Decades in the making, Sam Houston set to host first conference game as FBS program

Sam Houston was in the back half of a 21-game winning streak in 2021 which included a national championship in the spring season when head coach K.C. Keeler learned that his Bearkats were transitioning to the FBS and play in Conference USA starting in the 2023 season. Keeler, who is the only college coach to win FCS national titles at two programs, wasn’t jumping for joy about the future because he was worried about the present.

“There was this realization that this was going to be the last go around for us to win a national championship,” Keeler remembered from a team meeting in the fall of 2021, right before the start of the group’s second playoff run of the calendar year. “I was a little unsure (about the move to FBS) because I know resource wise, we were a long way off from what the other FBS programs have, especially in the state of Texas.”