LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates football coaching staff looks a little different entering the 2021 season, but for long-time Bates football fans, a familiar name is stepping in to lead the team.

Interim Head Coach Ed Argast leads a staff of six coaches for the Bobcats, including offensive coordinator and senior associate head coach Custavious Patterson, defensive coordinator and associate head coach Keith Davis, defensive line coach Tom Radulski, linebackers coach Otha Yarborough and running backs coach Andrew Luongo.

Ed Argast's coaching career began at Bates when he was an assistant for the 1979 and 1980 teams under the late, great, Bobcat head coach Web Harrison '63. Bates shared the CBB title in 1979, going 5-3 on the year before dipping to 3-5 the following season.

"For me as a young coach, I got the opportunity to be around some really class human beings," Argast said. "Web Harrison, Bob Flynn, Chick Leahey, Dana Mulholland. They showed me how to treat players and how to coach, and how you can be demanding but you can be kind. It was a great start for me."

The well-traveled Argast spent the 1981 campaign as an assistant at Princeton University before moving on to an assistant's role at U.S. Merchant Marine Academy from 1982-87. The Mariners were the Liberty Conference champions in his last two years at Kings Point.

Argast then transitioned to his alma mater, Colgate University, to serve as an assistant for 12 seasons (1988-99). The Raiders won Patriot League titles in both 1997 and 1999. He became a head coach at Canisius College from 2000-02, prior to an assistant position at Wagner in 2003. The next two seasons as an assistant (2004-05) were highlighted by Northeast Conference championships at Central Connecticut State University.

Argast continued on to Fordham University for the 2006-08 seasons, when he worked with current Bates offensive coordinator Custavious Patterson and helped the Rams capture the Patriot League crown in 2007.

Argast spent 2009-13 as an assistant at Columbia before he landed at Bryant University where he worked specifically as the recruiting coordinator, and on the field with the offensive line, fullbacks, and place kickers. For a period of three months at the conclusion of the 2016 season, he served as the Interim Head Coach at Bryant.

Prior to returning to Bates in 2020, Coach Argast became the third full-time staff member with the newly formed University of New England football program in June 2017, joining on as the offensive coordinator.

"UNE was a job I liked," Argast said. "But the opportunity to work with Coach Patterson again, I couldn't say no to that. He did a lot to get me back here, and I appreciate it. It just worked out, almost like the perfect storm."

Patterson is the senior associate head coach and offensive coordinator for the Bobcats. This is his fourth season with the program.

Patterson brings with him more than 19 years of coaching experience and a proven record of helping quarterbacks and receivers excel, including 14 years as an offensive assistant at the Division I (FCS) level. At Central Connecticut State University, Fordham University and Wagner College, Patterson has recruited and developed several All-NEC, All Patriot League Selections, Academic All-Conference and All-American performers. During his tenure at each institution, the teams were able to capture Northeast Conference and Patriot League titles.

In 2009 the Fordham offense finished 1st in the NCAA in total yards (488.9) per game, second in passing offense per game (337.9) and finished with 3,708 passing yards and 5,377 total Offensive yards on the season. At Wagner College in 2016 the WR unit helped the offense finish 1st in the NEC in total offense (423.2), second in passing yards (257.8) and scoring (29.7 avg.)

For the past six years, Patterson has had the distinction of serving as a head coach in the Dream Bowl, a college All-Star game held on Martin Luther King Day in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and featuring top FCS, D-II and D-III student-athletes. He is the only coach to lead teams in both the Dream Bowl and the HBCU Spirit of America Bowl All-Star Game. 

In his first season at Bates, Coach Patterson's offense ranked third in the NESCAC in red-zone efficiency (76%) and second in the conference in touchdown percentage per red-zone opportunity (71%).

In 2019, QB Brendan Costa '22 broke Bates' single-season total yardage record and Patterson is excited to work with him again.

"Brendan is one of the better players in the conference," Patterson said. "It's very nice to have him back, the kid that I've had the chance to work with over the last 36 months. We're very happy that he made a commitment to come back to Bates and finish his career the right way when he could have gone on and graduated and done something else with his life. But he wanted to come back and put Bates in a better position for the future going forward."

Keith Davis joined the Bates football coaching staff in 2019, following two seasons at Dickinson College, where he coached the defensive line and defensive backs. Bates promoted coach Davis to defensive coordinator and associate head coach for the 2021 season.

Prior to his tenure at Dickinson, Davis coached linebackers from 2013 to 2016 at his alma mater, Wagner College, right after earning his bachelor's degree in finance from the Staten Island, N.Y., institution. Coach Davis also earned his master's degree in finance from Wagner while coaching there.

Davis played two years at Wagner, earning All-Northeast Athletic Conference honors as a senior and playing in the FCS Senior Bowl. He was a team captain in both of his seasons with the Seahawks. Davis transferred to Wagner after playing for two years at Youngstown State University.

"I am very excited about the depth our defense has this year," Davis said. "Everyone, from the defensive line to the linebackers to the secondary, has been working their butts off. Scheme-wise, we have so many guys who can do different things, it's interchangeable. We can give teams a lot of different looks." 

Argast, Patterson and Davis are familiar faces. But the Bobcats also welcome three new coaches into the fold this year. 

Defensive line coach Tom Radulski brings head coaching experience to the table: he led the UMass-Lowell program from 1993-1996 and Sacred Heart University from 1997-1999. He also brings significant NESCAC experience to the Bobcats. Radulski served as the defensive coordinator and director of football operations at Bowdoin from 2000-2011. 

Most recently, Radulski was the head football coach at Hebron Academy, just down the road from Bates. Radulski graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1979 and served as a student coach with the Wildcats while in college. 

Linebackers coach Otha Yarborough graduated from Georgia State University with a degree in African American Studies in 2018. He was a student assistant while at Georgia State, helping the FCS program achieve a winning season his senior year in 2017. Then Yarborough was hired by Clark University in Atlanta, where he served as quarterbacks coach and video liaison from 2019-2021.  

Running backs coach Andrew Luongo is a 2021 graduate of UMass-Amherst, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Sport Management. This is his first collegiate coaching position, having spent four years teaching the fundamentals of the game at the youth level. 

The Bobcats may make an additional hire before the September 18 opener against Amherst. For now, Argast and company can't wait to see what the Bobcats can do after having not played since 2019.

"The team has impressed me with their attitude," Argast said. "They say attitude is everything. These kids take that to heart. They show up every day, a smile on their faces, ready to work their tails off, and then they go work their tails off. It's not just talk. If we keep having good practices and keep doing good things, good things are going to happen.

"They're an easy group to coach. I have a lot of respect for them, because it hasn't been easy for this group. We're looking forward to playing an opponent."