To me, April Fools Day is such a weird holiday.

Honesty is a treasured trait, yet we have one day a year where you can’t trust anyone around you. It’s already hard enough to decipher the truth the other 364 days of the year when you have people in positions of power trying to convince you that your eyes are lying to you.

So, when I realized I was writing a piece for today, I set out to find a different angle. After all, it’s tough to come up with something more fantastical than an NCAA Division III conference paying schools millions of dollars to join so they can maintain their automatic bid. 

Ultimately, I aimed to find at least five Texas Non-FBS programs that are no longer a joke. In other words, find five teams whose opponents used to circle as an automatic win on the schedule in previous years but are now threats to win a conference title.

Indeed, more than five Non-FBS programs in Texas are on the rise. However, the following programs have gone from the bottom of their respective conference to respectability in the last few years.

Lamar

Three of the programs on the list either began or restarted since 2000. The Cardinals restarted its program in 2009, which has since been a struggle in Beaumont. Lamar finished above .500 twice since resurrecting the football program through 2022. The first winning season was 2014, and the 2018 team made a surprise run to the FCS playoffs by winning its final five contests to earn an at-large bid.

Standards have risen in Beaumont since the arrival of Peter Rossomando, who has led the Cardinals to a winning record in each of his first two seasons – a feat the program had not accomplished since 1966. Lamar is poised to take another step forward in 2025 and is a threat to win the Southland Conference after finishing third each of the last two seasons.

Texas Southern

The Texas Southern football program has struggled mightily since running afoul of the NCAA in 2012. The Tigers were hit with major sanctions, including a postseason ban in 2013 and 2014, after multiple violations involving academic fraud and illicit benefits provided to student athletes. From 2011 through 2019, TSU was 20-67 overall, with five seasons of two or fewer wins.

However, when Clarence McKinney was hired, the tide began to turn for TSU. He led the Tigers to 11 wins from 2021 through 2023, with a high of five wins in 2022. Cris Dishman produced a 5-6 record in his first season, and the Tigers appear poised to challenge for the SWAC West Division title and its first winning record since 2010 in 2025.

UT-Permian Basin

The Falcons began sponsoring football in 2016 under the guidance of Justin Carrigan. As expected, UTPB struggled against Lone Star Conference competition in its first few seasons. The Falcons won four LSC contests from 2016 through 2019. The program started an upward trajectory during the pandemic. UTPB defeated all three LSC teams in the spring season, followed by three victories against LSC foes in 2021 and four more wins in 2022.

Still, the administration chose to go in a new direction and hired one of the youngest head coaches in college football. While many around the LSC expected Kris McCullough and the Falcons to struggle, UTPB won its first LSC championship and appeared in the NCAA Division II playoffs in McCullough’s first season. The Falcons have totaled 14 wins against LSC competition in McCullough’s two seasons, equal to the number of LSC contests won by the program from 2016 through 2022.

McMurry

McMurry football has had a couple of college football legends roam the sidelines, namely, Grant Teaff and Hal Mumme. Mumme led the War Hawks to a 27-16 overall record and a 15-9 mark in the American Southwest Conference from 2009 through 2012. However, the program began struggling when the university chose to transition to DII in 2013 – an experiment that spectacularly failed after one year against LSC competition and started a streak of 10 consecutive losing seasons.

The program was in shambles when Jordan Neal assumed the reins in 2019. Neal’s rebuilding of the program was set back by the 2020 pandemic, which led to challenging 2021 and 2022 campaigns. But the War Hawks' program took a turn in 2023 by posting its first winning record since Mumme in 2012, followed by a 7-3 mark and a share of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference in 2024.

Texas College

Texas College traces its football program back to 1918 and was one of the six original institutions that comprised the SWAC in 1920. The Steers won five SWAC championships between 1934 and 1944 and earned a national title in 1935. However, the program was disbanded in the 1960s. The program initially found success when it restarted in 2003. The Steers won seven games in 2003 and 2005 but fell on hard times shortly after. TC won 12 games from 2008 through 2023 and finished 13 of those 15 seasons with one win or fewer.

But 2024 was a historic year for the Steers, who finished 8-3 under head coach Jarrail Jackson. TC was undefeated (6-0) on its home turf last year, and Jackson and his staff are prepared for another incredible season in 2025.