The Bearkats have 15 conference championships, and have seen postseason NCAA playoff action in 13 seasons, with back-to-back NCAA Division I Championship game appearances in 2011–2012.[6] Sam Houston State also has 3 bowl victories in four games, and one claimed National Championship from NAIA in the 1964 season.[7]
Head coaches
Ron Randleman is Sam Houston's and the Southland Conference's all-time winningest coach with 132 wins over a span of 23 years. Randleman also won conference Coach of the Year honors on four occasions, in the Gulf Star Conference in 1985 and 1986, and in the Southland Conference in 1991, and 2001.[8]
Paul Pierce coached the Bearkats to its only National Championship as a member of NAIA, and also won the 1965 Knute Rockne Little All-American Coach of the Year award.[9]
Willie Fritz coached Sam Houston to back-to-back conference championships and back-to-back national title game appearances in only three years, while being awarded the 2011 AFCA National Coach of the Year award and the 2012 Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year award. He was also named the 2012 AFCA Regional Coach of the Year.[10][11][12][13]
On January 23, 2014, former Delaware head coach K. C. Keeler was named the 15th head coach in Sam Houston program history. So far, he has arguably had the most success as a Sam Houston head coach boasting a .777 overall win percentage and a .736 playoff win percentage, in addition to winning a conference title four out of his eight seasons as head coach, and a Division I national championship in 2020. Sidenote: Keeler has only lost a home playoff game once in his entire career as a head coach.[2]
Sam Houston appeared in five bowl games during their time in the NAIA, going 3–0–1 in these bowl games, with the final one notably being for the NAIA championship.
The Bearkats' home for football was on Pritchett Field for 73 years (1912–1985) beginning with their first football game against Rice University in 1912. The field was named after Joseph Pritchett, brother of the university's fourth president Henry Carr Pritchett, and former owner of the land the field rests on.
The final football game played on Pritchett Field was a victory for the Bearkats with a score of 51–7, defeating Washburn University. Sam Houston Football began playing games at Bowers Stadium following the 1985 season. The complex is currently home to Sam Houston Women's Soccer and Club Lacrosse.[17]
On April 18, 2013,[18] football was played on Pritchett Field for the first time since 1985 for the annual Orange-White spring game. The event also included the presentation of the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award to head coach Willie Fritz.[12]
Bowers Stadium (1986–present)
Bowers Stadium in Huntsville, Texas. Home of the Sam Houston Bearkats football team.
Bowers Stadium, formerly Bearkat Stadium (1986–1989), is currently home to both Sam Houston Football and the Track and Field programs beginning with the 1986 season. Bowers Stadium has a capacity of 14,000. However, 16,148 fans packed Bowers Stadium in 1994 to watch Alcorn State led by NFL bound quarterback Steve McNair in a 48–23 SAM HOUSTON victory on regional ABC-TV.[19][20]
The Sam Houston/Stephen F. Austin rivalry game, also known as the Battle of the Piney Woods, is a yearly rivalry held at NRG Stadium in Houston. The two teams have met 91 times with Sam Houston leading the series 60–34–2. The Battle of the Piney Woods is Texas' second longest FCS rivalry. The most recent meeting ending with the Bearkats defeating the Lumberjacks 21–20 and clinching their 10th win in a row. However, the rivalry is now in question as Sam Houston left the Western Athletic Conference for Conference USA in 2023.
Texas State
Sam Houston's second longest rivalry (dating back to 1915) is Texas State University. The two teams held annual rivalry games in mainly football and basketball with Texas State boasting a 50–37–5 record in football (last game in 2011) and a 64–51 record in men’s basketball (last game in 2012). The two universities are in the same university system (sharing many similarities) and competed in the same athletic conferences until Texas State left the Southland Conference for the Western Athletic Conference in 2012, eventually ending up in the Sun Belt Conference only a year later in 2013. The football rivalry has since been renewed beginning in the 2024 season.
George Wright (1970–1972), DT, Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns
Individual awards
National awards
Sam Houston has had a total of 88 players selected into the College Football All-America Team, including 58 NCAA All-Americans and 30 NAIA All-Americans. A number of these players have also been considered for major national awards.[23] In 2016, quarterback Jeremiah Briscoe became the first Bearkat to win the Payton Award. In 2017 he became the first Bearkat to win two Payton Awards and only the second FCS player to win multiple Payton Awards after former Appalachian State quarterback Armanti Edwards became the first in 2009.
Sam Houston has had 407 All-Conference selections and honorable mentions, including 202 in the Southland Conference, 25 in the Gulf Star Conference, 173 in the Lone Star Conference, and 7 in the Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association.[24]
Player of the Year
Lanny Dycus, QB, Gulf Star (1985)
Chris Chaloupka, QB, Southland (1999)
Josh McCown, QB, Southland (2001)
Dustin Long, QB, Southland (2004)
Timothy Flanders, RB, Southland (2011 & 2012)
Jeremiah Briscoe, QB, Southland (2016)
Offensive Player of the Year
Chris Chaloupka, QB, Southland (1999)
D. D. Terry, RB, Southland (2006)
Richard Sincere, WR, Southland (2011)
Jared Johnson, QB, Southland (2015)
Yedidiah Louis, WR, Southland (2016)
Davion Davis, WR, Southland (2017)
Defensive Player of the Year
Keith Davis, DB, Southland (2000)
Darnell Taylor, S, Southland (2011 & 2012)
P.J. Hall, DE, Southland (2016)
Freshman of the Year
Bart Bradley, P, Gulf Star (1986)
Victor McKnight, C, Southland (1996)
Matt Dominguez, WR, Southland (1997)
P.J. Hall, DE, Southland (2014)
Nathan Stewart, WR, Southland (2016)
Newcomer of the Year
Tim Denton, DB, Southland (1995)
Chris Chaloupka, QB, Southland (1999)
Timothy Flanders, RB, Southland (2010)
Coach of the Year
Ron Randleman, Gulf Star (1986)
Ron Randleman, Southland (1991 & 2001)
Willie Fritz, Southland (2011)
K. C. Keeler, Southland (2016)
Individual program records
Rushing records
Most rushing attempts, career: 999, Timothy Flanders (2010–2013)
Most rushing attempts, season: 298, Timothy Flanders (2011)
Most rushing attempts, game: 39, Charles Harris vs North Texas (1993)
Most rushing yards, career: 5,664, Timothy Flanders (2010–2013)
Most rushing yards, season: 1,644, Timothy Flanders (2011)
Most rushing yards, game: 287, Timothy Flanders vs Montana (2011)
Most rushing touchdowns, career: 66, Timothy Flanders (2010–2013)
Most rushing touchdowns, season: 22, Timothy Flanders (2011)
Most rushing touchdowns, game: 5, Timothy Flanders (September 20, 2011, vs. New Mexico)
Longest rush from scrimmage: 90 yards, Charles Harris vs Rice (1993), Arthur Louis vs SFA (1978), Dennis Gann vs Texas A&I (1966)
Most games with at least 100 rushing yards, career: 30, Timothy Flanders (2010–2013)
Most games with at least 100 rushing yards, season: 10, Timothy Flanders (2012)
Most games with at least 200 rushing yards, career: 2, Charles Harris (1993), D. D. Terry (2006), Timothy Flanders (2011–2012)
Most games with at least 200 rushing yards, season: 2, Charles Harris (1993, D. D. Terry (2006)[25]
Passing records
Most passing attempts, career: 1,328, Jeremiah Briscoe (2015–17)
Most passing attempts, season: 579, Jeremiah Briscoe (2017)
