Tony Samuel, the former head coach at New Mexico State and Southeast Missouri State, joined the Georgia State program in 2015 as defensive line coach.
In Samuel’s first season at Georgia State, the defensive line was perhaps the most improved area of the team, playing a key role in the Panthers’ rapidly developing defense.
Georgia State led the FBS by allowing 15 points fewer per game than in 2014 and improving by 122.3 yards per game and 1.92 yards per carry against the run. The Panthers finished in the top four in the Sun Belt in scoring defense (28.3 ppg), total defense (405.6 ypg), rushing defense (181.4 ypg) and pass efficiency defense (120.3).
Samuel brings a total of 16 years of collegiate head coaching experience, including eight years at the FBS level with New Mexico State (1997-2004) and eight years with FCS program Southeast Missouri State (2006-13).
In 2010, Samuel guided Southeast Missouri State to its best season as a Division I program with a 9-3 record and the first NCAA playoff berth in the school's 107-year history. Samuel won the Sports Network Eddie Robinson, Fritz Pollard, Roy Kidd Ohio Valley Conference and American Football Coaches Association Region 3 Coach-of-the-Year Awards as he orchestrated a remarkable turnaround from a 2-9 mark in 2009. The Redhawks were ranked in the Top 25 for the last nine weeks of the season, climbing as high as No. 8.
Southeast flipped a 2-9 record from 2009 to a 9-3 mark in 2010 after being picked to finish eighth in the OVC Preseason Poll. The Redhawks also finished 7-1 in OVC play en route to their first-ever conference title and NCAA playoff appearance in the 107-year history of their football program.
The highlight of Samuel's tenure at New Mexico State was a 7-5 mark in 2002 for the Aggies best record in more than three decades.
Samuel earned his first head coaching opportunity after an 11-year stint coaching the outside linebackers and rush ends at Nebraska, his alma mater, under legendary head coach Tom Osborne.
During Samuel's 11 seasons at Nebraska, the Cornhuskers won back-to-back national titles in 1994 and 1995, captured seven Big Eight/Big 12 Conference championships, averaged 10 wins per year and played in 11 bowl games. He mentored six first team All-Americans and 12 future National Football League players, including first-round draft picks Broderick Thomas (1989), Mike Croel (1991), Trev Alberts (1994) and Grant Wistrom (1998).
He began his coaching career by spending two seasons as an assistant coach at Western Michigan (1982-83) and then two years at Stanford (1984-85), tutoring the defensive line at both schools. He also served one year (2005) at defensive ends coach at Purdue.
Samuel played four years at Nebraska and was a member of Osborne's first recruiting class. He was a two-year starter at defensive end, played in four bowl games and earned honorable mention All-Big Eight Conference honors as a senior.
He earned his B.S. degree in education from Nebraska in 1981.
A native of Trinidad, West Indies, Samuel moved to New Jersey at the age of 10. He and his wife, Diane, have four children and two grandchildren.
