By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics

It was four years ago, just after his freshman season at William & Mary, when Nate Atkins '20 came to the realization that he wanted to be a football coach. No one who knew him was the least bit surprised.

For his first year in the profession, Atkins couldn't have envisioned this. Not coaching with a mask on during a pandemic, and not playing a role in a program's first bowl championship in nearly a century of football.

Ball State of won its final seven games of the season, the final two being the Mid-American Conference championship and the Arizona Bowl. Atkins, a four-year starting linebacker for the Tribe from 2016-19, had quite an introductory season.

"It was unbelievable," Atkins said. "I didn't necessarily know what to expect going into it. Just hearing from all the other coaches how different an experience it was this year dealing with all the COVID protocols and hoops they had to jump through on a weekly basis, that's really the only thing I know as a coach so far.

"But it was a great experience for me just getting to know the guys and getting to experience a new place. Obviously, I loved my time at William & Mary and learned a lot there, but it was a great experience for me to be somewhere else with a different staff and learn new things from a different perspective. It was a great year."

As a graduate assistant, Atkins worked with the defensive line last season. He also used his technology skills to prepare reports for head coach Mike Neu on what was and wasn't working for the Cardinals as well as their upcoming opponent.

That's where his degree in business analytics came into play.

"I've been able to apply some things with the computer programming side of it," said Atkins, who is working on his Masters of Arts in Athletic Coaching Education at Ball State. "I don't think I'd have been able to do without that experience."

Atkins' skills, both in the office and on the practice field, have impressed his bosses.

"The best way to describe him as a coach is that I hope one day he hires me," Ball State defensive coordinator Tyler Stockton said. "He's got the makings of being a superstar in this profession.

"Being a young coach, you might think, 'OK, I'm a year older than some of these guys. How will they respect me? But the way he carries himself on a day-to-day basis and how hard he works, you can tell he's going to dominate this profession."

Atkins' first taste of coaching came as a volunteer graduate assistant during William & Mary's spring practice last February. Ball State became aware of him through assistant coach Josh Zidenberg, who was on the Tribe's staff during Atkins' senior season.

Zidenberg, the Cardinals' passing game coordinator and safeties coach, had reached out to Atkins during the offseason. Stockton was implementing a new defense, but there would be no spring practice because of the pandemic. Could Atkins develop a program as a learning tool for the players?

It was right in Atkins' wheelhouse, and he came through.

That story brought a chuckle from Trevor Andrews, who was W&M's defensive coordinator in Atkins' first three seasons.

"He was writing computer programs to help with statistical analysis from a football standpoint while he was a student athlete," said Andrews, now the linebackers coach at Western Michigan. "I've never heard of anyone doing that, not writing programs to help linebackers identify formations as a student athlete."

When Ball State had a graduate assistant opening a few months later, Atkins was the first call. His official start date was July 1.

The Cardinals' magical season didn't start so magical with a 38-31 loss at Miami (Ohio). The RedHawks' winning touchdown came with 10 seconds remaining. But starting with a week two win over Eastern Michigan, Ball State closed the regular season with five straight wins.

That fifth straight came against Andrews and Western Michigan. That featured one of the craziest endings of the college football season.

In the MAC championship game in Detroit, Ball State upset No. 23 Buffalo 38-28. The Cardinals' defense held Jaret Patterson to 47 yards, 131 below his season average, on 18 carries.
Then came the Arizona Bowl against No. 19 San Jose State. Ball State led 27-0 late in the first quarter in and rolled to a 34-13 win.

"Our mantra going into the season was 'D.O.B.,' which stood for Detroit Or Bust," Atkins said. "We knew after that first-week loss that we couldn't afford another one. Coach Neu's idea, and the vision he ran with, was that we just had to stay in the winner's bracket. We treated it like a survive-and-advance type of deal, kind of like the NCAA basketball tournament.

"Each week, it was 'We have to win if we want to stay in the winner's bracket.' We felt like we had all the tools to do it. We just had to clean up some things and take care of the ball. As the season went on, we started to develop and find more of an identity in all three phases."

The pandemic made it a challenging season for everyone. Each MAC team was scheduled to play six conference games, which started on Nov. 4. Five teams had a least one game canceled due to COVID. Ball State was one of the teams that made it through.

"Credit goes to our guys — they took it seriously," said Atkins, who expects to return to his graduate assistant role next season. "They wanted to go after the championship, and they knew if we lost games, that was only going to hurt our chances to do that.

"They made sacrifices socially and all the things necessary that probably made for a less enjoyable college experience. But ultimately, they realize it was worth it."