pitching staff to an 80-21 record and 2.85 ERA in three seasons, including a 65-4 mark over the last two campaigns. Eleven pitchers from the program went on to play college baseball.
VanderLaan played three years of professional baseball from 2012-14 with the Frontier Greys in the Frontier League and the Alexandria Aces and Brownsville Charros of United League Baseball. He began his collegiate career at Michigan State, before becoming a three-year letterwinner at Cameron University, where he earned All-Lone Star Conference honorable mention.
Following his collegiate baseball career, VanderLaan played two seasons of college football at Graceland University and earned a bachelor of arts in liberal studies in 2014. He is a Houston native who attended Cypress Ridge High School.
Emanuel comes to the Huskies as one of the most decorated softball players in the history of the University of Georgia. A four-year starter in the outfield, Emanuel helped UGA to two Women's College World Series appearances, and her name is scattered amongst the career leaderboards for the Bulldogs.
The Missouri City native and Ridge Point High School product was a .417 career hitter for Georgia, ranking second all-time just behind her sister Sydni, whom she played with for three seasons. Cortni also ranks third in career runs (224), second in hits (331) and second in stolen bases (173) and is one of just three players in school history to accumulate 300 career hits.
She capped off her career by leading the Bulldogs to a World Series berth in 2018. She ignited the offense with a team-best .431 batting average while swiping 52 bases. Her 23-game hitting streak that season still ranks as the longest in school history.
The four-time All-SEC selection, four-time NFCA All-Region and three-time NFCA/Louisville Slugger All-American was also a three-time USA Player of the Year finalist. She also earned the NFCA Gold Shoe Award for leading the nation in stolen bases before being drafted by the USSSA Pride of the Women's Professional Fastpitch League.
Job Titles:
- James Sears Bryant Head Men 's Basketball Coach
Job Titles:
- Assistant AD / Facilities, Ticket Operations & Athletic Alumni Engagement
Job Titles:
- Head
- Director of Golf / Head Coach
David Shuster became the head men's and women's golf coach at HBU in June 2007, resurrecting the great Huskies golf tradition, which had been discontinued in the late 1980s.
Now entering his 15 th season, Shuster has seen the two programs combine for 26 tournament victories, eight conference championships, three NCAA Championship appearances and an individual NCAA appearance for Preston Stanley in 2014. Shuster was named Great West Conference Coach of the Year five times, once for the men in 2009 and four times for the women from 2010 to 2013. He added America Sky Coach of the Year for the men in 2013 and has twice been named Southland Conference Coach of the Year for the women in 2017 and 2018.
Shuster also served as the vice president in a family corporation in Fort Stockton. He also served as the director of the recreation department for the City of Fort Stockton, overseeing the operation of 15 different sporting activities for several summers.
Job Titles:
- Director of Olympic Athletic Performanc
- Director of Olympic Athletic Performance
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Coach
- Title / Assistant Coach
Dee Wallace is in his first season as an assistant for the Huskies. He joins HCU after spending last season at Cal State East Bay.
Wallace served at Dominican and Humboldt State after being an an assistant coach at Pearl River Community College in Mississippi during the 2019-20 season. The Wildcats captured the NJCAA Region XVIII title and garnered a No. 1 national ranking leading into the NJCAA National Tournament.
Prior to Pearl River, Wallace was an assistant coach and the junior varsity head coach at Adams State University in Colorado for the 2018-19 season.
Wallace has also spent time on staff at Cal State Bakersfield as the Director of Player Development for Coach Rod Barnes and as a Graduate Assistant at Cal State Monterey Bay.
Job Titles:
- Defensive Quality Control
- Title
Job Titles:
- Assistant Coach / Recruiting Coordinator
- Title / Assistant Coach / Recruiting Coordinator
A former HBU sprinter, DJ Hicks is in his sixth season as a coach with the Huskies, working primarily with sprints, hurdles and relays.
Hicks has guided hurdler Garrett Gibson to one gold, one silver and two bronze medals at Southland Conference Championships across the 60h, 110h and 400h. Gibson has also qualified for the NCAA West Prelims three times in the 400h and once in the 110h. The program record holder in 60h, 110h, 400h and 200m (indoor), Gibson has been named a USTFCCCA All-American as a result of his academic success in the classroom.
In 2022, Hicks coached Ashlyn Dobson to runner-up finish in the 400h at the SLC Championships while also guiding Kemaya Linton to a new school record in the 400m (indoor). In 2018, Hicks led Jamal Kemp to a program record in the indoor 200m dash.
Hicks spent the 2016 and 2017 seasons at Valparaiso University where he coached the men's 4x100 and 4x400 relays to new school records and served as the team's strength coach.
A native of Missouri City, Texas, Hicks spent the summer of 2014 coaching the Afterburners TC as an assistant coach. In 2016, Hicks was invited to attend the Emerging Elite Coaches Camp in Chula Vista, California at the Team USA Training Center. He is a certified Sprints, Hurdles and Relays Specialist, and also a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through USTFCCCA. Furthermore, Hicks is a USATF Level 1 certified coach and holds his USTFCCCA Technical Certification. Hicks has worked with USATF biomechanist Mike Young and also participated in the 2014 NCAA Career in Sports forum.
Donna Finnie was named the fifth head coach in program history on April 17, 2013, making history in the process as she became the first international ever to land a head coaching position in NCAA Division I basketball. Now in her ninth season, Finnie sits as the winningest coach in program history at the Division I level.
Job Titles:
- Director of Player Development / Team Chaplain
Donovan Thompson is in his second year at HCU as the director of player development and team chaplain.
In addition to management positions in private business, Thompson has been the Youth & Young Adults Paster at Christ Temple Apostolic Church and was a teacher and wide receivers coach at Willowridge High School in Fort Bend ISD.
Thompson is the all-time leading receiver in Angelo State history, where he played from 2014-17. He was a three-time team captain, two-time all-conference and first-team all-region selection and was a Don Hansen All-American. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from ASU in 2017.
Job Titles:
- Faculty Athletics Representative
Dr. Jazmine Highsmith was named the Director of Academics for HBU Athletics in June 2021. She oversees the academic progress and success of the Huskies' more than 350 student-athletes.
Prior to joining HBU full time, Highsmith was as an intern for one year for Samantha Bottoms, who is now the University's Dean of Student Success.
Highsmith spent seven years at Goodwill Industries of Houston, most recently serving as the human resources supervisor, where she was involved in multiple facets of communication within the organization, including compliance, policy and staffing. She had also held positions as employee relations supervisor, employee relations specialists and human resources staffing specialist.
Competing as a collegiate student-athlete herself, Highsmith was on the track and field team at the University of South Florida and ranks among the top 10 outdoors in the shot put and the hammer and indoors in the shot put and weight throw. She qualified for the Big East outdoor championships in the shot put and was named a Big East Academic All-Star. She earned her bachelor's degree in business administration from USF in 2009.
Highsmith completed her Master of Business Administration from Saint Leo in 2011 and earned a Doctor of Education from Northcentral University in 2019.
Originally from Miami, she attended Northwestern High School, where she was all-county in the shot put and discus. Her father, Alonzo, was a running back in the NFL for six seasons, beginning his career with the Houston Oilers in 1987, and is now the personnel executive for the Seattle Seahawks.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Compliance and Initial Eligibility
Job Titles:
- Assistant AD / Sports Medicine ( WBB )
- Director for Sports Medicine
Hanna Stelzer was named HCU's Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Medicine in 2023, after previously serving three years as associate athletic trainer and six years as an assistant athletic trainer with the Huskies. She oversees the athletic training for all of HCU's 17 NCAA Division I sports and works primarily with women's basketball.
Stelzer came to Houston from Lubbock, where she was a student athletic trainer for the Texas Tech women's basketball team. Prior to that, she was a student athletic trainer at Shallowater High School, in Shallowater, Texas, where she assisted with the men's and women's basketball, softball, and baseball programs. She was also a student athletic trainer for Lubbock Sports Medicine, where she evaluated orthopedic injuries and fitted orthopedic devices and casts.
A Long Island, N.Y., native, Stelzer earned her bachelor's degree in exercise science from Concordia University of Chicago, and her master's degree in athletic training from Texas Tech. She was on the Dean's List at Concordia and she also played volleyball. She is a licensed athletic trainer in the state of Texas and has volunteered at the Special Olympics and Buffalo Springs Ironman.
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Coach
- Title / Assistant Coach
Job Titles:
- Offensive Quality Control
- Title
Job Titles:
- Head Men 's Basketball Coach
- James Sears Bryant Head Men 's Basketball Coach
Job Titles:
- Head Coach / Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks
Jason Bachtel was named head coach of the HCU football program on Jan. 4, 2024 after spending one year as the program's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2023.
Bachtel spent the 2023 season as the Huskies' offensive coordinator, playing a pivotal role in the program's first winning season and leading the Southland Conference's number two scoring offense. The Huskies' running game led the SLC with 158.4 yards per game in 2023 with three different running back posting 100-yard rushing performances and four different players averaging at least 4.5 yards per carry. Wide receiver Karl Reynolds earned first team all-conference honors while offensive lineman Christian Hood was a second team honoree.
Bachtel also oversaw a Husky passing attack that accounted for 209.3 yards per game and 15 touchdowns through the air. Starting quarterback Colby Suits finished the season with 1,919 yards and 13 touchdowns, ranking fourth in both categories for a single season in program history. Suits and running back Champ Dozier each earned SLC Offensive Player of the Week honors during the season.
A Texas native, Bachtel is a well-known coach across the state who has coached at both the high school and college levels. He spent two seasons prior to joining the Huskies as the head coach at Howard Payne University in Brownwood. While leading the Yellow Jackets, Bachtel posted back-to-back 7-3 seasons for a 14-6 record as a collegiate head coach. In his two years at the helm, HPU averaged 489.45 yards of total offense per game and scored 38.4 points per game. In 2021, the Yellow Jackets boasted the number five passing offense in all of NCAA Division III and the 13 th-best total offense. In 2022, HPU improved to 10 th-nationally in total offense.
In 2020, Bachtel helped guide Argyle High School to a Texas 4A state championship as offensive coordinator, masterminding an offense that scored more than 48 points per game. He spent two seasons as offensive coordinator at East Texas Baptist University in 2018 and 2019, ranking sixth nationally in total offense in 2018 and 12 th nationally in 2019. In 2019, Bachtel was one of just 10 college coaches included in Dave Campbell Texas Football Magazine's 40 Under 40 list.
Bachtel served as the offensive coordinator at North Forney High School in 2017, leading an offense that averaged 53 points per game and posted a 10-3 overall record. Prior to North Forney, he spent eight seasons at Scurry-Rosser High School with seven of those years as head coach. He finished his stint at Scurry-Rosser with a 32-32 overall record and was named district coach of the year in 2013 after leading the team to a 12-1 record, the best in school history. He also had stints as an assistant coach at both Galena Park and Gatesville High School before Scurry-Rosser.
Bachtel was a three-year letterwinner at quarterback for Howard Payne from 1999-2001. He graduated from HPU in 2003 with a B.S. in history before earning a master's in educational administration from Lamar in 2018.
He and his wife Tara have four children: Talen, Bailee, Brooklyn and Blaire.
Job Titles:
- Special Asst. to the Head Coach
Job Titles:
- Assistant AD / Media Relations & Broadcasting ( FB, WSOC, WBB, T & F / XC, BVB )
- Media Relations
Jeff Sutton is in his first year as assistant athletic director/media relations & broadcasting and ninth overall at HCU. He is responsible for the athletic departments overall media relations efforts and as the primary contact for HCU football, women's soccer, women's basketball, beach volleyball and men's and women's track & field and cross country.
Prior to re-joining the HCU staff, Sutton worked for six-plus years on the University of Houston campus in a variety of roles, including stints in the Division of Advancement and the UH Alumni Association. During his employment at UH, he served as a gameday statistician for HCU home basketball and football games.
From 2008-10 he was on the HCU staff as the associate director of athletic media relations for one year and one year as the director of athletic media relations. Prior to HCU, Sutton spent two years as the sports information director at his alma mater, Southwestern University, after one year as assistant sports information director at the University of Texas-Pan American.
Sutton is a Houston native who earned his bachelor of arts degree from Southwestern University in 2005. He currently resides in Houston with his wife, Stephanie, step-daughter, Aven (16), and daughter, Lyanna (3). He is a member of College Sports Communicators.
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Coach
- Title / Assistant Coach
Job Titles:
- Assoc. Head Coach / Safeties
Jonathan Petty was named HCU cornerbacks coach, passing game coordinator and academic liaison in January 2023.
Petty spent the past two seasons as defensive coordinator at Texas A&M-Kingsville. In those two season, the defense made major statistical improvements from the 2019 season and finished fifth in scoring defense in 2021. Last season, the Javelinas improved to third in the LSC in scoring defense, allowing just 300 yards of total offense to rank 36 th nationally in NCAA Division II. Additionally, TAMUK held opponents to a third down conversion rate of 31% to rank 29 th in the nation. Petty was the architect behind a defensive unit that developed and featured First Team AFCA All-American cornerback Amos Coleman in 2022, the program's first in a decade. His defensive unit also featured all-conference safety Isaiah Jacobs and defensive end Ezrah Thibedeaux.
Prior to his time with the Javelinas, he was the secondary coach and director of football operations for three seasons at Hardin-Simmons. In 2017, HSU had a top 15 scoring defense in the nation and, in 2019, HSU posted its best scoring defense in school history at 13.1 points allowed per game.
A San Antonio native, Petty was a standout at Converse Judson High School and went on to play strong safety at Hardin-Simmons. He was a two-time team captain and was a three-time all-conference selection. He is HSU's career record holder with 11 forced fumbles, ranks among the top 15 with 30.5 tackles for loss and the top 20 with 202 career tackles.
Petty earned a bachelor of business administration degree in management for HSU in 2013, then a Master of Education in counseling and human development from the school in 2016.
Job Titles:
- Coach
- Head
- Title / Head Coach
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Coach
- Title / Assistant Coach
Job Titles:
- Assistant Athletic Trainer ( MSOC / BSB )
Job Titles:
- Defensive Line / Recruiting Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Coach
- Head
- Senior Woman Administrator
Job Titles:
- Assistant Athletic Trainer ( WSOC )
Job Titles:
- Graduate Assistant ( VB, BSB, M / W GOLF )
Job Titles:
- Business / Game Day Operations Manager
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Compliance / Scholarships
Job Titles:
- Director of Media Relations ( MSOC, MBB, SB )
Job Titles:
- Wide Receivers / Video Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Associate Head Coach / Recruiting Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Director of Track & Field / Cross Country
Timia Jefferson was named player of the year for the Southland leading her team to the regular season title. Coach Finnie was named Coach of the Year while Coach Allison was voted the top D1 assistant in Texas by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches. Kennedy Wilson and Julija Vujakovic were named Second Team All-Conference while Marilyn Nzoiwu was named to the All-Defensive team.
Off the floor the Huskies had a program-record five players named to the Southland All-Academic teams. Vujakovic and Jefferson were named to the first-team while Wilson, Nzoiwu and Abbey Sutherland were named second team. The Huskies also placed 22nd on the WBCA Academic Top-25 list with a 3.621 team GPA.
The 2020-21 season was one for the books, with the team only playing 22 games in a shortened schedule due to covid constraints. Finishing with record of 11-11, the Huskies reached the second round of the Southland Conference Tournament in Katy. Sophomore guard Timia Jefferson was named second team all conference, leading the Huskies with 15ppg. Academically in the classroom, the Huskies once again led the way with a 3.62 team GPA with Julija Vujakovic and Timia Jefferson garnering second team All Southland Academic team honors.
The 2019-20 season saw the Huskies take the floor with five highly-touted freshmen and a returning class which included five seniors. Timia Jefferson led all freshmen in the Southland Conference in scoring with a 10.2 clip on the year. Junior point guard Megan Valdez-Crader led the Huskies in scoring overall with 11.1 points per game, while Abbey Sutherland and Marilyn Nzowiu featured among the top players in the league in blocked shots. HBU had a couple of big road wins in the non-conference over ORU and ULM and a close game at Texas Tech, before starting conference play. The Huskies struggled with consistency in conference play, missing key players throughout, but showed improvement, particularly from the five freshmen. The team posted a 3.723 GPA for the year, with a record breaking 3.9 GPA in the spring semester. The team had all 15 athletes over a 3.5 for the semester and with cumulative GPAs all above a 3.0 for the first time in the program's history.
In 2018-19, Valdez-Crader stepped into a prominent role for the Huskies as the second leading scorer and the team leader in assists. Senior Amanda Johnson followed her up with another award-winning season as she passed the 1,000 career points mark to make the Southland Conference All-Academic First Team, as well as being named to the Google Cloud All-American Second Team. Johnson scored 13.5 points per game on 45 percent shooting. She also won the Varsity Academic Award, along with her teammate Sophie Taylor for their performance in the classroom and on the court.
The 2017-18 campaign was interesting for the Huskies, as they were plagued by injuries and at one point, had only six healthy scholarship players for several weeks. Blair Gillard transitioned from her outstanding volleyball career at HBU to help the Huskies, as did walk on Kierra Calloway. The Huskies featured strongly in conference statistics, with Natalia Gwarda leading the conference in blocks per game and Johnson having a breakthrough junior year, improving from 5.1 points per game as a sophomore to a team leading 15.4. She was a third team all conference selection, a Southland All-Academic First-Team selection and the schools' first CoSIDA Academic All-Distict honoree in women's basketball. The Huskies had another outstanding academic year, posting a team GPA of 3.472 which placed them 23rd in the WBCA national poll. It marked the fourth time in five years the Huskies have finished top 25 in the nation in team GPA.
The 2016-17 season was a rebuilding year, as the Huskies had eight freshmen, six sophomores and only one senior, making them the youngest Division I team in the nation. The young squad played a testing schedule, opening at top-10 teams in Baylor and Texas, which prepared them for a tough Southland Conference schedule. Much progress was made, with all returners starting at least one game each and getting valuable playing experience. Senior guard Heidi Byrd was named Southland Conference Women's Basketball All-Academic Second Team as she finished her career 10th all-time in assists. The Huskies finished strong in the classroom once again with a 3.43 team GPA and sophomore guard Amanda Johnson was named Varsity Academic Athlete of the Year at the end of year athletic awards as she continued to carry a 4.0 GPA in her biology degree.
Job Titles:
- Director of Corporate Sales and Client Services
Job Titles:
- Assistant Athletic Trainer ( MBB )