Missouri Valley College rodeo coach Ken Mason, a 23-year veteran who has built a program that has seen countless successes and champions, has stepped down to take a similar position at his alma mater, University of Tennessee-Martin. Assistant Coach John Young has been promoted to the position of head coach.

Mason is a hall of famer at UT-Martin, inducted in 2011. He was the Ozark Region champion bareback rider there in 1995 and 1997, and he qualified for the College National Finals Rodeo (CFNR) in those years. UT-Martin is the only collegiate rodeo program in Tennessee, and won the men’s national CFNR team title in 2014. Mason and his wife, Kari, will head to Martin, Tennessee, where he graduated with a business degree in 1998.

Young, who has recruited many of the athletes on the current Valley rodeo team, takes over the program immediately as only the sixth coach in history. Young is completing his second year at MVC. Prior to arriving at Missouri Valley, he spent four seasons as an assistant coach at Iowa Central. Prior to his time in coaching, he was an experienced bull rider at the youth, collegiate, and professional levels. He is a three-time Iowa High School Rodeo state champion as a bull rider, and a four-time national high school rodeo qualifier.

Young qualified for the CFNR twice and finished sixth in the nation in bull riding in both 2012 and 2013. Professionally, he competed in nine Great Lake Circuit Finals, and won the year-end championship in 2012, 2015, and 2022. In 2013, he was the Ram National Circuit Finals Bull Rider Champion.