SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Missouri Southern Defensive Coordinator Joe Bettasso will receive a Missouri Sports Hall of Fame Elite 11s award, the organization announced Thursday.

The Elite 11s are awarded to individuals who were either All-State at a Missouri high school, earned recognition for a Missouri college football program or made significant contributions to the game. 

The honor will be formally announced at Missouri Sports Hall of Fame's upcoming Football Luncheon presented by the Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Company on Wednesday, Oct. 15 at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds. The luncheon is set for 11 a.m., CT.

Bettasso is in his eighth season as defensive coordinator for Missouri Southern.

Under his watch, the 2021 defense saw Richard Jordan, Jr., earn NCAA Division II All-American honors, with six earning All-MIAA. 

Bettasso started his coaching career for Missouri Southern as a student assistant and then graduate assistant. 

He then coached at McPherson College in Kansas for five seasons, including as head coach in the 2010 and 2011 seasons, and was an assistant at Quincy University (2012 & 2013) and McKendree College (2014 to 2016). His 2010 McPherson team earned a No. 6 national ranking in the NAIA after a school-record 10-win season. He was named as the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) and American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Region 4 Coach of the Year, having guided McPherson to the school's first KCAC championship since 1952 and the program's second NAIA Football Championship Series berth.

Bettasso was a standout for the Joplin Eagles in the late 1990s and early 2000s as a free safety. In 2000, he made 149 tackles and earned unanimous First Team All-Central Ozark Conference, and All-Southwest Missouri, plus Second Team All-Area by the Joplin Globe. 

He then went on to be a four-year letterman as a defensive back with Missouri Southern. 

In 2004, he paced the Lions with 8.5 tackles for loss as a junior, with the team's third-most tackles, and followed that with a team-leading two fumble recoveries and tackles for loss during his senior season of 2005.