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The Lone Star Conference (LSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the South Central states, with schools in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arkansas, with two members in the Pacific Northwest states of Oregon and Washington competing as affiliates for football only.
Bradley Todd Franchione is a former American football coach. He won two NJCAA National Football Championships as the head coach at Blinn College. He is the son of retired football coach Dennis Franchione.
David Edward Bailiff is an American football coach and former player. He was most recently the head coach at Texas A&M University–Commerce from 2019 to 2022; prior to that he was the head coach at Rice University in Houston, Texas from 2007 to 2017. During his tenure as head coach, the Rice Owls played in four bowl games, winning three of them, and won the 2013 Conference USA football championship, the first outright conference title for Rice in 56 years. He also coached at his alma mater, Texas State University, where he led the Bobcats to the NCAA Division I-AA National Semifinals in 2005.
Ronnie Lee Arrow is an American former college basketball coach who was most recently the head coach at the University of South Alabama.
Donald Ray Carthel is an American football coach. He is an assistant coach in charge special teams quality control at Stephen F. Austin State University. Carthel served as head football coach at Lubbock Christian College—now Lubbock Christian University—from 1981 to 1982, Eastern New Mexico University from 1985 to 1991, and West Texas A&M University from 2005 to 2012, compiling a career college football coaching record of 124–69–1. He is also the father of Stephen F. Austins' head football coach, Colby Carthel.
Ernest Ray Hawkins was an American football coach, basketball coach, and athletic director. He served as head football coach at East Texas State University—now known as Texas A&M University–Commerce—from 1964 to 1985, compiling a 132–92–6 record. He is the winningest head coach in Texas A&M–Commerce Lions football history and led the program to the NAIA Football National Championship in 1972.
The Texas A&M University-Commerce Lions are the athletic teams that represent Texas A&M University–Commerce, located in Commerce, Texas, in NCAA Division I intercollegiate sports. The Lions compete as members of the Southland Conference for all 12 varsity sports. Texas A&M University–Commerce previously played in the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference from 1931 to 2022.
Larry Lacewell was an American football player, coach, scout, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Arkansas State University from 1979 to 1989, compiling a record of 69–58–4. Lacewell was later the longtime director of scouting for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL).
Boyd Franklin "Cotton" Converse was an American college football and college basketball coach and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Wichita State University for one season in 1967, compiling a record of 2–7–1. Converse was also the head football coach at Paris Junior College in Paris, Texas from 1958 to 1961 and Kilgore College in iKilgore, Texas. At Kilgore, he led his 1966 team to the NJCAA National Football Championship. Converse was the athletic director at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College from 1972 to 1989.
Gary DeLoach is an American football coach and former player. He served as defensive coordinator at the University of North Texas (UNT) twice, from 2000 to 2002 and again from 2008 until 2010. Most recently, he was the assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Northwestern State University (NSU) in 2012.
Steve Campbell is an American football coach and former player. Campbell was the head football coach at the University of South Alabama from 2018 to 2020. Campbell has previously served as head football coach at Southwest Mississippi Community College from 1997 to 1998, Delta State University from 1999 to 2001, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College from 2004 to 2013 and the University of Central Arkansas from 2014 until 2017.
Randy Pippin is an American college football coach and former player. He is a senior analyst at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama, a position he has held since 2023. Pippin has served as head football coach at Trinity Valley Community College in Athens, Texas, from 1993 to 1995, Middle Georgia College, from 1998 to 2000, the University of West Alabama, from 2001 to 2003, and Northwest Mississippi Community College, from 2005 to 2007. He led his 1994 Trinity Valley valley team to an NJCAA National Football Championship.
Robert Blake Anderson is an American football coach and former player who is currently the head coach at Utah State University. Anderson previously served as the head coach at Arkansas State University from 2014 to 2020, the offensive coordinator at the University of North Carolina from 2012 to 2013, and the offensive coordinator, run game coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Southern Mississippi from 2009 to 2011.
The Texas A&M–Commerce Lions men's basketball team is the men's intercollegiate basketball program representing Texas A&M University–Commerce. The school competes in the Southland Conference (SLC) in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The team plays its home games at the University Field House on the university campus in Commerce, Texas. They are currently coached by Jaret von Rosenberg.
Nick Bobeck is an American football coach, who formerly served as the head football coach at the University of Central Oklahoma, and Navarro College, a junior college in Texas. In 2008, Bobeck received the NJCAA Coach of the Year honors after leading the Bulldogs to a 10–1 record. Bobeck's team followed that up two years later with the 2010 NJCAA National Football Championship.
Gary Howard is a former American football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Central Oklahoma—from 1977 to 2002, compiling a career college football record of 161–106–6, four NAIA playoff appearances, three NCAA Division II playoff appearances, two conference championships, and a national championship. He is winningest coach the history of the Central Oklahoma program.
The Texas A&M–Commerce Lions football team is the college football program representing Texas A&M University–Commerce. The school competes in the Southland Conference (SLC) in Division I FCS of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Prior to joining the Southland, they competed in the Lone Star Conference of Division II. The A&M–Commerce football team plays its home games at Ernest Hawkins Field at Memorial Stadium on the university campus in Commerce, Texas. On Dec. 16, 2017, A&M-Commerce won its first NCAA Division II national championship, by defeating West Florida, 37-27, in Kansas City. The Lions recorded a perfect record in 1934, won the NAIA National Championship in 1972, and have amassed a total of 24 LSC conference championships since joining as a charter member in 1931. On September 28, 2021, the university accepted an invitation from the Southland Conference, moving the university's athletics programs up to the NCAA Division I level. This ended a 90-year affiliation with the Lone Star Conference, as A&M-Commerce was the last founding member remaining. The football team will compete at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision level beginning in the 2022 season.
The C.H.A.M.P.S. Heart of Texas Bowl is the name of an American football bowl game played at three different locations in Central Texas since 2001, featuring teams from the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). Between 2012 and 2018, it was played as a doubleheader with an NCAA Division II postseason game, which was also known as the C.H.A.M.P.S. Heart of Texas Bowl.
Colby Don Carthel is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, a position he has held since December 2018. Carthel served as the head football coach at Texas A&M University–Commerce from 2013 to 2018, leading the 2017 Texas A&M–Commerce Lions football team to a NCAA Division II Football Championship title. Prior to his time as head coach, he was the defensive coordinator under his father, Don Carthel, at West Texas A&M University, from 2006 to 2012. Carthel played football at Angelo State University, where he was an all-conference linebacker.
Ross Hodge is an American college basketball coach, currently the head men's coach for the North Texas Mean Green men's basketball team.