In Commerce, Texas, Colby Carthel had brought Championship Football back to Commerce. His first season established a winning culture. The second season overlapped winning and championship cultures. The third season was all about winning and going to the next level, competing for the playoffs. The fourth season would be about competing IN the playoffs, and…

After the breakthrough season of 2014, expectations for 2015 were measured and tempered based on what the Lions had coming back and what they had lost. Two of their best wideouts had gone to the NFL along with their starting tailback. Though there was bevy of talent waiting in the wings, the Lion faithful were…

After the 2009 season, expectations were high that Guy Morriss would be the man to lead TAMUC Football back to what it once had been. In the Spring of 2010, Memorial Stadium received it’s largest renovation and expansion ever. Safeplay turf had been installed in 2006 and the track had been resurfaced, but the renovation…

In the late 2000’s, A&M-Commerce Football showed some signs of life and positive movement. After the 2007 season, winning was not just going for average anymore, but the athletic department tried to take an approach of making things “big time” in Commerce. Calling it the “Restore the Roar” campaign, Carlton Cooper, the new athletic director…

In 1996, the Texas A&M University System bought East Texas State University. The institution had fallen on hard times from an enrollment standpoint and the school was quickly becoming an afterthought to many future college students. Most of the students from the Metroplex and the surrounding North Texas area were deciding to go to schools…

1985 was the end of an era, the Ernest Hawkins era. The man waiting in the wings was a 38 year old tough as nails defensive coach from Oklahoma named Eddie Vowell. Having been with the program for 5 years, Vowell knew the program well and had earned the respect of the team and the…

The early 1980’s saw the Lions of East Texas State have a solid run of winning seasons. After the 1980 run, the Lions went 7-4 in 1981 and 6-4 in 1982. 1982 was a season that had given ET fans a preview of the season to come. ET and the rest of the LSC had…

1980 was an odd year. Changes were on the horizon for the teams of the Lone Star Conference, in fact, many of them had been looming for a while. Two members of the LSC, Southwest Texas State and Texas A&I, had joined the NCAA and left the NAIA. The rest of the members of the…

23 Texas A&M-Commerce Teams can call themselves conference champions, 3 more can call themselves Division Champions, 4 can call themselves Bowl Champions, but only one call itself a National Champion, and it was the 1972 Lions. In the previous 2 seasons, Ernest Hawkins squad had gone 12-12 from 1970-1971, so expectations were not particularly high…

In his 5th season as the head coach at East Texas State, Ernest Hawkins had brought the Lions back from mediocrity to being LSC contenders. Having won his first title in 1966 and followed with a 7-2-1 season in 1968, things were looking up for the 1969 season. Hawkins said prior that season there “was…

Many coaches who take over programs do so under situations that are not ideal. For Ernest Hawkins, taking over for the East Texas State Lions came in a hard time not only for the Football team, but for the entire nation as well. At the beginning of the 1960’s, the Lions were not the dominant…

The 50’s were truly golden for the ET Lions. Prior to the start of the 1959 season, ET had reached a position of national prominence. Since 1951 The Lions had won 8 Conference Championships, 3 Tangerine Bowls, and had notched 4 seasons with at least 10 wins. Firmly one of the best in the NAIA,…

At the start of the 1958 season, expectations were high for the ET Lions. They had won the conference outright, brought home a Tangerine Bowl Title and had double digit wins.  They were also returning an All-American Quarterback that was leading an offense that was almost as potent passing as it was running and featured…

After 3 years as Head Football Coach at East Texas State College, J.V. Sikes had won a share of two conference titles and had two winning seasons, but after a disastrous 1956 season where the Lions went 2-8, he decided that the attention needed to be on revamping the offense. Sikes was a running coach,…

J.V. Sikes had navigated a tough schedule and pulled out a tie for the LSC Championship during the 1954 season. The Lions of ET were going to face an even tougher year in the 1955 season. The team was top-heavy with many Seniors and many true Freshman that would be playing. It would be as…

At the conclusion of the 1953 season, Milburn Smith, who had won 30 games and won 29 of them in a row, decided to leave the collegiate ranks and return to East Texas to coach at Longview High School. The decision was just as much of a head scratcher then as it would be now.…