One of the most successful coaches in the history of the Lone Star Conference, Bill Maskill, is retiring after 22 seasons at the helm of Midwestern State and an incredible 55 years as a collegiate coach.

Maskill finishes his tenure at MSU with a 160-71 overall record and is easily the winningest coach in program history. He holds a 129-win advantage over Mike Calcote, who is second in program history with 31 wins in eight seasons at MSU.

Long-time defensive coordinator Rich Renner has been promoted to head coach following 18 seasons as an assistant coach under Maskill, including the last 16 years as defensive coordinator. Renner was an assistant coach at West Texas A&M from 2000 to 2005 before joining the Mustangs.

MSU reached the NCAA Division II playoffs eight times under Maskill, who finishes his storied career with the second-most wins in LSC history behind Ron Harms, who led Texas A&M-Kingsville to 172 wins from 1979 to 1999.

Maskill guided the Mustangs to five LSC titles and has been named the league’s Coach of the Year for a record five times. MSU produced 33 All-Americans during Maskill’s tenure and had two players selected in the NFL Draft. Offensive lineman Amini Silatolu was drafted in the second round in 2011 by the Carolina Panthers, and safety Marqui Christian was selected in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals.

The Mustangs had three quarterbacks named finalists for the Harlon Hill trophy - the Heisman of DII football. 

MSU is the first head coaching job in Renner’s career. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Louisville for two seasons before transitioning to a graduate coach for the defensive line at Austin Peay in 1999. Renner was a walk-on at Lousiville during his playing career before earning a scholarship for his final two seasons.

Sources indicate that Renner, a highly successful defensive coordinator, will not handle defensive coordinator duties next year to focus on the additional responsibilities of being a head coach.