Release from the team:
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou head coach Eliah Drinkwitz has hired Aaron Fletcher as the Tigers' defensive backs coach, as announced today pending the completion of the background check process. Fletcher has spent the last 15 years coaching at the collegiate and high school level, including the past six seasons at Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane's pass defense thrived under Fletcher's guidance, as they routinely ranked near the top of the American Athletic Conference, including a Top 10 national pass defense ranking at the end of the 2018 season.
"I am excited to add Aaron and his family to our staff," said Drinkwitz. "He has a great reputation as both a coach and a recruiter, while developing players to compete at the highest level. He will be a great fit for our program and the vision we have for Mizzou Football."
Fletcher helped lead Tulsa to three bowl game appearances between 2015-20, including a 55-10 2016 Miami Beach Bowl game victory over Central Michigan. The Golden Hurricane's pass defense ranked in the Top Five of the AAC the past three seasons, including a conference-leading and eighth-best national mark of 174.6 yards per game in 2018. He coached and mentored Reggie Robinson II to first-team 2019 All-AAC honors after recording four interceptions and a conference-leading 17 PBUs. Robinson became Tulsa's first NFL Draft pick in 10 years and its highest in 15 years when the Dallas Cowboys selected him with a fourth-round selection in 2020.
Fletcher also worked with Tulsa's special teams units, and helped the block unit to an NCAA Top 15 final ranking in blocked kicks in both 2018 (No. 10) and 2019 (No. 14).
"I'm thrilled and honored to be joining the coaching staff at Mizzou," said Fletcher. "Coach Drinkwitz is an excellent leader, and the values to which his program is built from is what sold me on coming to Mizzou. To get the opportunity to work with Coach Wilks is something I greatly look forward to, his reputation proceeds himself and I can't wait to learn from him. I'm also so excited to reconnect with my college coach, Curtis Luper. My family is happy to be in Columbia and begin this next chapter in our lives."
Prior to joining the Tulsa staff, Fletcher spent three seasons (2012-14) at Houston Baptist University (FCS) where he helped start the Huskies' football program from scratch. He coached Prince Sam to the program's first-ever all-conference selection in 2014. In addition to leading the team's secondary, Fletcher was crucial to the recruiting struggle while in Houston, helping land the school's first-ever Top 100 recruit.
Before moving into the collegiate ranks, Fletcher coached at three Dallas-area High Schools from 2006 through 2011, including his most recent stop as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at David W. Carter High School from 2011-12. While there, he coordinated one of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex's top defenses.
Before that, Fletcher spent time at Desoto and Lancaster High Schools as defensive pass game coordinator and was regarded as one of the nation's top developers of high school defensive backs. In 2008, Fletcher's secondary corps for the Lancaster Tigers earned the billing of the nation's best secondary by several publications, coaching two All-Americans and four all-state players. Four of his players were named Texas' Top 100 recruits in 2008.
Fletcher began his coaching career in 2001 as an assistant coach at Lyndon B. Johnson High School in Austin.
Notable players coached by Fletcher include Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Jalen Mills (DeSoto HS), former Tennessee Titans and Chicago Bears defensive back Demontre Hurst (Lancaster HS) and Chris Houston (LBJ HS), a second-round draft choice of the Atlanta Falcons, who also played for the Detroit Lions.
Fletcher attended Ranger Junior College for two years (1995-96), and as a cornerback earned team Defensive MVP honors and all-conference accolades. He then moved to Texas A&M-Commerce and started at cornerback. In 1999, Fletcher was rated as one of the Top 20 defensive secondary draft-eligible prospects and participated in the NFL Pre-Draft Camp. He earned his degree in health education from Texas A&M-Commerce in 2003.
Fletcher played in the National Indoor Football League for the Austin Knights in 2001 and the Arena Football League with the Laredo Law Football Club in 2004.
An active member of his community, Fletcher founded "3 and Out Productions", to enhance community and student relationships through sports camps and clinics in East Austin. Throughout his career, Fletcher has also been involved with Boys and Girls Club, served as youth minister at Disciples of Faith in Commerce and was an active member of The Potter's House, a men's ministry in Dallas.
A native of Austin, Texas, Fletcher and his wife, Tanzania, have two daughters: Anaiya and Taylor, and one son, Aaron, Jr.
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou head coach Eliah Drinkwitz has hired Aaron Fletcher as the Tigers' defensive backs coach, as announced today pending the completion of the background check process. Fletcher has spent the last 15 years coaching at the collegiate and high school level, including the past six seasons at Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane's pass defense thrived under Fletcher's guidance, as they routinely ranked near the top of the American Athletic Conference, including a Top 10 national pass defense ranking at the end of the 2018 season.
"I am excited to add Aaron and his family to our staff," said Drinkwitz. "He has a great reputation as both a coach and a recruiter, while developing players to compete at the highest level. He will be a great fit for our program and the vision we have for Mizzou Football."
Fletcher helped lead Tulsa to three bowl game appearances between 2015-20, including a 55-10 2016 Miami Beach Bowl game victory over Central Michigan. The Golden Hurricane's pass defense ranked in the Top Five of the AAC the past three seasons, including a conference-leading and eighth-best national mark of 174.6 yards per game in 2018. He coached and mentored Reggie Robinson II to first-team 2019 All-AAC honors after recording four interceptions and a conference-leading 17 PBUs. Robinson became Tulsa's first NFL Draft pick in 10 years and its highest in 15 years when the Dallas Cowboys selected him with a fourth-round selection in 2020.
Fletcher also worked with Tulsa's special teams units, and helped the block unit to an NCAA Top 15 final ranking in blocked kicks in both 2018 (No. 10) and 2019 (No. 14).
"I'm thrilled and honored to be joining the coaching staff at Mizzou," said Fletcher. "Coach Drinkwitz is an excellent leader, and the values to which his program is built from is what sold me on coming to Mizzou. To get the opportunity to work with Coach Wilks is something I greatly look forward to, his reputation proceeds himself and I can't wait to learn from him. I'm also so excited to reconnect with my college coach, Curtis Luper. My family is happy to be in Columbia and begin this next chapter in our lives."
Prior to joining the Tulsa staff, Fletcher spent three seasons (2012-14) at Houston Baptist University (FCS) where he helped start the Huskies' football program from scratch. He coached Prince Sam to the program's first-ever all-conference selection in 2014. In addition to leading the team's secondary, Fletcher was crucial to the recruiting struggle while in Houston, helping land the school's first-ever Top 100 recruit.
Before moving into the collegiate ranks, Fletcher coached at three Dallas-area High Schools from 2006 through 2011, including his most recent stop as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at David W. Carter High School from 2011-12. While there, he coordinated one of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex's top defenses.
Before that, Fletcher spent time at Desoto and Lancaster High Schools as defensive pass game coordinator and was regarded as one of the nation's top developers of high school defensive backs. In 2008, Fletcher's secondary corps for the Lancaster Tigers earned the billing of the nation's best secondary by several publications, coaching two All-Americans and four all-state players. Four of his players were named Texas' Top 100 recruits in 2008.
Fletcher began his coaching career in 2001 as an assistant coach at Lyndon B. Johnson High School in Austin.
Notable players coached by Fletcher include Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Jalen Mills (DeSoto HS), former Tennessee Titans and Chicago Bears defensive back Demontre Hurst (Lancaster HS) and Chris Houston (LBJ HS), a second-round draft choice of the Atlanta Falcons, who also played for the Detroit Lions.
Fletcher attended Ranger Junior College for two years (1995-96), and as a cornerback earned team Defensive MVP honors and all-conference accolades. He then moved to Texas A&M-Commerce and started at cornerback. In 1999, Fletcher was rated as one of the Top 20 defensive secondary draft-eligible prospects and participated in the NFL Pre-Draft Camp. He earned his degree in health education from Texas A&M-Commerce in 2003.
Fletcher played in the National Indoor Football League for the Austin Knights in 2001 and the Arena Football League with the Laredo Law Football Club in 2004.
An active member of his community, Fletcher founded "3 and Out Productions", to enhance community and student relationships through sports camps and clinics in East Austin. Throughout his career, Fletcher has also been involved with Boys and Girls Club, served as youth minister at Disciples of Faith in Commerce and was an active member of The Potter's House, a men's ministry in Dallas.
A native of Austin, Texas, Fletcher and his wife, Tanzania, have two daughters: Anaiya and Taylor, and one son, Aaron, Jr.
