Sheldon Cross, a record breaking, offensive play caller becomes the Stetson Hatters Offensive Coordinator/QB coach, bringing his Air Raid Offense from Cal Poly. Cross has experience as an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Cal Poly, Idaho State, New Mexico Highlands and Iowa Wesleyan, was hired as Stetsons offensive coordinator and Quarterbacks coach in March 2024.
"I am happy to have Sheldon on our staff, he brings experience and success with an offense that fits our personnel. He will bring an attack mentality as a play caller and our players have gravitated towards his passionate coaching style, which we need on our offense," said Brian Young. "The fact most of our players are somewhat familiar with this offensive system has made Sheldon's teaching of the offense somewhat smoother. We look forward to Sheldon and our explosive offense taking off early and become that "Unapologetic Scoring Machine". We can't wait! I'm so glad that he and his family are Stetson Hatters!"
Prior to Cal Poly, Cross was the highly successful head coach at Kennedy Catholic High School in Burien, Wash., a few miles south of Seattle.
Cross's accomplishments include coordinating a 2023 Cal Poly offense that set school passing records; six touchdown passes in a game and 38 completions in a game, also coaching on an Idaho State offensive staff that produced Walter Payton Award finalist, quarterback Justin Arias, to a 4,000-yard season passing in 2014, assisting Illinois State as tight ends and H-Backs coach to an FCS playoff berth and a 9-4 mark, and coaching Interlake and Kennedy Catholic high schools to six Washington state playoff berths and 71 wins in 10 seasons combined.
Cross, guided Kennedy Catholic to four consecutive Class 4A North Puget Sound League titles and a 36-6 record over those four seasons. He compiled 55 wins in seven seasons (2016-22) at the helm of the Lancers with 30 graduates going on to play college football.
Kennedy Catholic was runner-up in the Washington state Class 4A playoffs this fall and Cross was named SBLive Washington state coach of the year in Class 4A. Cross' offense averaged 42 points per game, passed for 21,585 yards and scored 250 touchdowns in seven seasons at Kennedy and he guided quarterback Sam Huard in setting the Washington state all-time career passing record of 13,214 yards.
Cross served as offensive coordinator for the West squad in the 2022 All-American Bowl, played last January in San Antonio, Texas, which the West won. The West offense scored 34 points and finished with 450 yards of offense. West quarterback Cade Klubnik was named MVP of the game.
Before returning to his home state in 2016, Cross was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Idaho State from 2013-15, tight ends and H-Backs coach at Illinois State in 2012 and offensive coordinator at New Mexico Highlands in 2011. He was an offensive graduate assistant at Washington State in 2010, working with the tight ends and H-Backs for the Cougars and assisting the offensive coordinator with all aspects of the passing game.
In his three seasons at Idaho State, Cross played a vital role in the Bengals' record-breaking offense. Cross, who served as the outside wide receivers coach his first two seasons, guided the 2014 offense to a school-record 64 touchdowns and broke the single-season rushing record with 2,567 yards. Arias threw for 4,076 yards and 38 touchdowns on 318 completions.
At Illinois State, Cross helped guide the Redbirds to an FCS playoff appearance and a 9-4 record. The Redbirds' offensive unit led the Missouri Valley Football Conference in passing and total offense, averaging better than 30 points a game.
During his three-year head coaching stint (2007-09) at Interlake High School in Bellevue, Wash., Cross mentored the Saints to a 16-18 mark, earning state playoff berths in 2008 and 2009, and was named Kingco Conference Coach of the Year in 2009. The back-to-back trips to state playoffs were the first two for the school in 22 years.
Cross is a graduate of Stadium High School in Tacoma, Wash., where he was a quarterback. He also called signals for two years at Iowa Wesleyan in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and, after earning his bachelor's degree in psychology from Peru State College in Nebraska in 2004, served as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator at Iowa Wesleyan in 2005 and as an assistant at Interlake in 2006.
Cross and his wife, Catherine, have one son, Wyatt and a daughter, Stella.
2023 Cal Poly Bullet Points:
- 38 pass completions at Sac State was a program record
- Six touchdown passes against Lincoln tied the program record
- Sam Huard's 2,247 yards passing in 2023 was the seventh most in single season program history
- Huard's 483 yards passing against Sac State was the second most passing yards in a game in program history
- Huard's 154 completions this season was the fifth most in program history
- Huard had games of 37 and 31 completions this season which rank as the most in program history and third most in program history
- Huard had 18 touchdowns on the season which ranked tied for seventh in a season in program history
- Huard's six touchdown passes against Lincoln tied the program record
- Giancarlo Woods' 10 catches against Sac State ranked tied for 12th most by a Mustang receiver in program history
- Woods' three receiving touchdowns against Lincoln tied for the third most TD receptions in program history
