Football
Willie Fritz is the head football coach (2010–present) at Sam Houston State University and was the 2011 American Football Coaches Association Coach of the Year and 2012 AFCA Regional Coach of the Year.
In 2011, Fritz's second year as head coach, the Bearkats were the only FCS school to have an undefeated regular season thus earning the team the a number one seed in the playoffs. The 2011 Bearkats were NCAA Division I National Championship Finalists, eventually losing to the North Dakota State Bison in the FCS National Championship game. They would return to the title game the following season, only to lose to the North Dakota State Bison again.
Every year, the “Battle of the Piney Woods" rivalry game is held between the SFASU Lumberjacks and the Bearkats. The Bearkats have dominated the rivalry for the past decade and own an all-time advantage in the football series 50-35-2, including 10 of the last 13.
The football team was previously coached by Todd Whitten, who played quarterback at rival institution Stephen F. Austin State University. Whitten's record at Sam was 25-28 overall. Whitten was released from his coaching duties on Nov. 23, 2009.
Whitten was preceded by Ron Randleman, who served as head coach at Sam Houston from 1982 to 2004. Randleman took over in the school's first year competing in NCAA Division II and four years later, the Bearkats moved up to Division I. He wasted no time in competing in Division I, leading the team to the playoffs in the school's first season in the NCAA's highest division in 1986. The next season, the Bearkats joined the Southland Conference. In the school's Division I history, the Bearkats have claimed 5 Southland Conference titles (1991, 2001, 2004, 2011, 2012) and 6 playoff appearances (1986, 1991, 2001, 2004, 2011, 2012). They have posted an overall Division I playoff record of 4-5. One of their most successful playoff run came in the final season of Randleman's coaching career in 2004 when the team made an appearance in the semifinals of the Division I playoffs. This was made possible by a remarkable 4th quarter comeback in the 2nd round at Eastern Washington when the Bearkats rallied from 20 points down and scoring the tying TD pass from Dustin Long to Jason Mathenia as time expired, winning the game on the PAT. This is still remembered as one of the greatest comebacks in Division I playoff football history.
The Bearkats also shared the NAIA national title with Concordia (MN) in 1964, when they finished the national championship game in a 7-7 tie.
In recent history, the football team has had considerable success with transfer quarterbacks transferring from Football Bowl Subdivision Schools (formerly I-A). In 1999, Chris Chaloupka transferred from Oklahoma State University. In 2001, Josh McCown transferred from Southern Methodist University. In 2004, Dustin Long transferred from Texas A&M University. In 2008 the team was led by senior QB transfer from the University of Oklahoma, Rhett Bomar. Bomar entered the 2009 NFL draft and was selected in the 5th round (151 overall) by the New York Giants. In 2009, University of Houston transfer Blake Joseph was the starting quarterback.
Read more about this topic: Sam Houston State Bearkats
Famous quotes containing the word football:
“...I’m not money hungry.... People who are rich want to be richer, but what’s the difference? You can’t take it with you. The toys get different, that’s all. The rich guys buy a football team, the poor guys buy a football. It’s all relative.”
—Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)
“In this dream that dogs me I am part
Of a silent crowd walking under a wall,
Leaving a football match, perhaps, or a pit,
All moving the same way.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“People stress the violence. That’s the smallest part of it. Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it there’s a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. There’s a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies stewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, there’s a satisfaction to the game that can’t be duplicated. There’s a harmony.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)