SPRINGFIELD -- Missouri State football head coach Dave Steckel announced the recent hire of Stephen Bravo-Brown and Marty Spieler (pronounced SPEE-ler) to his coaching staff.
 
Bravo-Brown, who spent the last two years at Wake Forest, will coach wide receivers. Spieler will coach Missouri State's tight ends after serving as offensive coordinator at Florida A&M in his most-recent collegiate assignment.
 
"We are very excited about Stephen and Marty joining our staff and bringing a wealth of high-level experience to our program," said Steckel. "They are both outstanding individuals who know what it takes to recruit and develop players, and they know how to build a winning football program."
 
The new coaching tandem will fill positions vacated by departing staff members Sean Coughlin, Jerone Williams and Lanear Sampson. Current assistant coach Justin Kramer will move into the offensive line coaching role previously held by Coughlin, while Chris Morton will now oversee all defensive linemen including the defensive tackles Williams was responsible for.
 
Both hires are contingent upon final approval by the Missouri State University Board of Governors at its next scheduled meeting.
 
 
Stephen Bravo-Brown
 
Bravo-Brown is a 2014 graduate of South Florida where he earned his degree in Psychological Studies. He went on to earn postgraduate degrees from Eastern Illinois in 2015 and Wake Forest in 2018.
 
He served as a graduate assistant coach and worked with wide receivers at Wake Forest from 2017 to 2018 after joining the Wake Forest football program in 2016 as a coordinator of offensive quality control. The Demon Deacons went to three straight bowl games in that span with the 2017 team setting more than 100 team and individual records, including points scored (459), total offense (6,055 yards) and five of the top 10 offensive games in school history.
 
He began his coaching career at Waldorf University in Forest City, Iowa where he spent the 2015 season coaching the wide receivers and helped mentor a pair of all-conference standouts. He was also an assistant director of football operations and Eastern Illinois and later mentored the EIU running backs during spring football in 2016 before moving to Wake Forest.
 
Bravo-Brown was originally a walk-on wide receiver at South Florida who earned a scholarship and lettered for the Bulls for three seasons. He played in 31 games there and racked up 22 receptions for 259 yards. 

He used his fourth year of eligibility to play at Eastern Illinois where he caught 38 passes for 289 yards in 12 games and earned tryouts for the NFL Bears and Buccaneers. He also earned the OVC Medal of Honor in 2014 after serving as team captain and leading the Panthers to an appearance in the conference championship game.
 
A native of North Lauderdale, Fla., he played his high school football at St. Thomas Aquinas High School there where he was team captain as a senior and helped lead Aquinas to a 2007 Florida state title and 2008 high school national championship. He also ran track for Aquinas.
 
He and his fiancé Jasmine will be married in June.
 
 
Marty Spieler
 
Spieler is a 2004 graduate of Allegheny (Pa.) College where he earned a degree in Psychology in 2004. He went on to earn master's degrees from Georgia Southern (2006) and Cincinnati (2009).
 
He spent the 2018 season at Norwin High School in Pittsburgh, Pa., a Class 6A school, where he was tight ends and offensive line coach as well as a special teams consultant.
 
His broad range of experience made him an ideal fit at Florida A&M in Tallahassee where he served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2015-17. He helped lead the Rattlers to top-three rankings in the MEAC in scoring, passing, passing efficiency, third-down conversions and red zone scoring. He also served as the program's academic coordinator and was responsible for substantial improvements to the team's grade-point average and Academic Progress Rate (APR).
 
Spieler had another stint with FAMU head coach Alex Wood during their time at the University of Buffalo where he was the club's special teams coordinator from 2010-14, tight ends coach from 20010-13 and wide receivers coach in 2014. In 2014, his wide receiving group improved their production in catches, yards and touchdowns over the previous season, despite two fewer games and the departure of Buffalo's all-time receiving leader. He also mentored NFL free agent punter Jake Schum during his time at Buffalo.
 
From 2007 to 2009, Spieler was a member of the offensive staff for the University of Cincinnati, helping lead the Bearkats to a 33-7 record, a pair of Big East championships and two BCS Bowl appearances. He served as tackles and tight ends coach at his alma mater, Allegheny (Pa.) College from 2006-07, also handling assistant recruiting coordinator and video coordinator duties. He began his coaching career in 2004 at Georgia Southern University (2004-06), working as a defensive assistant, film supervisor and quality control coach for the Eagles' 2004 Southern Conference co-champions.
 
Spieler and his wife, Angela, have two children, Bryce and Riley.