CLARION, Pa. – Clarion head football coach Chris Weibel announced the addition of another member to the Golden Eagle coaching staff for 2021, with Austin Guptel coming aboard as a defensive assistant coach. Guptel spent the previous season at Saint Vincent College and has coached across all three NCAA levels over the course of his career. He will work primarily with the Golden Eagles' defensive backs, as well as serve as special teams coordinator.
 
"I am excited to welcome Austin Guptel as our defensive backs coach," Weibel said. "He is detail-oriented, and his ideas and philosophies fit with what we are trying to build in our program. He will be a great addition to complete my staff. "
 
Guptel spent the Spring 2021 season as the defensive backs coach for Saint Vincent, where he recruited student-athletes from across Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, Arizona and New York. The Bearcats went 2-2 during the limited spring schedule with wins over Bethany and Waynesburg. He made his way to Latrobe after spending 2020 as the defensive quality control / defensive backs coach for Division I FCS Central Connecticut State.
 
In 2019, Guptel was the cornerbacks coach and video coordinator for Sioux Falls, where he coached a defense that ranked second in NCAA Division II in total defense and eighth in the nation in takeaways. He also led drills for kick and punt returners and prepared film breakdowns of the team's future opponents. Guptel was the defensive quality control / defensive backs coach for UT-Chattanooga in 2018, contributing to a defensive staff that led the Southern Conference (SoCon) in pass defense. He assisted in the development of a pair of First Team All-SoCon players in Kareem Orr and Brandon Dowdell.
 
Before entering the coaching profession, Guptel spent two years as a statistics analyst for ESPN, working in Bristol, Conn. To analyze statistics to find NextLevel data.
 
Guptel started his college playing career at Benedictine in Lisle, Ill. where he competed as a defensive back. He went on to finish his Bachelors degree in Economics at Central Connecticut State, graduating in 2016.