LAKE CHARLES – McNeese football head coach Matt Viator has announced the hiring of four new members to his staff while two others will be retained.
 
Kyle Segler, who spent the 2024 season at Baylor as an offensive analyst, will join the staff as the offensive line coach and also serve as co-offensive coordinator following the completion of Baylor's bowl game in the Kinder Texas Bowl against LSU on December 31.
 
Joining the staff to coach the defensive line will be Chris Gistorb who has coached the defensive line at Northwestern State the last two seasons, and returning to McNeese to coach the tight ends is former player Mason Martin, who is currently on the staff at Sam Houston High School but has had stints on staffs at Auburn, Ole Miss and ULM.
 
Also returning to McNeese as the Director of Equipment Operations will be Matt "MVP" Saucier while being retained are Kiefer Price, Offense Analyst, and Raymond Donovan, Director of Football Technology.
 
Saucier has spent this past season as assistant equipment manager at Texas State and prior to that, served as an assistant at Arkansas (2022, 2023) and Iowa State (2021). He was previously equipment manager at McNeese from 2018 to 2020 and a student equipment manager from 2013-2017.
 
Donovan just completed his 11^th season on the McNeese staff where he began under Viator in 2014. During his time, he's worked as a quality control coach with the offensive line and special teams before taking over control of video operations in 2019.
 
Price will continue to work with the offensive line in the same role as the past season. Before joining the McNeese staff, Price served as the offensive coordinator at Misercordia University and also assistant head coach and offensive coordinator at Iowa Wesleyan prior to that.
 
Viator is working to fill the offensive coordinator and a spot on the defensive side.
 
McNeese Football Coach Staff:
Head Coach: Matt Viator
Offensive Coordinator: TBD
Co-Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line: Kyle Segler
Running Backs: Thomas Reese
Wide Receivers: Michael Smith
Tight Ends: Mason Martin
Offensive Analyst: Kiefer Price
Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers: Tony Pecoraro
Co-Defensive Coordinator/Safeties: Josh Brown
Defensive Line: Chris Gistorb
Cornerbacks: Jordan Lee
Defensive Coach: TBD
Defensive Analyst: Chris St. John
Director of Equipment Operations: Matt "MVP" Saucier
Director of Football Technology: Raymond Donovan
 
Kyle Segler Bio
 
Kyle Segler joined the staff at Baylor for the 2024 season as an offensive quality control coach following the 2023 season as an assistant coach working with the offensive line at ULM. He previously served on the staff at Sam Houston from 2010-17, spanning eight years, spent two seasons as the special teams coordinator and tight ends coach at Marshall, as well as a season as the tight ends coach at UMass prior to his return to ULM in 2022.  
 
In 2023 at ULM, Segler coached a pair of All-Sun Belt Conference selections on the offensive line at ULM, Zarian McGill and Elijah Fisher, and the offensive line unit was voted as the tops in the Sun Belt Conference by College Football Network. Zarian McGill, Keydrell Lewis and Tellek Lockette were each named 2^nd team All-Sunbelt Conference on the offensive line. McGill and Lockette posted improvements in their Pro Football Focus pass-blocking grades by upwards of 30 points each from the 2022 to 2023 season. 
 
Segler coached tight ends and coordinated the special teams at Marshall in 2019-20. Both seasons, he helped coach an All-Conference Tight End Armani Levias (2^nd team All-CUSA 2019) and Xavier Gaines (1^stteam All-CUSA 2020). During his tenure with the Herd they had great success going 8-5 in 2019 – including 6-2 in Conference USA play – and 7-3, including 4-1 in league in 2020. 
 
While he was at Sam Houston, the Bearkats went on a historic run, posting a combined record of 86-27 (.761) from 2010-17, including three Southland Conference Championships and seven consecutive NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoff appearances. The Bearkats won at least 11 games in six of those eight seasons, including the last four in a row.  
 
During his tenure in Huntsville, Segler worked for four years each under Willie Fritz (2010-13) and K.C. Keeler (2014-17). Since joining the Bearkat staff in 2010, he coached the offensive tackles and tight ends, and in 2016, he added the duties as special teams coordinator.
 
In 2017, the Kats went 12-2, finished second in the Southland standings at 8-1, advanced to the NCAA FCS semifinals and ranked third and fourth in final FCS Coaches and STATS Polls, respectively. Sam Houston led the FCS in scoring offense (43.3 points per game), total offense (538.1 yards per game) and passing offense (362.7 ypg.). The Kats also ranked among the national leaders in blocked kicks (tied for second with 8) and punt returns (sixth with 14.9 avg.), including three returns for touchdowns. Davion Davis averaged 21.6 yards on 13 punt returns, including two TDs. Jaylen Harris finished third in the Southland and ranked No. 24 in kickoff returns with his 23.8-yard average, including one score. Kicker Tre Honshtein led the FCS with a school-record 22 field goals and tied for the nation's lead win scoring with 132 points.   
 
In 2016, Sam Houston led the FCS in total offense (547.3 ypg.) and scoring offense (49.5 ppg.) while finishing second in passing offense (368.3 ypg.) and fourth in passing efficiency (165.7 rating). The Kats also led the Southland in kickoff coverage (43.4 net avg.) and ranked second in both kickoff returns (23.2 avg.) and punting (38.1 net avg.). Joseph Figenshaw was named first-team All-Southland after leading the league in punting average at 44.2 while Jaylen Harris earned second-team all-conference honors after producing a school single-season record 1,020 kickoff return yards.
 
In 2015, the Bearkats led the FCS in total offense (531.7 ypg.) and ranked among the nation's Top 10 in scoring offense (fifth at 41.1 ppg.) and rushing offense (254.5 ypg.). Sam Houston set the Southland single-season record with 7,975 yards total offense – the third-highest single-season total in FCS history.
 
Segler helped developed four All-Americans (five selections overall): Chris Crockett (2011), Travis Watson (2011), Kaleb Hopson (2012) and Donald Jackson III (2014-15). He also tutored seven first-team All-Southland selections, including Crockett (2011), Watson (2011), Hopson (2012), tight end T.J. Jones (2012) and Jackson (2013-14-15). In 2015, Jackson also was selected Southland Offensive Tackle of the Year.  
 
In his first two seasons at Sam Houston, Segler's offensive linemen paved the way for a unit that broke 35 school records.
 
Prior to returning to his alma mater, he spent the 2009 season coaching at Lon Morris College in Jacksonville, Texas, helping relaunch a football program that was discontinued in 1945.
 
Segler was an offensive lineman on Sam Houston's team that won a share of the Southland regular-season title, advanced to the FCS semifinals and finished 11-3. He earned two degrees from Sam Houston, receiving his bachelor's in kinesiology in 2006 and his Master's in sports management in 2010.
 
Chris Gistorb Bio
 
Chris Gistorb just wrapped up his second season on the Northwestern State staff.

In his debut season in 2023 at Northwestern State, Gistorb tutored a Demon defensive line that helped NSU cut its rushing yards allowed by 27 from the 2022 season and nearly double its per-game turnover rate.

Gistorb, a former UL Lafayette defensive lineman, brings more than a decade's worth of coaching experience in the talent-laden Houston area and spent the 2022 season on the staff of his alma mater as a defensive line quality control assistant.

While with the Ragin' Cajuns, Gistorb helped develop Zi'yon Hill-Green into a first-team All-Sun Belt Conference selection and was part of a team that reached the Independence Bowl, extending the Cajuns' bowl streak to six.

Ahead of returning to his alma mater, Gistorb was the co-defensive coordinator at Cy-Fair High School in the Houston suburb of Cypress. During his two seasons with the Bobcats where he also coached the defensive line, Gistorb coached a pair of all-district selections, including the 2021 District Defensive Player of the Year, linebacker Hunter Warren.

Gistorb spent two seasons (2018-19) at Angleton High School as the co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach. He also was the district's strength and conditioning coordinator. 

In his second stop at Angleton, Gistorb coached a pair of all-district linemen who signed with Division I and Division II programs. During his first two-season tenure at Angleton from 2015-16, Gistorb coached the team's defensive ends.

Sandwiched between his two, two-year stints at Angleton, Gistorb served as the defensive line coach at Bridgeland High School.

Prior to joining the Angleton staff, Gistorb coached the defensive line at Cy Ridge High School from 2012-14 where he tutored District Defensive MVP Lucky Jeffery, a Lamar signee, and first-team all-district pick Jordan Molden, who played at Angelo State.

Gistorb broke into coaching at Copperas Cove High School in central Texas, tutoring the defensive line for five seasons from 2007-2011. While with the Bulldawgs, Gistorb produced three players who signed with FBS schools and 2011 District Defensive Player of the Year Trevor Clemons-Valdez.
 
Mason Martin Bio
 
A former McNeese football player from 2013-16, Mason Martin has served as the offensive coordinator at Sam Houston High School the last two seasons, coaching both tight ends and running backs in 2023 and the offensive line this past season.
 
Prior to SHHS, he spent two seasons at Sulphur High School where in 2021, served as the offensive coordinator and coached the offensive line, then swapped sides of the ball in 2022 to coach the outside linebackers while also holding defensive coordinator duties.
 
Martin began his coaching career in 2017 at ULM under head coach Matt Viator where he was a graduate assistant and worked specifically with the offensive and defensive line units.
 
He left ULM in 2018 to join the Ole Miss staff where he was a graduate assistant for two seasons under then-head coach Matt Luke and coaching both the offensive and defensive lines.
 
In 2020, he moved to Auburn where he worked with both lines again under head coach Gus Malzahn for a season before returning to Southwest Louisiana.
 
As a player, Martin was part of the 2015 Southland Conference champion Cowboy team that posted an undefeated regular season and ranked as high as No. 2 in the national polls.
 
He earned his bachelor's degree from McNeese in 2016 and received a master's of exercise science from ULM in December 2018.