The East Texas A&M Lions (formerly the East Texas State Lions and Texas A&M–Commerce Lions) are the athletic teams that represent East Texas A&M University, located in Commerce, Texas, in NCAA Division I intercollegiate sports. The Lions compete as members of the Southland Conference for all 12 varsity sports. East Texas A&M previously played in the Lone Star Conference from 1931 to 2022.
Sports sponsored Basketball Basketball Cross country Cross country Football Golf Golf Soccer Track and field† Softball Track and field† Volleyball
Men's basketball
Head Coach-Jaret von Rosenberg The men's basketball team has won almost 1,300 games in the program's history, 20 conference titles, and won the national championship during the 1954–1955 season. The team was featured as an opponent of Texas Western University's (now The University of Texas at El Paso) historic color barrier breaking team in the Walt Disney film Glory Road during the 1966 season. The game was shown as being played in Commerce as the arena it was shot in had very close resemblance to the University Fieldhouse, where the Lions play to this day. ETAMU continues to be one of the best programs in the Lone Star Conference for Men's Basketball.
Women's basketball
Head Coach-Valerie King ETAMU's Lady Lions Basketball made a run at a national championship in 2006–07, finishing in the NCAA Division II Elite 8. That same year, they won their first and to date, only conference championship.
Football
Head Coach-Clint Dolezel The Lions have had 18 coaches in the program's history, and in the spring of 2013 announced the 19th coach in the program's history, naming Colby Carthel, a former assistant coach at conference rival West Texas A&M University to be head coach. The Lions have to their credit five collegiate Bowl Victories, two conference division titles, 22 outright conference titles, and two national championships in 1972 and 2017. The program has produced many NFL players and had also produced an above average number of professional standouts for a school its size. The Lions play their home games at Ernest Hawkins Field at Memorial Stadium in Commerce, Texas. ETAMU is one of the few schools in the conference who has an on-campus stadium that is owned and operated by the school and not the city in which it resides. The 2015 season marked the 100th season that the Lions have been playing college football.
The first coach in the history of the program was Marion Mayo, who coached one season, winning two games and losing one. The first game ever played in program history was Commerce High School Vs. East Texas Normal College (then the name of ETAMU), played at Commerce City Park. Mayo only stayed for one season. The next coach was B.H. Miller, who like Mayo, coached for one season, winning one game, and losing one game. The following coaches would later come to Commerce to coach, none staying longer than five seasons. The program struggled for most of the first 16 seasons. The coaches in the early days were Johnny Garrity (1916–17, 5–6–1 record), E.M. Tipton (1919, 4–1–1 record), Cecil Cushman (1920, 2–5–1 record), Russell Jernigan, (1921–23, 9–15–1 record), Joe Murphy (1924–1928, 8–31–3 record), and Will Hill-Acker (1929–30, 2–13–1).
In 1931, the Lone Star Conference was formed. The teams competing in the conference were East Texas State (now East Texas A&M), North Texas State (now University of North Texas), Sam Houston State University, Southwest Texas State (now Texas State University), and Stephen F. Austin State University. Before ETAMU moved to Division I FCS in 2022, it was the only charter LSC member still in the conference and Division II; the other schools moved up to FBS status (North Texas and Texas State) or FCS (SFA and Sam Houston; the latter has since moved to FBS). J.W. Rollins became the head coach in 1931, the first year in the league. It would not take long before the Lions established themselves as an LSC elite team. The first conference title was captured with Rollins 1933 squad, and he repeated the task in 1934. Rollins left after the 1934 season, and Robert "Bob" Berry became the head coach. Berry was immensely successful, posting a 72–34–8 record. Berry did not coach during World War II, though the Lions fielded a team in the 1942 season, with Dennis Vinzant as the coach, posting a 4–3–1 record. The Lions did not field a team from 1943 to 1945 during World War II. After the war years, Berry came back to coach the Lions from 1946 to 1950, leaving as by far the best coach in program history up to that point, winning four conference championships, and in the short 1942 season which Vinzant coached, the Lions also won the conference, laying the foundation for the next 50 years.
When Berry left Commerce, Milburn Smith became the head football coach. Smith was incredibly successful, winning 30 games in 3 seasons, only losing twice, and tying once and winning three conference titles. He got the Lions invited to the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando, Florida twice, Smith's Lions blew out Tennessee Tech 33–0 in the 1953 game, and tied Arkansas State 7–7 the next year. Smith however, left Commerce and moved back to his home area of East Texas, deciding to coach at Longview High School in Longview, Texas despite his immense success on the college level.
After Smith left, Jules V. Sikes became the head coach after being the head coach at the University of Kansas. Sikes decided to take the job as he had coached basketball at East Texas State from 1931 to 1935 and the ETSU job was very much coveted. Sikes returned to Commerce, coaching from 1954 to 1963, winning 5 conference championships and two more Tangerine Bowl games in 1957 and 1958. Sikes also put together teams that were based on the T-Formation running attack. Much of the success was due to ETSU's powerful running game against teams that were faster but smaller, allowing the Lions to grind the games to low scoring but winning affairs. Sikes had amassed a 63–34–4 record before dying in the spring of 1964.
ETSU then named Assistant Head Coach Ernest Hawkins, a former standout athlete at Texas Tech University as head coach. Hawkins kept a run heavy offense and a punishing defense as his mode of operation, but also became the first Lion coach to incorporate somewhat of a passing game to complement the strong running game. Hawkins would win 132 games from 1964 to 1985. In 1972, Hawkins led the Lions to a national championship with a 10–2 record. The 1972 team featured future NFL professionals such as Harvey Martin, Autry Beamon, Kenneth Parks, and Will Cureton. Hawkins was quoted in 2011 as saying he believed that with the amount of talent on the field he had that Lions could "have beaten any Division I school that year, especially that day we won the national title." The Lions made another run at a national title in 1980 behind future NFL-All Pro Quarterback Wade Wilson. The Lions won the conference again and defeated the University of Central Arkansas in the national quarterfinal round, but lost in the national semi-final game narrowly to eventual national champion Elon College. In 1984, Alan Veingrad was named Lone Star All-Conference, Lone Star Offensive Lineman of the Year and received Division II and national strength & conditioning All-American honors.https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2206&dat=19850814&id=8qImAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ywEGAAAAIBAJ&pg=4980,3753949
Hawkins retired at the end of the 1985 season, and Eddie Vowell, the defensive coordinator, was named head coach. The Lions struggled in Vowell's first two seasons but then in Vowell's third year, the Lions returned to LSC contender status. In 1990 the Lions won the LSC for the 23rd time and went to the NCAA playoffs, beating Grand Valley State in the first round, but lost to perennial Division II power Pittsburg State University in the national quarterfinals. The 1991 season saw the Lions get revenge on Pittsburg State during the regular season, snapping the Gorilla's 56 game winning streak, and win the LSC for the last time. Expectations were raised higher and higher after every game and many believed the Lions were the best team in the nation. However, the Lions faced off with PSU in the NCAA quarterfinals again, and the Gorillas avenged their loss 38–28 en route to a national championship. Despite bowing out in the quarterfinals, the Lions finished as the second best team in the country in Division II.
In 1995 the Lions made the playoffs finishing second in the conference. The Lions received a tough first round draw against a Tim Walsh led Portland State Vikings team. Walsh was an offensive minded coach who had kept the Mouse Davis implemented a run and shoot offense at Portland. The Lions fell behind early, never having faced a passing team like Walsh's Vikings, but the Lions had a balanced offense and ended up losing in a shootout that caused the Vikings to keep their starters in the game to beat the Lions, 56–35. Vowell coached the Lions until the 1998 season, having one losing season in his final three years. He left Commerce with a 72–72 record. Vowell is credited with the immense success the Lions had in the late 1980s until mid-late 1990s.
In 1996, East Texas State University was renamed Texas A&M University–Commerce. The previous year, the Texas A&M University System had purchased the university due to the desire of the A&M Board to have a strong education and smaller business school in its system. The first year that the Lions played under the A&M–Commerce moniker, the Lions had a solid 1996 season, and had to win their final two games of the year to make the playoffs again. However, in the next to last game of the year against a very weak Angelo State University team, A&M–Commerce lost a shocker and were left out of the playoffs. Since 1996, the Lions have not won a conference championship outright nor gotten to the playoffs, leading the student body to calling it the "A&M Curse."
After Vowell retired, the school hired Eddie Brister, the former offensive coordinator at Stephen F. Austin State University as the new head coach. Brister only lasted five seasons in Commerce and had only won winning record. Brister's first two years saw the Lions play Division I FCS schools and Division II powers, but finishing above average in the Lone Star conference, then the next two years, Brister scheduled smaller schools and the Lions rolled to a 7–4 season, but did not finish well in conference play. In his final two seasons, the Lions won 3 games combined and for the first time in school history went winless in LSC play in 2003.
In 2004, President Keith McFarland named A&M–Commerce alumnus Scott Conley head coach. Conley had won a national championship on the junior college level with Trinity Valley Community College and had served as an assistant at major programs like The University of Texas, The United States Naval Academy, Texas A&M, University of Arkansas, and Rice University. Conley's first season was a rebuilding year, but was made easier by the incoming transfer of Buster Faulkner, an All-American Quarterback from Valdosta State University who led the Lone Star Conference in passing, throwing for almost 3,000 yards in a 10-game season. Conley had two straight 5–5 seasons, but the Lions were improving.