Seating capacity 22,000 Website tsuball.com Head coach Michael Haywood First season 1947 | Field surface Natural grass Colors Maroon and Gray Arena/Stadium BBVA Compass Stadium Division Division I (NCAA) | |
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The Texas Southern Tigers is the college football team representing Texas Southern University, a historically black university (HBCU) in Houston. The Tigers play in the NCAA's Division I FCS as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), a conference whose members are all HBCUs. In 2012, the Tigers moved into the new BBVA Compass Stadium, built for the city's Major League Soccer team, the Houston Dynamo. It replaced the Alexander Durley Sports Complex as the home of Tiger football. On December 3, 2015, Houston native Michael Haywood was hired as the Tigers' 16th all-time head coach.
Contents
- Classifications
- Conference memberships
- Labor Day Classic
- Texas State Fair Football Showdown
- TV Broadcasting
- SWAC Champions
- Alumni in the NFL
- 2012 NCAA sanctions
- References
Classifications
Conference memberships
Labor Day Classic
The Tigers compete against the Panthers of Prairie View A&M in the Labor Day Classic for the Durley-Nicks Trophy. The popular football rivalry began in 1946 but the classic was created in 1985.
Texas State Fair Football Showdown
Texas Southern University agreed to a major deal with the city of Dallas and the Texas State Fair to play the Southern University Jaguars in Dallas in 2018 and 2019. The game will take place in October in the Cotton Bowl Stadium during the Texas State Fair.
TV Broadcasting
In August 2015, Texas Southern signed a deal with Root Sports Southwest to televise all home football games. The cable channel broadcasts in five states which helps with recruitment and exposure for the athletic program.
SWAC Champions
1956, 1964, 1968, 2010 (vacated)
Alumni in the NFL
Over 60 Texas Southern alumni have played in the NFL or AFL, including:
°° NFL Hall of Fame inductee
2012 NCAA sanctions
In October 2012, the NCAA found Texas Southern University guilty of massive violations in 13 sports over a seven-year period from 2005 to 2012. The most serious violations occurred within the football and men's basketball programs, involving academic fraud, illicit benefits given to student athletes, lying on the part of coaches, and lying to the NCAA about previously self-imposed sanctions.
Prior to the NCAA's verdict, the school had taken numerous corrective measures—including the April 2011 firing of football coach Johnnie Cole (2010 SWAC Football Coach of the Year) and vacating every game that the Tiger football team had won from 2006 to 2010 - including the 2010 SWAC Championship, their first championship in 42 years.
The NCAA banned TSU's football team from the 2013 and 2014 postseason.
