Former SEC coach hired to lead Meridian football, has plan to revive Warriors
One former college coach rebuilt Meridian High football into a state title contender. Now the Warriors have turned to a second former college coach to kick-start another rebound.
The West Ada school board finalized the hiring of Austyn Carta-Samuels on Monday, naming the former SEC assistant and quarterback as the Warriors’ next football coach.
“He brings a huge spark that our program needs and our community needs,” Meridian Athletic Director Nichole Williamson said. “His real passion for kids and developing kids, and bringing that to the game through football, is just incredible. That really shined through in our entire journey of looking for a football coach.”
Carta-Samuels, 33, previously spent six seasons as an assistant coach at Missouri. He worked his way up from a graduate assistant to become the Tigers’ quarterback coach, where he recruited and mentored future NFL quarterback Drew Lock.
247Sports twice named him as one of the top 30 coaches under 30 years old in the country, appearing alongside future Boise State coach Spencer Danielson on the 2018 list. But he left college football at 28 to create Locked In, his own quarterback coaching business.
“I left collegiate football, ultimately, because of the politicized nature of the way that everything is now with NIL and money and all these things,” Carta-Samuels told the Statesman. “I think it’s drifted away from why I love college football, which is serving the development of these young men. I think high school football is a little bit more pure, in that respect.”
Carta-Samuels previously worked with several local quarterbacks through Locked In, and Meridian’s Dylan McGehee clued him in that Meridian needed a new coach after John Zamberlin announced his retirement in February.
Zamberlin previously turned around a struggling Meridian program, leading the Warriors to a 36-24 (.600) record over six seasons. That included four trips to the playoffs, an SIC championship and one state championship game appearance.
But after Meridian fell to 3-6 and missed the playoffs last fall, Carta-Samuels doesn’t expect a cakewalk. He noted the Warriors have long lost athletes to nearby Rocky Mountain, Eagle and Owyhee. He said he’ll need to convince players to stay and buy in to his vision for a blue-collar program at West Ada’s oldest high school.
“That historical sense of pride is something that really excites me,” Carta-Samuels said. “It has worked against us a little bit in terms of these newer schools coming in that may have nicer facilities and things. Now we have an opportunity to do something that they don’t have, which is to galvanize the history behind this place and really, really lean into what makes us special — and that is our roots.”
Meridian marks his first job as a head high school football coach. His previous high school coaching experience comes from California’s Menlo School, where he helped lead the private school to a 16-2 record over two seasons as its offensive coordinator, including a COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.
His lone full season saw Menlo go 12-1, average 43 points per game and reach the finals of the Central Coast Section Division II playoffs.
Carta-Samuel’s roots lie as a quarterback and offensive coach. He started as a freshman and sophomore at Wyoming before walking on at Vanderbilt, where he led the Commodores to the No. 24 ranking in the final AP poll of the 2013 season as a senior. But he said he doesn’t bring any prebuilt system to Meridian and will construct a team around the talent on the field.
“The thing that I want to be reflected is that you won’t have to see the blue and yellow to know that it’s a Meridian football team,” Carta-Samuels said. “The discipline, the effort, the love and care for each other, and the passion that we play the game with — I want that to ooze off the tape and ooze when you watch us play.”
This story was originally published April 15, 2025 at 12:52 PM.
