Third generation college coach, Matt Adkins, has joined the Arizona Football program as the Wildcats tight ends coach and passing game coordinator, head coach Brent Brennan announced today. Adkins comes to Tucson after serving in the same role at San Jose State under Brennan for five years.
Adkins joined San Jose State in 2017 as a graduate assistant that worked with the offensive coaching staff and tight ends and maintained that role through the 2019 season. He was then promoted to full-time assistant as the program’s tight ends coach, a position he kept through the 2023 campaign.
San Jose State’s tight ends thrived under Adkins’ guidance; over the past two seasons the Spartans tight ends have combined to haul in ten touchdowns, while 2022 standout Dominick Mazotti earned an All-Mountain West Honorable Mention selection.
His 2020 tight end class included Derrick Deese Jr., a semifinalist for the John Mackey Award who earned a free agent contract from the Detroit Lions after the 2021 season.
While working as a graduate assistant in 2018 Adkins helped develop All-Mountain West tight end Josh Oliver, who led the Spartans with 56 receptions for 709 yards and four touchdowns. Oliver went on to become the third-round selection of the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2019 NFL Draft and has since enjoyed a four-year NFL career.
Adkins is a native of Ellensburg, Washington and a 2012 graduate of Southern Oregon University. His collegiate playing career included time at quarterback for Southern Oregon and Shasta College.
He is a third-generation football coach, following his father, Doug, who was the head coach at Humboldt State from 2000-07 and his grandfather, Tom Perry, who is the winningest head coach in Central Washington University history with 95 career victories and a member of the Washington State Football Coaches Hall of Fame.
ADKINS COACHING HISTORY
- 2009: Shasta College, quarterbacks coach
- 2010: Southern Oregon, tight ends coach
- 2011: College of Siskiyous, safeties coach
- 2012: Carlstad Crusaders (Swedish Football League), offensive coordinator
- 2012: Southern Oregon, wide receivers coach
- 2013: Southern Oregon, passing game coordinator
- 2013: Carlstad Crusaders, head coach
- 2017-19: San Jose State, graduate assistant
- 2019-23: San Jose State, tight ends coach
- 2024-current: Arizona, tight ends coach
