RetuRn to gloRy

Head Football Coach Whitten seeks championships, renovated stadium

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the winningest football coach in Tarleton’s NCAA era, Todd Whitten, returns to the Texans’ sideline this fall, with an eye on a conference championship and a smile about the plans to renovate Memorial Stadium.

Whitten, who coached the Texans for six years during two previous stints in Stephenville (1996 and 2000-04), joins legendary coach W.J. Wisdom as the only coaches with three different tenures as Tarleton’s head football coach.

“I’m excited to be back at Tarleton,” says Whitten, 51. “This is a very special place.”

A 27-year veteran at the collegiate coaching level, Whitten has been a head coach for 11 years, including five seasons at Division I Sam Houston State.

The Dallas native boasts a 70-51 NCAA coaching record. His Tarleton record of 45-23 gives him the second-most total wins in school history behind Wisdom (71) and the fourth-highest winning percentage (.662).

In announcing Whitten’s appointment as head coach, Athletic Director Lonn Reisman extolled his “ability to win football games and reestablish our program as a contender—not just in the Lone Star Conference, but on the national level.”

An innovator, the Stephen F. Austin University Athletics

Hall of Fame quarterback who later joined the New England Patriots in the National Football League, “has one of the most tremendous offensive minds in the country,” Reisman recalled.

No stranger to awards and championships, Whitten won conference Coach of the Year in his first season at Tarleton, turning a 1-10 program into a 5-5 record. He won the award each of the next three seasons, as well as the NCAA Division II West Region Coach of the Year in 2001.

That Texan team became the first ever to make the NCAA Playoffs and won its first playoff game to compile a 10-3 record. The team set the high-scoring standard for Tarleton, amassing 478 points.

The Texans won the LSC North Division championship in 2002 and 2003, when it returned to the NCAA Playoffs.

Playoffs will be on Texans’ minds when Tarleton takes the field on September 3 at McNeese State and the next Saturday when they have the home opener against Southwest Baptist in Memorial Stadium.

Fans can also anticipate the planned stadium renovations, which will get underway during the 2017 football season. The stadium is expected to open in August 2018

“As a football coach, it doesn’t get any better than that. I know when they get done, it’s going to be tremendous,” Whitten said.

The renovations will include converting the west-side stands to home seating and adding 33 percent more seats. “For far too long, Tarleton Texans fans have faced the setting sun during our football games,” said President F. Dominic Dottavio. “We are excited to make this change for our patient fans as well as to add the many improvements that the renovation will bring.”

The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents authorized $24 million in funding to begin planning, designing and financing the project, which will raise the seating capacity to more than 10,000.

Renovations will include an expanded press box and suites, additional premium seating with chair backs and expanded entrances and ticket booths. The football field and track-andfield surfaces will be replaced as part of the project.

The million-dollar bond package will not cover all the costs, however. The Division of Advancement & External Relations and Tarleton Athletics are working with donors to provide additional funding to address needs for an improved scoreboard, better locker rooms and other amenities.

Developed in the 1940s as a tribute to the 179 Tarleton faculty and students who died in World War II, the original Memorial Stadium opened in 1951. A major reconstruction was completed in 1977, when today’s features were created. In 1988-89, seating was expanded, the concession stand was remodeled, the current field house was built and track-andfield facilities were renovated.

The stadium has been a welcome home for Coach Whitten, who has a career record of 26-8 (.765) on the home turf. He plans to keep the record going and Texans’ fans happy while they await renovations.

“We think he is the right man, at the right time, to come back to a place that he and his family call home,” said President Dottavio.