TEMPE, Ariz. – Arizona State University head football coach Todd Graham announced Friday the hire of two veteran Valley football coaches, Donnie Yantis and Conrad Hamilton.
Yantis will serve as the Assistant Athletic Director for Recruiting while Hamilton will be the Senior Defensive Analyst for the Sun Devils.
“I am very excited to be able to supplement our outstanding football staff with the additions of Donnie Yantis and Conrad Hamilton,” says Graham. “Both Donnie and Conrad come from the state of Arizona coaching ranks and that means a lot to me. I have a long history of hiring talented coaches from the high school ranks. Both bring a wide range of skills and experience to the positions. I am very excited to work with Donnie in our recruiting efforts as I believe he will bring a special skill set to that position. And Conrad, who played in the NFL for seven seasons, adds that level of experience to our program like current coaches T.J. Rushing and John Simon.”
Yantis spent the previous two seasons as the head football coach at Arizona Christian University, where he developed the program in its first season as a NAIA college football program. He was responsible for hiring an entire coaching staff, along with recruiting an entire football team in his first year. Yantis’ 14 seasons as the head coach at Paradise Valley High School in Phoenix also assisted him in building relationships with Arizona high school football coaches, helping with the recruitment process.
In 2015 Yantis was named CSFL Coach of the Year as he led ACU to a CSFL Conference Championship, going undefeated in the conference. In his first season as a college coach he was named the NAIA Independent Conference Coach of the Year. At Paradise Valley, under Yantis’ direction, the offense broke every school record in both passing and rushing yards, first downs, and points scored.
As a high school coach Yantis produced 16 Division I athletes, 21 junior college athletes, and five Division II athletes.
As an athlete, Yantis played for Paradise Valley High as a quarterback, wide receiver, defensive back, linebacker, and a punter, and then moved on to play for Glendale Community College and Southern Utah University.
Hamilton will join Sun Devil Football after serving as the head football coach and defensive coordinator at Chaparral High School in Scottsdale for the previous two seasons. In 2015 Hamilton led Chaparral to a Section Championship in the school’s first season at Division I, and as a first year head coach he led the team to a state semifinal appearance.
As a defensive coordinator at Chaparral, Hamilton helped the team win back-to-back Division II state titles as he was responsible for all aspects of preparing the defensive unit. Hamilton coached 11 Division I defensive backs between 2007-2015 along with 15 All-State defensive backs.
Hamilton played seven seasons in the NFL at cornerback with the New York Giants and the Atlanta Falcons. Over his career he collected 166 tackles, three interceptions, one quarterback sack, one fumble recovery, one forced fumble and 37 pass deflections. He also returned 19 kickoffs for 382 yards. In 2004 he was inducted into the Sports Hall of Honors at Eastern New Mexico University where he was a two-time First Team All-American defensive back and two-time Lone Star Conference Defensive Back of the Year.