Probably no other conference in NCAA Division II football has seen as much turnover as the Lone Star Conference in the last six years.
Sure, there are still nine teams this year just as there were back in 2017, but different schools have since left to make the jump for NCAA Division I and have been replaced by universities out west.
In 2017, it was Texas A&M-Commerce who was winning the NCAA Division II championship in Kansas City, Kan.
Fast-forward to 2023 and the Lions have since left for the NCAA Division I level, joining in 2022.
Also making the jump was Tarleton State, who went D-I in 2020 after winning consecutive Lone Star Conference football titles in 2018 and 2019.
Since then, the Lone Star Conference found a unique way to add more members in football by merging with the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, bringing in Western Oregon, Central Washington and Simon Fraser in 2022.
The merge was only for football.
This past offseason, Simon Fraser dropped its football program, leaving the LSC back at nine members for the 2023 season.
Angelo State, Central Washington, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Midwestern State, Western New Mexico, Western Oregon, UTPB, West Texas A&M and Eastern New Mexico now make up the Lone Star Conference.
Sul Ross State is expected to be added in the fall of 2024 as the school is in the process of jumping to NCAA Division II.
Despite the change in scenery over the years, the conference still remains one of the more cutthroat in the Division II nation.
“That’s the unique thing,” Central Washington head coach Chris Fisk said in a phone interview. “I think in every level of college football, you’re in the playoffs week one of the season and you have to win a lot of games to get there. You’re playing playoff football from week one.”
Eastern New Mexico head coach Kelley Lee agrees.
“I think it’s always a challenge in the Lone Star because top to bottom,” Lee said. “It’s very competitive, even when teams are struggling to get wins, they’re still incredibly dangerous every week. It really comes down to who can go on the road and get some big wins because if you have a good ball club, you’ll probably squeeze out some wins at home but who can go on the road and pull a few out that they probably shouldn’t win so we’re hoping to maybe do that.”
From 2017-20, he served as the head coach for the Greyhounds.
He returned this past offseason to begin his second go-around with Eastern New Mexico.
Lee knows just how competitive the Lone Star Conference can get and that two losses can easily make the difference between getting into the NCAA Division II playoffs and an early offseason.
In 2017, the Greyhounds entered the final week of the regular season needing just one victory to get into the postseason.
Instead, they were dealt a 56-43 loss to Midwestern State, who ended up getting into the playoffs that season along with Texas A&M-Commerce.
Eastern New Mexico finished that year 8-2.
“There’s not much room for error,” Kelley said. “I remember back in 2017, we only had 10 D-II games. We went 8-2 and lost to the national champs (Texas A&M-Commerce) and the conference champ (Midwestern State) and we didn’t get in. It’s tough. You don’t have much room for error. You have to play well and you only have a few weeks to get ready for conference play. You have to play well each week.”
Making things even more complicated, in recent years, the NCAA Division II playoff committee has selected only one member from the Lone Star Conference.
Last year, only LSC champion Angelo State received an invite into the playoffs.
In 2021, the Rams were also the only representative from the conference in the playoffs, being selected ahead of that year’s LSC champion Midwestern State in a head-scratching move.
The last time two teams from the LSC got into the playoffs was 2019 when Tarleton State and Texas A&M-Commerce made it.
Central Washington recently made the NCAA Division II playoffs in 2021 and 2017.
Last year, the Wildcats finished second in the conference but it wasn’t enough as the team went 6-4 overall (6-3 in conference play).
While Angelo State (who went 12-1 last year) sat alone at the top of the conference standings in 2022 at 9-0, four teams finished in a tie for third place as Texas A&M-Kingsville (7-5), Midwestern state (6-5), Western New Mexico (6-5) and Western Oregon (6-5) all finished with a 5-4 conference record.
Despite the rise in competition since switching from the GNAC, Fisk and his players love the challenge.
“Your ticket to the playoffs, the number one factor is strength of competition,” Fisk said. “It certainly has made that path. If you can finish in the top two in the Lone Star, I think that gives you a better shot to make the playoffs than working through the GNAC where you were playing everybody twice.”
Fisk and Western Oregon head coach Arne Ferguson talked about the unique challenges that have come with switching to the Lone Star Conference.
“I think it’s great, especially for teams like us and Western Oregon where we’re the last two D-II teams out here in the west,” Fisk said. “It’s great for us to be able to have a place to call home. The travel’s tough, there’s no doubt about that. But we’re playing great teams each week. If you win the Lone Star, you’ve definitely accomplished something.”
However, from a recruiting standpoint, the merge with the Lone Star has been helpful for Western Oregon.
“It carries a lot of weight because kids in Oregon and Washington know about the Lone Star Conference and we feel it’s the most athletic conference in Division II,” Ferguson said. “It’s very competitive in every game we play.”
It might make the travel more cumbersome but Ferguson said it hasn’t made too much of a difference.
“It’s not that bad,” Ferguson said. “We’re used to traveling a lot, being out here in the west, whether it’s getting on a bus for five or six hours or getting on a plane. It’s all about the same. It’s not much different.”
Fisk said it’s opened up Texas for his team in recruiting.
“We’re trying to get our toes wet down there and do a little bit of recruiting that way,” Fisk said. “We got a couple of Texas kids on our roster. From a competition standpoint, we used to play a lot of teams twice. It’s really nice not to do that anymore. The competition each week, every game is a slobber-knocker. It’s a lot of fun.”
One man who is new to the Lone Star Conference as a head coach this year is UTPB’s Kris McCullough.
McCullough comes in having coached previously at East Central University (Ada, Okla.) in the Great American Conference.
He guided the Tigers to a 9-3 (8-3) record last year in the 12-team GAC which included a 38-21 victory over Texas A&M-Kingsville in the Heritage Bowl in Corsicana.
“I think in the GAC, week to week, based on who you played, you kind of knew what it would take to get the outcome you wanted,” McCullough said. “I think there were times where there different talent levels between the two teams whereas in the Lone Star, I think what separates the top teams and the bottom teams is coaching. I think the talent on every single team is comparable. I think in-game decisions gets you more wins throughout the conference because the talent is there and you have to bring your A-game.”
UTPB will play three nonconference games this season beginning with Texas College on Sept. 2 at Astound Broadband Stadium in Midland.
The Falcons are coming off a 5-6, 4-5 showing from last year.
UTPB will travel to Western Colorado University on Sept. 9 in Gunnison, Colo. before finishing up the nonconference schedule at Southwest Baptist Sept. 16 in Bolivar, Mo.
The Falcons will open conference against West Texas A&M on Sept. 23 in Midland.
