Nelson Lions football
College football team
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The Nelson Lions football team represents Nelson University (formerly Southwestern Assemblies of God University) in college football in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The Lions are members of the Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC), fielding its team in the GPAC since 2013. The Lions play their home games at Lumpkins Stadium in Waxahachie, Texas.[2]
First season1996
Athletic directorJesse Godding
Head coachJared Hudgins
2nd season, 6–14 (.300)
2nd season, 6–14 (.300)
LocationWaxahachie, Texas
| Nelson Lions football | |
|---|---|
| First season | 1996 |
| Athletic director | Jesse Godding |
| Head coach | Jared Hudgins 2nd season, 6–14 (.300) |
| Location | Waxahachie, Texas |
| Stadium | Lumpkins Stadium (capacity: 9,500) |
| Conference | SAC |
| Colors | Royal purple and mane gold[1] |
| All-time record | 105–184–2 (.364) |
| Mascot | Judah the Lion |
| Website | nelsonlions.com |
Their head coach is Jared Hudgins, who took over the position for the 2024 season.
Conference affiliations
- NCCAA independent (1996–1997)
- NAIA independent (1998–1999, 2005–2007, 2012)
- Central States Football League (2000–2004, 2008–2017)
- Sooner Athletic Conference (2018–present)
List of head coaches
Key
| General | Overall | Conference | Postseason[A 1] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Order of coaches[A 2] | GC | Games coached | CW | Conference wins | PW | Postseason wins |
| DC | Division championships | OW | Overall wins | CL | Conference losses | PL | Postseason losses |
| CC | Conference championships | OL | Overall losses | CT | Conference ties | PT | Postseason ties |
| NC | National championships | OT | Overall ties[A 3] | C% | Conference winning percentage | ||
| † | Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame | O% | Overall winning percentage[A 4] | ||||
Coaches
| No. | Name | Season(s) | GC | OW | OL | OT | O% | CW | CL | CT | C% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Allen | 1996–1997 | 13 | 2 | 9 | 2 | 0.231 | — | — | — | – |
| 2 | Tommy Sugg | 1998 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0.200 | — | — | — | – |
| 3 | Paul Burgard | 1999 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 0.100 | — | — | — | – |
| 4 | Tim Truman | 2000–2001 | 20 | 3 | 17 | 0 | 0.150 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0.111 |
| 5 | Jesse Godding | 2002–2014 | 137 | 43 | 94 | 0 | 0.314 | 12 | 24 | 0 | 0.333 |
| 6 | Frank Tristan[6] | 2015–2017 | 32 | 20 | 12 | 0 | 0.625 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 0.650 |
| 7 | Ryan Smith[7][8] | 2018–2021 | 37 | 18 | 19 | 0 | 0.486 | 13 | 19 | 0 | 0.406 |
| 8 | Greg Ellis[9] | 2022–2023 | 22 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 0.591 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 0.556 |
| 8 | Jared Hudgins | 2024–present | 10 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0.300 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0.125 |
Year-by-year results
| National champions | Conference champions | Bowl game berth | Playoff berth |
| Season | Year | Head coach | Association | Division | Conference | Record | Postseason | Final ranking | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | Conference | |||||||||||||
| Win | Loss | Tie | Finish | Win | Loss | Tie | ||||||||
| SAGU Lions | ||||||||||||||
| 1996 | 1996 | John Allen | NCCAA | — | Independent | 1 | 3 | 1 | — | — | ||||
| 1997 | 1997 | 1 | 6 | 0 | — | — | ||||||||
| 1998 | 1998 | Tommy Sugg | NAIA | Independent | 2 | 8 | 0 | — | — | |||||
| 1999 | 1999 | Paul Burgard | 1 | 9 | 0 | — | — | |||||||
| 2000 | 2000 | Tim Truman | CSFL | 2 | 8 | 0 | 6th | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | — | ||
| 2001 | 2001 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 4th | 1 | 3 | 0 | — | — | ||||
| 2002 | 2002 | Jesse Godding | 0 | 9 | 0 | N/A | — | — | ||||||
| 2003 | 2003 | 2 | 8 | 0 | T–5th | 1 | 4 | 0 | — | — | ||||
| 2004 | 2004 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 7th | 0 | 6 | 0 | — | — | ||||
| 2005 | 2005 | Independent | 2 | 8 | 0 | — | — | |||||||
| 2006 | 2006 | 2 | 8 | 0 | — | — | ||||||||
| 2007 | 2007 | 1 | 9 | 0 | — | — | ||||||||
| 2008 | 2008 | 4 | 5 | 0 | — | — | ||||||||
| 2009 | 2009 | CSFL | 3 | 7 | 0 | 4th | 2 | 3 | 0 | — | — | |||
| 2010 | 2010 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 7th | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | — | ||||
| 2011 | 2011 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 5th | 1 | 4 | 0 | — | — | ||||
| 2012 | 2012 | Independent | 4 | 6 | 0 | — | — | |||||||
| 2013 | 2013 | CSFL | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2nd | 4 | 1 | 0 | — | — | |||
| 2014 | 2014 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 2nd | 4 | 1 | 0 | — | — | ||||
| 2015 | 2015 | Frank Tristan | 8 | 3 | 0 | 3rd | 4 | 2 | 0 | Won 2015 Victory Bowl | — | |||
| 2016 | 2016 | 4 | 6 | 0 | T–4th | 2 | 4 | 0 | — | — | ||||
| 2017 | 2017 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 2nd | 7 | 1 | 0 | Lost 2017 Victory Bowl | 19 | ||||
| 2018 | 2018 | Ryan Smith | SAC | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5th | 4 | 4 | 0 | — | — | ||
| 2019 | 2019 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 9th | 0 | 10 | 0 | — | — | ||||
| 2020 | 2019 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3rd | 3 | 2 | 0 | — | — | ||||
| 2021 | 2021 | 9 | 3 | 0 | T–4th | 6 | 3 | 0 | Won 2021 Victory Bowl | — | ||||
| 2022 | 2022 | Greg Ellis | 7 | 3 | 0 | T–4th | 6 | 3 | 0 | Lost 2022 Victory Bowl | — | |||
| 2023 | 2023 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 6th | 4 | 5 | 0 | — | — | ||||
| Nelson Lions | ||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2024 | Jared Hudgins | NAIA | — | SAC | 3 | 7 | 0 | 9th | 1 | 7 | 0 | — | — |
Notes
- A running total of the number of head coaches, with coaches who served separate tenures being counted only once. Interim head coaches are represented with "Int" and are not counted in the running total. "—" indicates the team played but either without a coach or no coach is on record. "X" indicates an interim year without play.