The Texas Southern Tigers are the college football team representing Texas Southern University, a historically black university (HBCU) in Houston. The Tigers play in the NCAA's Division I FCS as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), a conference whose members are all HBCUs. In 2012, the Tigers moved into the new Shell Energy Stadium in East Downtown, built for the city's Major League Soccer team, the Houston Dynamo. It replaced Delmar Stadium as the primary home of Tiger football. In 2026, the Tigers moved into W.W. Thorne Stadium as their new home stadium.
History
Classifications 1952–1972: NCAA College Division 1952–1969: NAIA 1970–1984: NAIA Division I 1973–1976: NCAA Division II 1977: NCAA Division I 1978–present: NCAA Division I-AA/FCS
Conference memberships 1947–1950: Independent 1951–1954: Midwest Athletic Association 1955–present: Southwestern Athletic Conference
Football classics
Labor Day Classic
The Tigers compete against the Panthers of Prairie View A&M in the Labor Day Classic for the Durley-Nicks Trophy. The popular football rivalry began in 1946 but the classic was created in 1985.
TV broadcasting In July 2017, Texas Southern renewed their deal with AT&T SportsNet (formerly ROOT Sports Southwest) to televise all home football games. The cable channel reaches over 13 million households.
Championships
National 1952 Black college national Alexander Durley 10–0–1 MWAA 2010 Black college national Johnnie Cole 9–3 SWAC
Conference championships 1952† Midwest Athletic Association Alexander Durley 10–0–1 2–0–1 1956Southwestern Athletic Conference Alexander Durley 9–2 5–1 1968† Southwestern Athletic Conference Clifford Paul 6–4 6–1 2010* Southwestern Athletic Conference Johnnie Cole 9–3 8–1 Total conference championships: 3 (1 vacated) † Denotes co-champions * Denotes vacated title
Alumni in the NFL Over 60 Texas Southern alumni have played in the NFL or AFL, including: Michael Strahan°° Art Strahan Tray Walker Julius Adams Melvin Baker Ken Burrough Greg Briggs Ernie Calloway Arthur Cox John Douglas James Ford Harold Hart W. K. Hicks Winston Hill°° Ernie Holmes Kevin Johnson Brett Maxie Will Moore Cortez Hankton Jim Sorey John White Jim Young Darvin Kidsy Joseph Rogers Oliver Celestin Andy Olemgbe Joey Jamison °° Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee
2012 NCAA sanctions In October 2012, the NCAA found Texas Southern University guilty of repeated rules violations in 13 sports over a seven-year period from 2005 to 2012. The most serious violations occurred within the football and men's basketball programs, involving academic fraud, illicit benefits given to student athletes, lying on the part of coaches, and lying to the NCAA about previously self-imposed sanctions.
Prior to the NCAA's verdict, the school had taken numerous corrective measures—including the April 2011 firing of football coach Johnnie Cole (2010 SWAC Football Coach of the Year) and vacating every game that the Tiger football team had won from 2006 to 2010 - including the 2010 SWAC Championship, their first championship in 42 years.
The NCAA banned TSU's football team from the 2013 and 2014 postseason.Texas Southern Is Penalized By the N.C.A.A. The New York Times, 2012-10-09.
Future non-conference opponents Announced schedules as of February 11, 2026 North Carolina Central at Tulsa at Texas State at UTEP at Florida Atlantic
See also List of black college football classics Ocean of Soul
References
External links