A color photograph of Willie Fritz in a suit speaking at a podium
Willie Fritz served as the 14th head coach of the Sam Houston Bearkats from 2010 to 2013.

The Sam Houston Bearkats college football team represents Sam Houston State University as a member of Conference USA (C-USA). The Bearkats competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 15 head coaches since it began play during the 1912 season. Since January 2014, K. C. Keeler has served as head coach at Sam Houston.[1]

Since 1912, four coaches have led Sam Houston in postseason appearances: Paul Pierce, Ron Randleman, Willie Fritz, and Keeler. Four of those coaches also won conference championships: J. W. Jones captured one as a member of the Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association; Pierce captured four as a member of the Lone Star Conference; Randleman captured two as a member of the Gulf Star Conference; and Randleman captured three, Fritz two, and Keeler four as a member of the Southland Conference. The Bearkats also won national championships under Pierce in 1964 (NAIA) and under Keeler in 2020–21 (FCS).

Randleman is the leader in seasons coached and games won, with 131 victories during his 23 years with the program. Keeler has the highest winning percentage with .759, and Billy Tidwell has the lowest winning percentage with .274.

Key

Key to symbols in coaches list
General Overall Conference Postseason[A 1]
No. Order of coaches[A 2] GC Games coached CW Conference wins PW Postseason wins
DC Division championships OW Overall wins CL Conference losses PL Postseason losses
CC Conference championships OL Overall losses CT Conference ties PT Postseason ties
NC National championships OT Overall ties[A 3] C% Conference winning percentage
† Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame O% Overall winning percentage[A 4]

Coaches

List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected awards[A 5]
No. Name Season(s)
[A 6] 		GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT DC CC NC Awards
1 Sheldon R. Warner 1912–1913 9 5 3 1 0.611 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
2 Gene Berry 1914–1917
1919 		30 14 15 1 0.483 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
3 Mutt Gee 1920–1922 17 6 7 4 0.471 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
4 J. W. Jones 1923–1935 116 54 53 9 0.504 31 27 5 0.532 — — — — 1 0 —
5 Henry O. Crawford 1936–1937 19 7 12 0 0.368 1 7 0 0.125 — — — — 0 0 —
6 Puny Wilson 1938–1942
1946–1951 		105 50 49 6 0.505 18 27 3 0.406 — — — — 0 0 —
7 Paul Pierce 1952–1967 153 94 52 7 0.637 57 41 4 0.578 3 1 1 — 4 1 – 1964 —
8 Tom Page 1968–1971 42 20 19 3 0.512 15 15 2 0.500 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
9 Allen Boren 1972–1973 21 7 14 0 0.333 6 11 0 0.353 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
10 Billy Tidwell 1974–1977 42 11 30 1 0.274 10 22 0 0.313 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
11 Melvin Brown 1978–1981 41 13 28 0 0.317 8 20 0 0.286 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
12 Ron Randleman 1982–2004 259 131 125 3 0.512 62 75 2 0.453 3 4 0 — 5 0 —
13 Todd Whitten 2005–2009 53 25 28 — 0.472 16 17 — 0.485 0 0 — — 0 0 —
14 Willie Fritz 2010–2013 55 40 15 — 0.727 21 7 — 0.750 7 3 — — 2 0 AFCA FCS Coach of the Year (2011)
Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award (2012)
15 K. C. Keeler 2014–present 124 88 36 — 0.710 56 17 — 0.767 14 5 — — 4 1 – 2020–21 Eddie Robinson Award (2016)

Notes

  1. ^ Although the first Rose Bowl Game was played in 1902, it has been continuously played since the 1916 game, and is recognized as the oldest bowl game by the NCAA. "—" indicates any season prior to 1916 when postseason games were not played.[2]
  2. ^ A running total of the number of head coaches, with coaches who served separate tenures being counted only once. Interim head coaches are represented with "Int" and are not counted in the running total. "—" indicates the team played but either without a coach or no coach is on record. "X" indicates an interim year without play.
  3. ^ Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since.[3]
  4. ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[4]
  5. ^ Statistics correct as of the end of the 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
  6. ^ Sam Houston did not field teams in 1918 due to World War I and in 1943, 1944, and 1945 due to World War II.

References

  1. ^ Tresolini, Kevin (January 24, 2014). "Keeler heads to Texas". The News Journal. Retrieved February 25, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2011). Bowl/All-Star Game Records (PDF). Indianapolis, Indiana: NCAA. pp. 5–10. Archived from the original on August 22, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  3. ^ Whiteside, Kelly (August 25, 2006). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today. McLean, Virginia. Archived from the original on November 24, 2009. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
  4. ^ Finder, Chuck (September 6, 1987). "Big plays help Paterno to 200th". The New York Times. New York City. Archived from the original on October 22, 2009. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
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