Banner Years & Tournament Tales-1974 East Texas State Basketball-A Fresh New Pair of Red Socks.
When Norman Pilgrim left Commerce after a decade at the helm with two LSC titles and two NAIA appearances, one of Pilgrim’s players, Phil Andrews took over for one season and the results was a 9-18 season. It was a time for the ET athletic department to look for a coach who was seasoned and…
Division I Diatribes: You’re A Lion First
Back in 2016, something happened that really showed me some of us Lions have a lot to learn when it comes to “fansmanship.” After a 5-0 start, the Lions faced the always tough Bill Maskill coached Midwestern State Mustangs. It was a game in Commerce on a beautiful fall evening and it was another big…
Call The Roll Podcast: State Of the Program: Women’s Basketball
Banner Years & Tournament Tales-1964 East Texas State Lions Basketball-Changing Times & Making History
Norman Pilgrim’s time as Head Basketball Coach at East Texas State can be described in one word: challenging. He had success, won conference championships, took his teams to the NAIA postseason and posted winning records. He was also in inadvertent party to some historical moments in not just program history, but college basketball history. After…
Call The Roll Podcast: State Of The Program: Football
Banner Years & Tournament Tales-1958 East Texas State Lions-A New Pilgrim Comes To Town
After 5 seasons, 4 conference championships, 3 trips to the NAIA basketball tournament, and a national title, Bob Rogers’ stock had risen in the coaching universe. He had become a hot commodity, and this led him to being named head basketball coach at Texas A&M University at the end of the 1957 season. The Lions…
Call The Roll Podcast: State of The Program: Volleyball
Call The Roll Podcast: A Stark(s) Takes on Roads, Rails, And The City of Commerce (And East Texas A&M University)
Banner Years & Tournament Tales-1957 East Texas State Basketball-The Rogers Era Ends
Every Coach, regardless of how good they are, has difficult or rough seasons. Sometimes they even happen after Championship seasons. For Lion Coach Bob Rogers, he was no exception to this happening. In his first three seasons, Rogers had won three straight Conference Championships, three straight NAIA District 4 Championships, and had gone to the…
Call The Roll Podcast: State of The Program: Women’s Soccer
Division I Diatribes: A Real Roadblock
Have you been on Interstate 30 lately? Chances are you have been. I haven’t and for good reason. How about Highway 380 between Denton and Greenville? Yep, sure have, and I have seen all I need to see. So, what does traffic have to do with our transition to being a Division I institution? Well,…
Banner Years & Tournament Tales-Champions At Last-1954-1955 East Texas State Lions Basketball
It takes a lot to be a Champion. A lot of games played, a lot of miles traveled, a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. Then, and only then, comes the treasure. For the East Texas State Lions, the 1950’s midpoint saw them make serious back to back runs in the NAIA National Tournament. Two…
Call The Roll Podcast-A Visit From Our Neighbor Olsen
Division I Diatribes: Give The Man His Flowers
Today it was announced that the late Mike Leach, the former head football coach at Texas Tech, Washington State, and Mississippi State, an innovator in college football and character persona number one in college football, would now be eligible to be in the College Football Hall of Fame. As someone who still is in absolute…
Banner Years & Tournament Tales Vol. 11-Still Elite-1954 East Texas State Lion Basketball
Bob Rogers first season in Commerce saw the Lions go the furthest they ever had as the reached the NAIA Final four, the first of 3 appearances in school history. After countless conference titles and NAIA tournament appearances, it was as ever a time to make another run at a national championship. It would hard…
Banner Years & Tournament Tales Vol.10-Championship Era Beginnings-1953 East Texas State Lions Basketball
In the early 1950’s Lion Basketball hit a bit of a rut. Milburn Smith, who would coach arguably the greatest Lion Football team ever in 1952, coached the Lion Basketball team to a 13-9 record in 1950, before taking over a Lion football program that would be dominant from 1951-1953 and then Jack Woodruff came…
Division I Diatribes-Dan R. Jones Court
When the news broke that the Texas A&M University system was going to finally approve the construction of a new events center that would host our Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams, along with the Volleyball program among other things, I was excited like to much of Lion nation. I also had some ideas that I…
Banner Years & Tournament Tales Vol. 9-The Golden Fifties Begins
Ask anyone who knows anything about what East Texas State College was like in the 1950’s and many will call it “The Golden Fifties.” In addition to becoming a full fledged State College and making a name for itself as an emerging regional educational power, but would end up being a major collegiate power in…
