Roger Hinshaw, who has been with the HCU football program since its beginning in 2012, serves as the program’s linebackers coach. He heavily recruited the Houston area as an assistant at Rice and Lamar and has helped build a legacy of standout linebackers for the Huskies.
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Hinshaw coached one of the nation’s best linebackers from 2021-23 in Rodney Dansby. Dansby averaged 11 tackles per game across three seasons, earning third team all-America honors and sophomore all-America honors in 2022 and freshman all-America laurels in 2021. Additionally, Dansby earned all-Southland Conference recognition each year.
HCU boasted one of the most prolific linebacker duos in the nation in 2019, with Brennan Young leading the Southland Conference and ranking fifth nationally in tackles per game to earn HERO Sports Sophomore All-America honors, while junior Caleb Johnson ranked second in the league and 10th nationally in tackles per game. Young was also an academic all-conference selection.
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In 2018, Langston Tunson earned all-conference honors, leading the Southland Conference and ranking fourth nationally with 12.2 tackles per game, while Caleb Johnson also recorded more than 100 tackles on the season. Tunson also made the Southland All-Academic Team.
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Hinshaw previously worked with the defensive ends and helped Josh Jones rank among the top five in the Southland Conference with 5.5 sacks in 2014. He was the defensive coordinator at Lamar in 2010, after one season director of operations at Duke. He served as an assistant coach under Ken Hatfield for 23 years at Air Force (1983), Arkansas (1984-89), Clemson (1990-93) and Rice (1994-2005) with a combined record of 138-101-3, 10 bowl appearances and four conference championships.
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While coaching the defensive backs at Rice in 11 of his 12 seasons, Hinshaw saw six players earn all-conference honors seven times. In 1990, the Clemson defense ranked first in the country in total defense and outside linebacker Levon Kirkland was a finalist for the Butkus Award and the following season, the Tigers ranked fourth in total defense and Kirkland earned All-America accolades. During four of his six years at Arkansas, the Razorbacks ranked among the top 20 in total defense.
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Hinshaw earned a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education from Appalachian State in 1972 and was a graduate assistant for the Mountaineers until earning his Master’s degree in physical education in 1974. He began his coaching career at Watauga High School in Boone, North Carolina, then moved to Georgia were he was an assistant coach at Newton County High School (1975-77) and Newnan High School (1978). Hinshaw moved to Alabama and was the secondary coach for one year, then the defensive coordinator for three years at the University of West Alabama.
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Hinshaw and his wife, Lynn, have three daughters, Beth, Lindsey and Jamie, and two sons-in-law, Ryan and Dane. Roger and Lynn also have five grandchildren: Ansley, Caleb, Riley, Reese and Jaxon.
