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 December 2018, Clarence McKinney 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.
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] |
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 | — |