Ronnie Letson begins his secondi season as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at McNeese after spending the previous five years as the assistant head coach and quarterback’s coach at Colorado State under Mike Bobo. Prior to joining Colorado State, he served one season as director of player personnel at Georgia with Bobo.
In the 2021 spring season, Letson’s offense averaged 400 yards per game while quarterback Cody Orgeron averaed 223 yards passing.
While coaching CSU's quarterbacks, the team has registered a top-10 mark in school history for touchdown passes, including the second all-time mark of 29 in both 2016 and '17, the fourth-best figure of 26 in 2018 and the sixth-most, 24, in 2015.
In 2018 Letson managed two different starting quarterbacks and served as the play-caller for the first five games of the season while Coach Bobo recovered from an illness, as the Rams set school records for pass completions (303) and pass attempts (502). Graduate transfer K.J. Carta-Samuels broke Colorado State's all-time single-game passing mark with 537 yards in his first game as a Ram, on Aug. 25 vs. Hawai'i, and was ranked in the top 15 in the nation in most statistical categories for much of his eight-game run as the starter. Sophomore Collin Hill started the Rams' last four games of the season and averaged 275 passing yards per game in that span, helping the Rams to rank 13th in FBS in passing offense (304.9) under Letson's guidance.
In Letson's first three seasons at CSU, Nick Stevens earned All-Mountain West recognition each year, including first-team honors as a senior in 2017. Stevens—the Rams' all-time leader in touchdown passes—ranked 13th in the FBS in passing yards (3,799) and passing touchdowns (29) in 2017, and 14th in passing yards per game (292.2). Between 2015-17 the Rams posted two of the top five scoring marks in school history (3rd—35.3 in 2016 and 5th—33.4 in 2017) and two of the top four marks for total offense, including a school-record 492.5 yards per game in 2017 (also 4th, 462.5 in 2016). The 2017 Rams also set school records for first downs per game (25.5) and third-down conversions (50.3%).
Letson guided three different quarterbacks to start at least one game for the Rams in 2016, including Hill as a true freshman, who started four games before his season ended because of a knee injury. Stevens (honorable mention All-MW) started the season opener and the final seven games and ranked fifth in FBS (first in MW) with a 171.3 passer efficiency rating. The Rams ranked 12th in FBS with just seven interceptions thrown. Under Letson’s guidance, the passing game ranked 12th in the nation in passing efficiency (157.04) and took an average of just 1.0 sack per game (8th FBS), including just one total over the season’s final six games.
In his final seven starts to close the 2016 season, Stevens ranked among the hottest quarterbacks in the nation, completing better than 70 percent of his passes for 19 touchdowns and just three interceptions. His season completion percentage of 64.2 ranked third on CSU’s single-season list.
In his first season with the Rams in 2015, Letson helped Stevens earn second-team All-Mountain West honors as a first-year starting quarterback. He led the conference in touchdown passes (21) and ranked second in passing yards (2,679). Both figures broke CSU’s all-time records for a sophomore, topping the previous marks held by former first-round NFL draft choice Kelly Stouffer.
Prior to Letson’s one season at Georgia he had a brief stint as the wide receivers coach at Samford University in early 2014. He spent the 2013 season as an offensive analyst at Alabama and nine seasons at Jacksonville State (2004-12) as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. At Jacksonville State, Letson was in charge of play-calling and developing the Gamecocks’ offensive game plan. In his nine-year stint Letson groomed 31 all-conference players and six All-Americans. Letson helped guide the Gamecocks to an Ohio Valley Conference championship in 2004 and an OVC co-championship in 2011.
Jacksonville State’s 2011 conference championship team was fueled by Letson’s powerful offense, which averaged 414.9 yards per game against conference opponents, including 245.0 yards on the ground and an OVC-best 148.8 pass efficiency rating. In 2010 Letson helped lead JSU to a 9-3 record and a No. 2 ranking in FCS. His offenses in 2004, ‘08 and ‘09 led the OVC, and the Gamecocks led the OVC in scoring offense in ‘04, ‘07, ‘09 and ‘10. Letson helped produce 2009 OVC Offensive Player of the Year Ryan Perrilloux and 2010 OVC Freshman of the Year Coty Blanchard.
Letson originally began his coaching career at Jacksonville State in 2000 as the wide receivers coach before taking the same position at Presbyterian College in 2002 where he assisted with the development of the offensive game plan. He got his first taste of coaching in the Southeastern Conference as an offensive administrative graduate assistant at his alma mater, Ole Miss, in 2003, when the Rebels finished with a 10-3 record, a share of the SEC West Division title and a Cotton Bowl Championship. In the spring of 2004 he moved to the defensive side of the ball as a graduate assistant before returning to Jacksonville State in May 2004.Â
Letson is a 1999 graduate of the University of Mississippi, from which he holds a bachelor of business administration degree. He was a three-year letterman for the Rebels, earning All-SEC academic honors in 1999, and helped lead Ole Miss to three consecutive bowl victories. The Rebels claimed the Ford Motor City Bowl against Marshall and two wins in the Independence Bowl, including a last-second win over Oklahoma.
A 1995 graduate of Norcross (Ga.) High School, Ronnie and his wife, Vanessa, have two sons, Tripp and Eli.
