Football | 7/17/2015 11:40:00 AM

GUNNISON, Colo. - Western State Colorado University Head Football Coach Jas Bains is excited to announce the hiring of Kyle Dooley and Matt Merkens. The two will begin preparing the Mountaineers for the 2015 season immediately. Dooley's primary duties will be coaching the offensive line, while Merkens will oversee Western's receivers as a graduate assistant.

"We are all very excited about these two young coaches," Bains said. "Both of them bring a lot to the team and I look forward to coaching with them this fall."

Prior to Western, Dooley was the offensive line coach at Millard West High School in Omaha, Nebraska during the 2014 season. With the Wildcats, Dooley assisted in game planning, play calling, offensive line development and tight end development. Due to help from Dooley's coaching, Millard experienced improvement in their pass blocking and run game technique.
 
Before moving to Omaha, Dooley spent a year at Texas State University as a Graduate Assistant Offensive Line Coach. Along with coaching duties centered around the offensive line and tight ends, Dooley assisted with all special teams, led all film break-down sessions, coordinated defensive scouts, prepared weekly scout books, assisted in recruiting and assisted in offseason workouts.
 
Dooley completed his playing career at Texas Christian University in 2011. Dooley started all four years for TCU and was a team captain his senior year, earning First Team All-Conference honors that same season. Dooley helped the Horned Frogs to an NCAA Division I top 10 offensive finish in 2009, 2010 and 2011. During the 2011-12 year, Dooley was appointed to the Leadership Council at TCU and graduated with a degree in communications with a minor in Business in December of 2011.

Before coming to Western, Merkens was an offensive intern at Sam Houston State University.  During his time as an intern, Merkens' duties included offensive quality control, game charting, opponent film breakdown, assisting with the scout team and running quarterback drills.
 
Before becoming an intern at Sam Houston State, Merkens was a quarterback for the Bearkats from 2010-2012. As a play caller, Merkens helped lead Sam Houston State to two conference championships and two appearances in the NCAA FCS National Championship game.
 
Merkens graduated from Sam Houston State in 2015 with a degree in kinesiology with a minor in history.