List of Sam Houston State Bearkats football seasons

This is a list of seasons completed by the Sam Houston Bearkats football team. The Bearkats compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) as a member of Conference USA. Sam Houston's first football team was fielded in 1912. The team plays its home games at the 12,593-seat Bowers Stadium in Huntsville, Texas.

Sam Houston has two national championships in their history, the first coming in 1964 as a member of the NAIA. The most recent title was in the 2021 spring season when Sam Houston defeated South Dakota State 23–21 in the NCAA Division I FCS national championship game.

The head coach of the Bearkats is K. C. Keeler, who has led the team since 2014. Keeler guided the Bearkats to six postseason appearances and is the all-time winningest head coach in FCS playoff history. The Bearkats were members of FCS (formerly I-AA) from 1984 to 2022, before moving up to join the FBS in 2023.

Seasons

Legend
† National champions   ^† Conference champions    ^ Bowl game berth / playoff result

List of Sam Houston Bearkats football seasons^[1]

Season	Team	Head coach	Conference	Regular season results							Postseason results	Final ranking
				Overall			Conference				Bowl game/Playoff result	AP/NCAA Poll	Coaches' Poll
				Win	Loss	Tie	Win	Loss	Tie	Finish
Sam Houston Normal
1912	1912	S. R. Warner	Independent	2	2	0					—	—	—
1913	1913			3	1	1					—	—	—
1914	1914	Gene Berry		3	2	0					—	—	—
1915	1915			5	1	1					—	—	—
1916	1916			5	2	0					—	—	—
1917	1917			1	3	0					—	—	—
1918				No team due to World War I
1919	1919			0	7	0					—	—	—
1920	1920	Mutt Gee		1	3	2					—	—	—
Sam Houston Normal Bear Cats
1921	1921	Mutt Gee	Independent	3	1	2					—	—	—
1922	1922			2	3	0					—	—	—
Sam Houston State Bearkats
1923	1923	J. W. Jones	Independent	4	4	0					—	—	—
1924	1924		TIAA	2	5	1	2	3	1	4th	—	—	—
1925	1925			5	4	0	2	4	0	5th	—	—	—
1926	1926			5	2	1	4	1	0	2nd	—	—	—
1927	1927			4	4	1	3	2	1	3rd	—	—	—
1928	1928			5	5	1	5	3	0	4th	—	—	—
1929	1929			5	3	1	3	1	1	3rd	—	—	—
1930	1930^†			9	1	0	5	0	0	1st^†	—	—	—
1931	1931			4	5	0	3	2	0	4th	—	—	—
1932	1932		Lone Star	2	5	1	1	3	0	3rd	—	—	—
1933	1933			3	4	2	1	2	2	5th	—	—	—
1934	1934			3	4	2	2	3	0	4th	—	—	—
1935	1935			3	6	0	0	5	0	6th	—	—	—
1936	1936	Henry O. Crawford		2	7	0	1	4	0	5th	—	—	—
1937	1937			5	5	0	3	3	0	4th	—	—	—
1938	1938	Puny Wilson		8	2	0	5	1	0	2nd	—	—	—
1939	1939			6	2	2	4	1	1	2nd	—	—	—
1940	1940			8	2	0	5	1	0	2nd	—	—	—
1941	1941			2	7	1	2	3	0	4th	—	—	—
1942	1942			5	3	0	3	1	0	2nd	—	—	—
1943				No team due to World War II
1944
1945
1946	1946			6	2	1	3	1	1	2nd	—	—	—
1947	1947			3	6	0	1	4	0	5th	—	—	—
1948	1948			0	9	1	0	4	0	5th	—	—	—
1949	1949			3	7	0	0	4	0	5th	—	—	—
1950	1950			5	5	0	2	2	0	3rd	—	—	—
1951	1951			4	4	1	1	2	1	3rd	—	—	—
1952	1952	Paul Pierce		6	4	0	3	2	0	3rd	Won 1952 Shrimp Bowl vs. Northeastern State (OK), 41–20 ^	—	—
1953	1953			9	1	0	4	1	0	2nd	Won 1953 Refrigerator Bowl vs. College of Idaho, 14–12 ^	—	—
1954	1954			6	4	0	2	3	0	4th	—	—	—
1955	1955^†			6	1	2	4	1	1	1st^†	—	—	—
1956[a]	1956^†			10	0	0	6	0	0	1st^†	Won 1956 Refrigerator Bowl vs. Middle Tennessee State, 27–13 ^	—	—
1957	1957			3	5	1	2	3	1	4th	—	—	—
1958	1958			7	3	0	4	2	0	2nd	Lost 1958 Christmas Festival Bowl vs. Northwestern State, 11–18 ^	—	—
1959	1959			5	5	0	3	4	0	5th	—	—	—
1960	1960			3	6	0	2	5	0	6th	—	—	—
1961	1961^†			8	1	0	7	0		1st^†	—	—	—
1962	1962			5	3	1	4	2	1	3rd	—	—	—
1963	1963			4	3	1	2	3	1	4th	—	—	—
1964	1964†			9	1	1	5	1	0	1st^†	Tied 1964 Championship Bowl vs. Concordia, 7–7 ^	2	9
1965	1965			4	6	0	1	5	0	6th	—	—	—
1966	1966			6	3	1	4	2	1	3rd	—	—	—
1967	1967			3	6	0	1	6	0	7th	—	—	—
1968	1968	Tom Page		5	4	1	4	3	1	4th	—	—	—
1969	1969			3	6	1	3	4	1	4th	—	—	—
1970	1970			8	2	1	7	2	0	2nd	—	T-20[b]	—
1971	1971			4	7	0	3	6	0	5th	—	—	—
1972	1972	Allen Boren		5	6	0	4	4	0	4th	—	—	—
1973	1973			2	8	0	2	7	0	7th	—	—	—
1974	1974	Billy Tidwell		4	7	0	4	5	0	5th	—	—	—
1975	1975			3	8	0	3	6	0	6th	—	—	—
1976	1976			3	5	1	2	5	0	6th	—	—	—
1977	1977			1	10	0	1	6	0	7th	—	—	—
1978	1978	Melvin Brown		6	5	0	4	3	0	3rd	—	—	—
1979	1979			1	9	0	0	7	0	8th	—	—	—
1980	1980			3	7	0	2	5	0	6th	—	—	—
1981	1981			2	8	0	2	5	0	6th	—	—	—
1982[c]	1982	Ron Randleman		3	8	0	1	5	0	8th	—	—	—
1983	1983			4	7	0	1	6	0	7th	—	—	—
1984[d]	1984		Gulf Star	8	3	0	3	2	0	2nd	—	—	—
1985	1985^†			8	3	0	4	1	0	1st^†	—	—	—
1986	1986^†			9	3	0	3	1	0	1st^†	NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs — First Round ^	11	—
1987	1987		Southland	8	3	0	5	1	0	2nd	–	19	—
1988	1988			3	8	0	0	6	0	7th	—	—	—
1989	1989			3	8	0	2	4	0	5th	—	—	—
1990	1990			4	7	0	3	3	0	3rd	—	—	—
1991	1991^†			8	3	1	5	2	0	1st^†	NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs — First Round ^	12	—
1992	1992			6	3	2	3	3	1	3rd	—	—	—
1993	1993			4	7	0	2	5	0	5th	—	—	—
1994	1994			6	5	0	1	5	0	5th	—	—	—
1995	1995			5	5	0	2	3	0	3rd	—	—	—
1996[e]	1996			4	7		3	3		3rd	—	—	—
1997	1997			5	6		3	4		4th	—	—	—
1998	1998			3	8		1	6		8th	—	—	—
1999	1999			6	5		4	3		4th	—	—	—
2000	2000			7	4		4	3		4th	—	—	—
2001	2001^†			10	3		5	1		1st^†	NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs — Quarterfinals ^	7	—
2002	2002			4	7		2	4		5th	—	—	—
2003	2003			2	9		1	4		4th	—	—	—
2004	2004^†			11	3		4	1		1st^†	NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs — Semifinals ^	4	—
2005	2005	Todd Whitten		3	7		2	4		5th	—	—	—
2006	2006			6	5		4	2		2nd	—	—	—
2007	2007			7	4		5	2		2nd	—	—	—
2008	2008			4	6		2	5		6th	—	—	—
2009	2009			5	6		2	4		5th	—	—	—
2010	2010	Willie Fritz		6	5		4	3		3rd	—	—	—
2011	2011^†			14	1		7	0		1st^†	NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs – National Championship Game ^	2	2
2012	2012^†			11	4		6	1		1st^†	NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs – National Championship Game ^	2	2
2013	2013			9	5		4	3		3rd	NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs — Second Round ^	14	13
2014	2014^†	K. C. Keeler		11	5		7	1		1st^†	NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs – Semifinals ^	6	6
2015	2015			11	4		7	2		2nd	NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs — Semifinals ^	3	4
2016	2016^†			12	1		9	0		1st^†	NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs — Quarterfinals ^	5	5
2017	2017			12	2		8	1		2nd	NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs — Semifinals ^	4	3
2018	2018			6	5		5	4		4th	—	—	—
2019	2019			7	5		6	3		4th	—	—	—
2020[f]	2020†			10	0		6	0		1st^†	NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs — Champions ^	1	1
Sam Houston Bearkats
2021	2021^†	K.C. Keeler	WAC	11	1		5	0		1st^†	NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs — Quarterfinals ^	5	4
2022[g]	2022			5	4		0	0			—	—	—
2023[h]	2023		C-USA	3	9		2	6			—	—	—
Totals				All-time: 564–486–36 (.536)			Conference: 309–285–16 (.520)				Postseason: 28–13–1 (.679)

Notes

1. Sam Houston State was classified as an NAIA program, which began sponsoring football in 1956.
2. Ranking from the 1970 small college poll.
3. Sam Houston State joined the NCAA in 1982 as a Division II program.
4. The Bearkats moved up to NCAA Division I-AA (now FCS) status in 1984.
5. Overtime rules were added for NCAA football in 1996, thereby eliminating ties.
6. The Fall 2020 Southland football season was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with league play resuming in a shortened Spring 2021 season.
7. Sam Houston was ineligible for the WAC championship and FCS postseason due to their FBS transition. They played a WAC schedule but their games did not count in the conference standings.
8. Sam Houston moved up to the Division I FBS ranks in 2023 as a member of Conference USA.

References

1. "Sam Houston Football Record Book" (PDF). GoBearkats.com. Retrieved December 12, 2023.