FRESNO, Calif. - Fresno State Football head coach Matt Entz announced a pair of coaching staff updates on Thursday, naming Josh Davis as offensive coordinator and John Baxter as special teams coordinator.
Davis comes to Fresno State from the University of South Dakota where he spent the 2023 and 2024 season as the offensive coordinator, and led the Yotes to their first-ever FCS playoff semifinal appearance. Baxter has been retained by Entz, and will enter his fourth season on staff in his second stint in the Valley but 17th overall at Fresno State (1997-09, 2022-24).
Deep Dive on Davis
In his first two seasons at South Dakota, Davis improved the offensive identity and efficiency as the Yotes would make quarterfinal (2023) and semifinal (2024) appearances of the FCS playoffs. In 2024, South Dakota had the No. 5 total offense in the FCS, averaging 419.3 yards per game.
Behind Davis' leadership, South Dakota boasted an explosive offense that saw the first NCAA Division I FCS era 1,000-yard rusher, which became a pair of 1,000-yard rushers in the FCS Playoffs. Charles Pierre Jr. (1,244 yards) and Travis Theis (1,194 yards) spearheaded the dominant run game as both sat No. 1-2 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference in both rushing yards per game and rushing touchdowns.
Pierre Jr. finished second in the MVFC Offensive Player of the Year voting. The Coyotes had nine offensive all-conference selections in 2024.
Prior to his time at South Dakota, he was on staff as the pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach for a South Dakota State team that made the FCS national championship in 2022. Davis is a graduate of South Dakota State where he played from 2002-05. Davis ended his career as the Jackrabbits' all-time leader in receptions (225) and ranked second in both career receiving yards (3,192) and touchdowns (26). While those marks have been surpassed, Davis continues to hold the SDSU single-game receptions record with 16.
Davis was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Northwestern College (Orange City, Iowa) for six seasons prior to his time in Brookings. After going 3-7 in his first season in Orange City, the Red Raiders were a combined 51-10 with five playoff appearances in the next five seasons.
Northwestern was among the NAIA's top teams in passing offense, total offense, and scoring annually under his leadership. The 2021 squad advanced to the national title game and Davis coached National Player of the Year Tyson Kooima, a quarterback who averaged 323 yards passing per game during the 2020 season.
Davis was the wide receivers coach at SDSU from 2009-15 and mentored five receivers who currently rank among the Jackrabbits' top-10 for career receptions. He started his coaching career in Brookings as a graduate assistant and spent time at Iowa Western Community College before returning to Brookings to coach the receivers.
Davis is a native of Omaha, Nebraska. He and his wife, Brittany, have three children, Isabel, Reese, and Demi.
Deep Dive on Baxter
Baxter, with 40 years of coaching on his resume, has experience coaching special teams, tight ends, wide receivers, running backs, linebackers and the defensive line.
In his Fresno State coaching career, Baxter has been the special teams coach for eight of the program's 11 kickoffs returned for touchdowns with the most recent coming in 2023 with a 95-yard return against Boise State by Malik Sherrod. It was Fresno State's first kickoff return for a touchdown since 2008.
In the program's history, Baxter has coached the 'Dogs in 18 of 42 punt returns for touchdowns, seven of 14 blocked punts returned for touchdowns, four of six blocked field goals returned for touchdowns and one of two PAT returns for two points.
Baxter coached new kick returner Jalen Moss, who, entering 2024, had not returned any sort of kick in his collegiate career. Moss finished the 2024 season with 18 punt returns for 231 yards and one touchdown, and 15 kickoff returns for 228 yards. He led the Mountain West in combined kick returns, and ranked No. 23 in the FBS. Moss was a second team All-MW punt returner. Moss became the first punt return selection for the Bulldogs since Nikko Remigio in 2022, Baxter's first season back on staff. Moss is just the second returner all-conference selection since the Bulldogs entered the Mountain West in 2012.