Lions football Head Coach Ron Roberts
File photo/The Lion's Roar

The university has signed Head football Coach Ron Roberts through the 2018 season. The Director of Athletics, Jay Artigues made the announcement on Dec. 16, 2016.

“I’m very excited about that,” said Roberts. “I want to thank the athletic director and the president for giving me the commitment to our football program and the things that we are doing from here on.”

Roberts has been the head coach of the Lions for the past five years. He has a 36-24 overall record and a 29-11 record against the Southland Conference. Roberts has won two consecutive Southland Conference championships in 2013 and 2014 and led the program to its first two Football Championship Subdivision playoff appearances. 

After starting last season 1-3, Roberts led the Lions to winning six of the last seven games to finish 7-4 overall and 7-2 in conference play.

“Our objective every year is to get in the playoffs and win conference championships,” said Roberts. “We got to get back to that. I am looking forward to the opportunity to hopefully winning a conference championship in 2017.”

Under Roberts, eight different Lions have won All-America honors and two players, Robert Alford and Harlan Miller, have made it to the National Football League. Roberts also swept in-state competition this past season for the fourth time in five years giving him a 13-2 overall record against in-state rivals.

The Lions will start spring practice on Mar. 7 and have already begun to prepare for next season.

“As soon as the players come back, we start on our off-season weight program,” said Roberts. “We start spring ball in March and try to find those guys who will step up and fill in those spots vacated by our seniors. We are right in the thick of recruiting right now. December and January are our days to recruit, but what we are looking forward to right now, is our big National Sign Day on Feb. 1. That is our next opportunity to get a huge win.”