Ron Antoine returns for his fourth season as an assistant coach and third season as the wide receivers coach at Texas State.
In Antoine’s first season as wide receivers coach, Elijah King earned Honorable Mention All-Sun Belt Conference honors after he recorded the most receiving yards by a Bobcat since 2010 and became just the second Texas State player to catch 50 passes since 2010. King finished 2017 with 52 receptions for 750 yards and tied for the team lead with three TDs receptions. In addition, Tyler Watts also caught 40 passes for 332 yards and two TDs.
In 2018, Antoine's receiving corps combined to catch 105 passes for 1,313 yards and nine touchdowns. Hutch White led the group with 34 catches for 298 yards and two touchdowns, while Jeremiah Haydel led them in receiving yards and TD receptions..
Antoine came to Texas State as the running backs and tight ends coach in 2016. His top two rushers, Stedman Mayberry and Tyler Siudzinski, combined for 816 yards and seven touchdowns rushing and caught 52 passes for 398 yards out of the backfield in their first year as starting running backs.
Antoine joined Texas State’s staff after working four years as an assistant coach at Fresno State, where he was the running backs coach for the Bulldogs in 2015 and coached the outside receivers the three previous years. He also was the recruiting coordinator at Fresno State during his last two seasons there.
Antoine coached Marteze Waller in 2015 when he was named the team’s offensive MVP after rushing for 920 yards and five touchdowns on 228 carries. Waller also caught 20 passes for 151 yards and two TDs.
Antoine also produced a pair of the most productive wide receivers in school history in current Green Bay Packers’ wide receiver Davante Adams during his first three seasons. Adams was named to eight All-America teams in 2013 after shattering Fresno State and Mountain West Conference records with 24 touchdown receptions. He led the nation with 24 TDs in 2013 which also marked the fourth highest total in FBS history. He also led the nation with 131 receptions and was second nationally with 1,718 receiving yards, another school record. Adams also set school records with 233 receptions and 38 TD catches, another MWC record, in his two-year career. He was selected in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft by Green Bay.
Antoine went to Fresno State after coaching wide receivers at South Alabama in 2010 and 2011. There, he coached Courtney Smith who set multiple Jaguar single-season receiving records and became the first player in school history to be invited to the Senior Bowl.
He also coached running backs, fullbacks and tight ends at Arkansas in 2008 and 2009. During his first season, the Razorbacks posted wins over a pair of nationally-ranked teams, Auburn and Tulsa. In his second season, Arkansas finished with an 8-5 record after defeating East Carolina in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. That season, the Razorbacks set school single-season records for most points, passing yards, touchdown passes and total offense.
Antoine also coached running backs and assisted with special teams at Wofford in 2006 and 2007. The Terriers won the 2007 Southern Conference championship and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I FCS playoffs en route to a 9-4 finish.
Prior to Wofford, Antoine spent a season at Elon in 2005 where he worked with wide receivers and slot backs while also assisting with special teams and monitoring the team’s academic progress.
Antoine also served two different stints on the staff at Ohio where he was a graduate assistant during the 1998 and 1999 seasons before earning his master’s degree in higher education in 2000. He also was the receivers coach and passing game coordinator from 2001-04.
Some of the Ohio’s accomplishments after Antoine returned included defeating Kentucky (2004). While Antoine worked with wide receivers and coordinated the passing attack, several Bobcats recorded Ohio’s top 10 performances for catches and yards receiving in a game, and receiving and all-purpose yards in a career. Scott Mayle ended his career second in OU history in receiving yards and fifth in all-purpose yards, while Chris Jackson’s had the second-highest single game total with 12 receptions against Miami (Ohio) in 2004. Jackson’s 39 catches that fall were most by an Ohio receiver since the 1991 campaign. During Antoine’s two years as a graduate assistant, OU posted a 5-3 mark in MAC action each fall.
In between stints at Ohio, Antoine was an assistant coach at Fayetteville (N.C.) State in 2000 and Andregus Holmes earn All-Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association honors.
He began his coaching career at his alma mater, Colorado State, where he was a four-year letterman as a wide receiver for the Rams in 1993-96. He played on two WAC championship teams in 1994 and 1995 culminating in back-to-back Holiday Bowl appearances. The Rams had a 10-2 record during his sophomore season in 1994. That season, Colorado State beat a pair of nationally-ranked teams in BYU and Arizona. Colorado State also won the WAC championship in 1997 when Antoine served as a student assistant coach when the Rams ended the season ranked 17 nationally after defeating 19-ranked Missouri in the Holiday Bowl.
Antoine is a native of Beaumont, Texas where he graduated from Westbrook High School. He went on to earn his degree in exercise and sport science at Colorado State in 1997. His wife, Zenarae, is in her eighth season as the head coach of Texas State’s women’s basketball team. They have three sons, Zachary, Zavier and Zayden.
