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| Jake Parker caught three touchdown passes against Hendrix, helping the Yellow Jackets roll to a 55-21 win and improve to 3-0 this fall. Howard Payne athletics photo |
By Brian Lester
D3sports.com
Jason Bachtel sees the 3-0 start his Howard Payne football team is off to in his first year as the head coach and takes a great deal of pride in it. Perhaps a little extra pride in some ways considering this is home for him.
This school is where he played college football, where his father and uncle, also former football players, are in the school’s hall of fame, where a couple of cousins of his played, where he met his wife and where one child has already graduated from while another is now attending Howard Payne.
So when Bachtel says that family is just as key to success as preparation, practice and ability, he means it.
“Family has to be the center point of it all. It is a key piece to the puzzle,” Bachtel said. “It really is a family affair here. We want our sons and daughters running around the fieldhouse and being on the trips, and we want our players to feel like they are part of a family.”
Bachtel is a 2003 graduate of the school and was part of 19 wins over a three-year stretch as the quarterback of the Yellow Jackets. He always had the thought of returning one day as the head coach on his mind.
But when the opportunity first presented itself, he wasn’t sure if the timing was right.
“I told my wife if I ever had the chance to be the head coach, I said that was the job I’d want, but when things started playing out the way they did, I didn’t know if the time was right or if the dream was a continued goal of mine,” Bachtel said. “My wife told me this is what I wanted, that it was my goal and dream, and there’s no reason why I shouldn’t pursue it.”
Based on how everything has played out so far, it was the right move, and his early success has helped generate a new excitement for the program that has the support of everyone from the athletic administration and alumni to the fans.
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| HPU won its last three games of 2019 under then-coach Braxton Harris, and has gone 5-3 under Jason Bachtel. Howard Payne athletics photo |
“It’s really good to see the community behind us and the school behind us, as well as our alums,” Bachtel said. “People want to be part of a winner, and it’s great to be 3-0, but we know there is more to come, more to build on. Even though we are 3-0, that’s just the start of where we want to be.”
The players are enjoying it just as much as everyone else. Dating to the 2019 campaign, the Yellow Jackets have won eight of 11, but this current season has a different feel to it. Senior offensive lineman Tyler Howard will tell you as much.
“It’s a lot more fun than in seasons past,” Howard said. “Coach came in and laid out a plan and said this is what is going to happen and this is how we are going to get there. It’s been all true. It’s been a lot of work, but the scoreboard shows the truth of how much of what we do works.”
Howard hints at the family-like feeling within the program as well as he talks about the strong start to what should be a promising season for the Yellow Jackets, who have scored 40-plus in each of their first three games while allowing more than 21 points just once.
“I’d say the big difference is we have more people that care,” Howard said. “We have bought in and believe in what we are trying to do. It’s easier to go in the right direction when everyone agrees.”
It took a little time, however, for Bachtel to establish exactly what he envisioned when he arrived on campus in early January for a news conference. That same day he met with his team and laid the groundwork for what was ahead.
“We outlined our core values and what we were going to stand for,” Bachtel said. “We had 95 guys on the team in the spring and 70 have returned. Five of those players graduated. So from January 7 until now, the 70 (returning) guys have bought into what it is that we want to commit our program to be.
“You are seeing in a short time that they have bought into what we are preaching and teaching and what we are trying to get accomplished. That’s what it is all about.”
Howard Payne opened the year with an impressive 43-17 win over traditional ASC contender Texas Lutheran. There was a bit of an emotional hangover from that victory, however, as it only beat McMurry by a 42-36 score. Howard said it came down to not practicing that well the week after the season opener.
“We didn’t have our best week of practice and I think the score reflected that,” Howard said. “We had a much better week last week, and the score reflected it. The little things are important. We have to focus on the week in front of us to continue having success.”
Bachtel will tell you he likes the way his team has responded to the challenges and he loves the focus he has seen in his players. The winning part of the deal has also been a lot of fun.
“It’s exciting, and if anyone tells you it’s not, they are lying,” Bachtel said. “It all goes back to buying in, but a lot of the credit goes to our coordinators. Shoot, if you think it’s all me, you are wrong. I just guide the ship.”
Howard Payne beat Hendrix 55-21 last week and East Texas Baptist is up next. That game will be different for Bachtel because he coached there in 2018 and 2019 as the offensive coordinator of one of the top offenses in NCAA Division III.
“It’s going to be tough seeing a lot of those guys I recruited, and the defensive coordinator there is one of my best friends,” Bachtel said. “I reached out and told him this is the one week where you and I are going to hate being on opposite sidelines, but I still love you.”
That all goes back to family, even when it comes to those in his past. As for the present, Bachtel certainly wants to keep winning, but he also wants to make sure his players know they will always have a program that has its back.
“We want to build meaningful relationships where guys are calling us up in 10 years saying they are having a child or they are getting married and want us to come to the wedding. That’s what we are trying to do here,” Bachtel said. We talk about family every day. It’s a key part of the program, but you can’t talk about family and not live it out.”
