SMU Athletics

Xavier Garcia is in his first season (2022) as a defensive graduate assistant on the Hilltop.

Prior to arriving in Dallas, he spent the 2020 and 2021 seasons at Temple, where he served in the same role. During his time with the Owls, he helped coached a productive defensive line which included second team All-AAC defensive end Arnold Ebiketie.   

Garcia spent time at Central Oklahoma, where he served as a defensive line graduate assistant in the fall of 2019. In the spring of 2019, Garcia was the defensive line coach at Fort Scott Community College in Kansas.

In the fall of 2018, Garcia served as the defensive line graduate assistant at Angelo State (Texas), where he helped coach Harlon Hill finalist and Gene Upshaw Award winner Markus Jones. He began his coaching career in the fall of 2017, when he coached linebackers at New Mexico Military Institute Junior College.

Garcia played defensive end at Eastern Kentucky (2016-17) under former Temple and current Cincinnati defensive line coach Walter Stewart.

Garcia is a native of Austin, Texas, and earned his bachelor’s degree in general studies from EKU. He is pursuing a master’s in higher education at SMU.