Sul Ross State made what seemed inevitable official on Friday by removing the interim tag from head coach Barry Derickson following a 4-6 season. The Lobos 4-4 record in the American Southwest Conference was the first time SRSU finished with a .500 record or above since 2016.

"First of all, I'm very excited and blessed to be the head guy here,” Derickson said in a press release. “It's a credit to our staff and our players that have worked their tails off in the offseason — without that it wouldn't be possible,"

Derickson was promoted from offensive coordinator to interim head coach in November last year when John Pearce resigned following eight seasons in Alpine. Derickson led a remarkable turnaround that saw the Lobos win total double behind an offense that scored 156 more points this year compared to 2021.

SRSU posted its first winning season at home since 2016, and six different school records were broken or tied this year.

"We're going to continue to ramp up our recruiting efforts," Derickson said. "Hopefully we can land every bit of talent that we need to keep not only competing in this conference but to hopefully double the win total again."

The Texas State University System Board of Regents held a vote on allowing Sul Ross to negotiate a move to NCAA Division II and the Lone Star Conference on Thursday. The results of that vote are not available at this time.