List of Texas Southern Tigers head football coaches

A color photograph of Rod Paige in a suit and tie
Rod Paige served as the fifth head coach of the Texas Southern Tigers from 1971 to 1975.

The Texas Southern Tigers college football team represents Texas Southern University[A 1] as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). The Tigers competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. The program has had 16 head coaches and one interim head coach, since it began play during the 1947 season. Since January 2024, Cris Dishman has served as head coach at Texas Southern.[1]

Since their 1947 season, two coaches have led Texas Southern in postseason bowl games: Eolus Von Rettig and Alexander Durley. Three coaches have won conference championships: Durley won one as a member of the Midwest Athletic Association, and Durley and Johnnie Cole each won one, and Clifford Paul won two as a member of the SWAC.[A 2]

Durley is the leader in seasons coached, games played, and won, with 164 games and 101 wins, during his 16 years with the program. Alfred Benefield has the highest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.667. Steve Wilson has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with .091.

Key

Key to symbols in coaches list
General Overall Conference Postseason[A 3]
No. Order of coaches[A 4] 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 5] C% Conference winning percentage
† Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame O% Overall winning percentage[A 6]

Coaches

List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected awards[A 7]
No. Name Season(s) GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT CC NC Awards
1 Eolus Von Rettig 1947–1948 21 9 11 1 0.452 — — — — 1 0 0 — 0 —
2 Alexander Durley 1949–1964 164 101 55 8 0.640 47 26 3 0.638 1 3 1 2 0 —
3 Clifford Paul 1965–1969 49 27 18 4 0.592 22 10 3 0.671 0 0 0 2 0 —
4 Alfred Benefield 1970 9 6 3 0 0.667 4 2 0 0.667 0 0 0 0 0 —
5 Rod Paige 1971–1975 51 27 21 3 0.559 13 14 3 0.483 0 0 0 0 0 —
6 Wendell Mosley 1976–1978 33 11 20 2 0.364 5 11 2 0.333 0 0 0 0 0 —
7 Jim Sorey 1979–1980 22 5 17 0 0.227 3 9 0 0.250 0 0 0 0 0 —
8 Joe Redmond 1981–1983 32 9 21 2 0.313 4 16 0 0.200 0 0 0 0 0 —
9 Lionel Taylor 1984–1988 55 13 41 1 0.245 7 27 1 0.214 0 0 0 0 0 —
10 Wally Highsmith 1989–1993 55 19 34 2 0.364 12 20 2 0.382 0 0 0 0 0 —
11 William A. Thomas 1994–2003 108 50 58 0 0.463 32 37 0 0.464 0 0 0 0 0 —
12 Steve Wilson 2004–2007 44 4 40 — 0.091 4 30 — 0.118 0 0 — 0 0 —
13 Johnnie Cole 2008–2010 35 19 16 — 0.543 14 9 — 0.609 0 0 — 1 0 —
Int.
[A 8] 		Kevin Ramsey 2011 11 4 7 — 0.364 2 7 — 0.222 0 0 — 0 0 —
14 Darrell Asberry 2012–2015 43 12 31 — 0.279 9 27 — 0.250 0 0 — 0 0 —
15 Michael Haywood 2016–2018 33 8 25 — 0.242 7 17 — 0.292 0 0 — 0 0 —
16 Clarence McKinney 2019–2023 47 12 35 — 0.255 9 26 — 0.257 0 0 — 0 0 —
17 Cris Dishman 2024–present 0 0 0 — – 0 0 — – 0 0 — 0 0 —

Notes

  1. ^ Texas Southern University previously competed as the Texas State University for Negroes from 1947 to 1950.
  2. ^ In October 2012, the NCAA officially vacated all wins from the 2010 season as part of their penalties for playing ineligible players during the season. This resulted in the vacating of all nine victories and their SWAC championship under head coach Johnnir Cole.[2][3]
  3. ^ 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.[4]
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since.[5]
  6. ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[6]
  7. ^ Statistics correct as of the end of the 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season.
  8. ^ Ramsey served as interim head coach for the 2011 season after Johnnie Cole was fired in April 2011.[7]

References

  1. ^ "Texas Southern University Names Former NFL Star And Houston Oiler Cris Dishman As New Head Football Coach". SI.com. January 13, 2024. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
  2. ^ "NCAA hits Texas Southern with postseason bans". USA Today. Associated Press. October 9, 2012. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  3. ^ Turner, Ronnie (October 9, 2012). "Trophies taken away, but memories remain for TSU". Houston Chronicle. Chron.com. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  4. ^ National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2011). Bowl/All-Star Game Records (PDF). Indianapolis, Indiana: NCAA. pp. 5–10. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  5. ^ Whiteside, Kelly (August 25, 2006). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today. McLean, Virginia. Archived from the original on September 6, 2010. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
  6. ^ Finder, Chuck (September 6, 1987). "Big plays help Paterno to 200th". The New York Times. New York City. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
  7. ^ "Texas Southern fires Johnnie Cole". ESPN.com. Associated Press. April 1, 2011. Retrieved July 14, 2023.