George Mesimer - Rodeo Coach

George Mesimer

Title:
Assistant Coach
Phone:
731-881-7426

Rodeo legend George Mesimer is in his second stint on the UT Martin rodeo coaching staff, serving as an assistant coach for the third straight season under Chase Thrasher in 2025-26.

Mesimer, who previously served as the program's third head rodeo coach in UT Martin history after serving as an assistant under Tony Coleman, was a standout under head coach NW "Doc" Robinson in college. Mesimer became the third UT Martin representative to win national championship honors when he earned that title in all-around cowboy in 1981, placing second in the NIRA Finals in bareback riding and bull riding. That same year, he won Ozark Region championships in bareback riding, saddle bronc riding and bull riding - earning the region's all-around cowboy title for the second consecutive season. Mesimer helped the UT Martin men's team claim Ozark Region titles in both the 1979-80 and 1980-81 campaigns, finishing fifth nationally in the latter year.

A Class of 1996 inductee into the UT Martin Rodeo Hall of Fame, Mesimer went on to rodeo professionally, winning PRCA Circuit Southeastern championships in bareback riding in 1981, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1988 and 1990. Those six bareback titles still stand as the most in PRCA history. He also wrapped up the 1981 and 1983 PRCA seasons with the highest bareback riding average on the circuit.

As UT Martin's head coach in 1996-97, Mesimer directed an Ozark Region championship for the men's squad and a second-place regional finish for the women's team. Both squads earned a trip to the College National Finals Rodeo and finished among the top-15 teams in the country for their gender. Mesimer oversaw a pair of Ozark Region champions in Ken Mason (bareback riding) and Travis Masters (saddle bronc riding). Mason is currently the head rodeo coach at Missouri Valley College who was inducted into the UT Martin Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2011, the same year he won National Coach of the Year accolades.