SAN MARCOS – Texas State head football coach GJ Kinne has announced a trio of football staff updates including the promotion of Landon Keopple to Offensive Coordinator and the hirings of Tanner Burns and Randy Martinez. Kinne has additionally announced updates for returning staff members.

Landon Keopple is in his second season with the Bobcats after serving as the assistant wide receivers coach in 2023 and was instrumental in helping TXST to its second straight win in the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl. The Texas State offense finished the 2024 season top 10 in scoring and total offense and in the top 25 in rushing and passing offense.

The Fayetteville, Arkansas, native spent the 2022 season under Kinne at UIW, serving as a senior offensive analyst. During that season, the Cardinals won the Southland Championship and earned a No. 7 national ranking and a national seed in the FCS Playoffs. UIW finished the season 12-2 with an appearance in the FCS semifinals and led all of NCAA Division I – FBS and FCS – with 51.5 points and 581.2 yards per game.

In their first stop together, Keopple worked as a senior offensive analyst under OC Kinne at Hawaii in 2020 and remained on staff for the 2021 season as the chief of staff/director of football operations as well as the director of recruiting.

Prior to his time at Hawaii, Keopple spent 11 years at Southern Arkansas (Division II), including nine years as its offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach/recruiting coordinator (2011-19). In this role, he coached 51 All-GAC selections in the last seven years and helped a quarterback earn all-conference in eight straight seasons. He also mentored the program's all-time leading passer, rusher and wide receiver in school history. During the 2009-10 seasons, Keopple served as the quarterbacks coach, wide receivers coach and strength & conditioning coordinator.
 
Keopple opened his coaching career at Ouachita Baptist (Division II) as a graduate assistant and wide receivers coach from 2007-08 following a standout career at Tulsa where he helped the Golden Hurricane to a Conference USA championship in 2005 and two bowl game appearances (2003 Humanitarian Bowl and 2005 Liberty Bowl).

Head Coach GJ Kinne on Keopple
Landon is an experienced OC who is extremely detailed and a great teacher of the game. He's been with me at two other stops so we're familiar with each other's coaching styles. He's just a coach's kid who has a very bright future ahead of him.
 
Tanner Burns comes to Texas State from Auburn, and will serve as Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator/Defensive Assistant. During his time with the Tigers, he served as special teams coordinator, helping Auburn to a national ranking of ninth in punt return defense in 2024. Burns spent two seasons with the Tigers having made the move from Liberty with head coach Hugh Freeze.

Starting in 2019, Burns helped successfully guide Liberty in its transition from FCS to FBS with three straight Bowl game victories and Bowl eligibility in each of his four seasons. Burns, originally hired as special teams coach, added outside linebackers to his title following the 2020 season.

The 2020 season saw Liberty finish with a 10-1 record and a No. 17 ranking in the AP Poll, its highest year-end ranking in program history. That season, the Flames finished 23rd in the country in punt returns and freshman Demario Douglas was named an FWAA Freshman All-American after ranking ninth in the country in punt return average. In 2021, Liberty finished 11th in the country in total defense and sixth in passing yards allowed/game. In 2022, the Flames' defense ranked first nationally in tackles for loss (9.3) and third in sacks (3.46).

Burns spent the 2014-18 seasons at Arkansas where he helped mentor Ray Guy Award nominee and 2016 Burlsworth Trophy semifinalist punter Toby Baker as special teams quality control analyst. The Razorbacks led the SEC in net punting average in 2016 at 41.8. In his first season, Burns helped lead a turnaround of the special teams unit, which included a No. 5 national ranking in kickoff return average (25.71) and an SEC-best for punt coverage (3.06 yards/return).

The 2013 season saw Burns serve as a coaching intern with the Oakland Raiders, where he worked with the Raiders' special teams, assisting with quality control, scouting reports and game plans. Oakland ranked second in the AFC and tied for third in the NFL with an average of 47.8 yards per punt.

Burns spent the final season of his collegiate career at Ole Miss where he was elected a team captain and played safety and contributed on special teams. He transferred from San Jose State having earned 2009 All-WAC Honorable Mention honors.

Head Coach GJ Kinne on Burns
Tanner is another coach's kid who brings SEC coordinator experience. Overall, he's just a great relationship builder and he's super detailed. He's going to bring a lot of energy to our special teams unit. This is our second stop together and I couldn't be happier to be working with him again, his wife and kids are like family to me.

Randy Martinez returned to Texas State after spending the 2023 season as the recruiting operations coordinator, this time as the Bobcats' wide receivers coach. In his former role with TXST, Martinez assisted in all aspects of recruiting, including on-campus visits, coordinating travel and evaluation of prospects.

In his season away from San Marcos, Martinez served as the running backs coach at Stephen F. Austin, helping the Lumberjacks to a seven-win season, including a 32-19 victory over No. 11 Abilene Christian to close the season, after only winning three games in 2023. SFA finished the season ranked eighth in the FCS in scoring offense and 13th in total offense.
 
Prior to his first stint at Texas State, Martinez was the special teams coordinator, running backs/tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator for Duncanville High School (TX) for two years from 2021 to 2022. He helped Duncanville win the 6A Division I state championship in 2022.
 
Martinez was the tight ends coach, pass game coordinator and recruiting coordinator at Red Oak High School (TX) from 2019 to 2021, and started his career as a student assistant coach at Sam Houston, working with the offensive line (2017-18) and tight ends (2018-19).

Head Coach GJ Kinne on Martinez
Randy is a rising star in the profession who has proven to be an unbelievable recruiter and coach. I have confidence in his ability to build relations with our current players and help them reach their full potential. I'm really fired up to have Randy back on staff in a full-time coaching role.
 
Additional Staff Updates
Jordan Shoemaker | Co-Offensive Coordinator / Offensive Line
Will Bryant | Tight Ends / Pass Game Coordinator
Matthew Gregg | Cornerbacks / Defensive Recruiting Coordinator
Bret Huth | Assistant AD – Strength & Conditioning / Assistant Head Football Coach
Chastin Evans | Assistant Wide Receivers
Andrew Cobus | Assistant Offensive Line
David Stuckman | Stars Coach

The Bobcats won their second consecutive bowl game and finished the 2024 slate tied for second in the west division at 8-5 overall and 5-3 in conference play, winning the most Sun Belt league games for the program since 2014. TXST also won three road games, the most overall since four in 2014, all coming in the Sun Belt to match its highest total. The eight overall wins gave the Bobcats back-to-back seasons of reaching the mark, having not done so since the 1982-83 seasons, while GJ Kinne became the first head coach to record consecutive eight-win seasons since Jim Wacker in 1981-82.