2020
FCS national championship
Sam Houston caps an undefeated season with a 23-21 win over South Dakota State in the spring-2021 title game — the program's first national title
Program outlook
Program outlook
Sam Houston won an FCS national championship in 2020 and its first FBS bowl game in 2024. Then K.C. Keeler left for Temple, Phil Longo went 2-10, and Huntsville spent a year learning how much of the rocket ride was one man.
Read the full essay — 4 more paragraphs
The trajectory was remarkable while it lasted. Keeler took a Huntsville, Texas program from FCS champions in 2020 to major-college football by 2023 to a 10-3 bowl-winning team in 2024 — the New Orleans Bowl, 31-26 over Georgia Southern, the program's first FBS trophy. It was the fastest credentialing run in recent memory: four years from a national title at one level to a legitimate win at the next.
Then Keeler left for Temple. Phil Longo's first year in Huntsville produced a 2-10 record and a publicly reported culture crisis that made the offseason uncomfortable reading. The wins came over outmatched opponents; Conference USA opponents went 1-7 against the Bearkats. The fanbase fracture is clean: one faction believes the 2020 ring and the 2024 bowl prove the foundation is real and one bad year is noise; the other fears the program peaked the day its architect walked out.
The 2026 question is the only one that matters in Huntsville right now: does the championship DNA transfer, or was it portable — packed in Keeler's luggage on the way to Philadelphia? Programs that climb as fast as Sam Houston either find the next coach who fits, or they find out how thin the margin was. Longo's second year will begin to answer it.
Update (Nov. 2, 2026): Sam Houston fired Phil Longo on Oct. 28, with the Bearkats 1-7 this season and 3-17 overall in his time in Huntsville (1-11 in Conference USA). Associate head coach Eric Raisbeck and defensive coordinator Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay are the interim co-head coaches. The one win so far is 59-0 over Nicholls. Jacksonville State, Kennesaw State, Middle Tennessee and Florida International are the four games left.
On the field
Up-tempo and opportunistic — the Keeler-era identity was a relentless offense that pushed pace and a defense built to force turnovers, the combination that made the FCS-to-FBS jump work. Longo's air-raid background is a different system vocabulary, which helps explain the 2025 disruption: installing a new offensive identity at a program in transition is exactly as difficult as it sounds. The scheme is still being written in Huntsville, which is part of what 2026 is about.
Sam Houston has won 54% of its games since 1919 — 78% at home, 36% on the road.
164-139 all-time · 57 seasons · 1919–2026
Home
93-26
Away
56-100
Neutral
15-13
1 g
1910s
0%
1920s
9 g
1930s
3 g
1940s
1 g
1950s
3 g
1980s
0%
1990s
50%
2000s
74%
2010s
50%
2020s
The CFP era
13 seasons inside the CFP era, no bids yet — the era the program is still trying to break into.
Trajectory · quality-score line · AP rank dotted · CFP bids marked · coach regimes ribboned
Program quality
AP rank (inverted)
CFP appearance
Swipe left for earlier seasons
Sam Houston’s 2014–2026 record is 92-55.
Phil Longo
Phil Longo is in year 2. The methodology is taking shape.
Era Phil Longo · 2025–presentPrev: Brad Cornelsen (interim) (2024)OC: Zack PattersonPrev OC: Zack Patterson (2025)DC: Freddie Aughtry-LindsayPrev DC: Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay (2025)
2
years · era
Moments in Sam Houston history
- Sam Houston 21, Oregon State 17Nov 8, 2025
- Jacksonville State 29, Sam Houston 27Oct 9, 2025
- Sam Houston 23, Kennesaw State 17Nov 16, 2024
What this program never forgets
Most weeks vanish. These didn’t.
2024
First FBS bowl win
A 31-26 New Orleans Bowl win over Georgia Southern in just the second FBS season — the trophy that said the jump worked
2025
Keeler leaves for Temple
The coach who built the championship and the FBS leap departs; the Longo era opens 2-10 amid a culture crisis
Wound
Moment of the year · 2026
Lost 14-49 at Texas Tech
Week 4 of 2026. A reckoning loss — the data point the next season must answer.
2022–2022
Sam Houston has sent 1 player to the NFL Draft since 2022 — none in the first round.
Thin. Roster development still maturing.
1
picks · 0 in round 1
#157
Zyon McCollum
Cornerback · 2022 · 
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
#196 all-time in draft picksthe talent factory →
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Ladder finish
Season standing · 2026 · 1-7
Season standing · 2026 · 1-7Sam Houston is 1-7 — below .500 in FBS.
Below .500 in FBS play. The rebuild bar.
FBS sub-.500
Sub-FBSBuildingBowlRankedContenderPlayoff
Conference
Conference USA standing · 2026
10th in the Conference USA
Sam Houston is 10th of 10 in the Conference USA at 0-4. The path to the title is steep — the focus is on bowl access and rivalry wins.
| # | Program | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacksonville State | 4-0 |
| 2 | Liberty | 4-0 |
| 3 | Delaware | 2-2 |
| 4 | Middle Tennessee | 2-2 |
| 5 | Missouri State | 2-2 |
| 6 | New Mexico State | 2-2 |
| 7 | Western Kentucky | 2-2 |
| 8 | Florida International | 1-3 |
| 9 | Kennesaw State | 1-3 |
| 10 | Sam Houston | 0-4 |
Coaching history
Coaching history
- Hired Phil Longo
- Hired Brad Cornelsen (interim)
- K.C. Keeler departs
- Brad Cornelsen departs (interim)
- Hired K.C. Keeler
Coordinator lineage
Sam Houston’s offense and defense, by coordinator
FBS-relative efficiency percentile per season (2014–2026), same population as the Coordinator Mirror board. Dashed vertical lines mark a coordinator change.
Offense2023–2026
2023–2024 · Brad Cornelsen2025 · Zack Patterson2026 · Zack Patterson
Defense2023–2026
2023 · Clayton Carlin (co) / Joe Morris (co)2024 · Skyler Cassity2025 · Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay2026 · Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay
Elite (≥70th pct)AveragePoor (≤30th pct)
Gameday customs
Rituals
Three gameday rituals — the ones outsiders never quite catch.
2020 FCS National Championship
since 2020
more
K.C. Keeler's 2020 FCS national championship — won in the COVID-shifted spring 2021 playoffs — is the program's all-time peak. Sam Houston went 10-0 + beat South Dakota State 23-21 in the title game. The championship cemented Keeler's reputation + opened the FBS reclassification path that completed in 2023.
2023 FBS Reclassification + Conference USA Entry
since 2023
more
Sam Houston's 2023 FBS reclassification (from FCS) + Conference USA entry was the most-recent FCS-to-FBS-conference ascent in CFB. The transition opened the door to bowl eligibility + national TV exposure + recruiting upside. The 2024 8-4 second-season result confirmed the program's competitive viability at the higher tier.
K.C. Keeler Era (2014-2024)
since 2014
more
K.C. Keeler's 2014-2024 tenure — coming from Delaware where he won the 2003 FCS championship — was the program's defining modern era. Three FCS national title appearances + the 2020 championship + the 2023 FBS transition + sustained competitive cycles. Keeler's longevity + the FCS-to-FBS-conference ascent make him a unique-in-CFB head-coach résumé. He left after the 2024 season; Phil Longo has been head coach since 2025.
Cultural identity
Bowls
Recent postseason (2014-2024): 3-3
Most recent: 2024 New Orleans Bowl — win 31-26. Last 5 postseason: 3-2.
2024 WReddit blowups
r/CFB moments
1.4k
[Postgame Thread] Sam Houston Defeats South Dakota State 23-21
285
[Game Thread] South Dakota State vs. Sam Houston (2:00PM ET)
248
[Postgame Thread] Montana State Defeats Sam Houston 42-19
219
[Postgame Thread] FIU Defeats Sam Houston 33-27 (2OT)
186
[Postgame Thread] BYU Defeats Sam Houston 14-0
All-time top community posts
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