What better coaching job has been done in American College Football than has been done this season by Presbyterian College Football Head Coach Steve Englehart? Go ahead, we’ll wait, just name one. Vanderbilt? Maybe. Georgia Tech? Perhaps. Those programs have been brought back to relevance in challenging conferences, to be sure. And, we know, there is no criteria in National Coach of the Year for bringing a program back from “where it once was” to where it is now.
Hmm, maybe there should be.
If there were, Englehart would get the 2026 vote hands down. Remember where this program was under “the coach that never punts”? Touted in the pre-season by major sports outlets. Hailed for making “a bold move” by a publicity hungry administration. Featured in an on-line reality show orchestrated by the coach himself.
Then, a disaster on the field.
Go back even a little farther. When PC decided to end scholarship football, other programs large and small backed up moving vans to the back door and hauled off our players. The new league we were joining? They declared the two (2!!) returners who decided to return ineligible because they had accepted scholarships, which PC was offering at the time, as freshmen. They had to go somewhere else - not because they wanted to, because the league basically told them to (or never play football again).
In fairness to the players, what would you do? You’ve played football since you were 8 years old and now you are big enough, smart enough, and good enough that by all measures that are American you are entitled to earn a college scholarship. Plus, you have to maintain yourself in academics in addition to staying in football shape. Sure, you COULD play non-scholarship football but why would you WANT TO?
Stepping into this quagmire is Steve Englehart - he of his own baggage. He was doing a good job coaching in Florida when his school basically pulling the rug our from under him, and his staff. Head coaches know they can be fired at any minute - mostly, they just feel bad for their staffs. Against all odds, and perhaps with a little help from the way PC handles NIL money, Englehart has coached Presbyterian College - tiny by NCAA Division I standards - to an 7-1 record this season and a just-ended 11-game winning streak that goes back to last season.
Who else in today’s college football has done that? Tennessee Tech had a 12-game winning streak going into this past weekend’s college action, so if we knew who their coach was maybe we’d nominate him. Ohio State and North Dakota State were right there with PC at 11 wins in a row; but, frankly, they’ve won enough.
And, just in case you think this season is a “fluke” for Coach Englehart, consider this from his official bio on the PC Athletics website:
Englehart spent 13 years as the head coach of Florida Tech and Rose-Hulman prior to accepting the job at PC, set for his 17th season as a collegiate head coach this fall. He directed two teams to the NCAA Division II Playoffs while at Florida Tech and was twice selected as the Gulf South Conference Coach of the Year. In his prior head coaching position, Englehart assisted in starting and guiding the Florida Tech Panthers football program from 2011-20, compiling a 44-35 record. In 2014, in the Panthers’ second season as a football program, he guided the team to a 6-5 record garnering Gulf South Conference Coach of the Year honors. In 2015, he guided the Panthers to a 7-4 record with wins over two teams ranked in the Top Five of the Division II national rankings. He was named Gulf South Conference Coach of the Year for the second straight season. In 2016 and 2018, he led the Panthers to the NCAA Division II playoffs. Due to financial implications from the pandemic, Florida Tech disbanded its program in the spring of 2020. Prior to his head coaching career at Florida Tech, Englehart served one season as offensive coordinator for his alma mater, Indiana State. In 2010, Englehart coached a Sycamores’ offense that finished 14th in the nation in scoring after tallying a school-record 351 points. In 2006, Englehart was hired as the youngest head coach in the NCAA and spent four seasons as head coach at Rose-Hulman in Terre Haute, Ind., where he led the football program for the first time in school history to four consecutive seasons with at least six wins. In 2007, he guided the Fightin’ Engineers to a 7-3 record, the program’s best record since 1994. Prior to becoming head coach in 2006, he spent four seasons as Rose-Hulman’s offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator. The Terre Haute native graduated from Indiana State with a degree in Health Education in 2000. During his playing career at Indiana State from 1996-99, Englehart played quarterback and was a three-time GTE Scholar-Athlete award winner and also was a two-time Academic All-Gateway Conference selection. Englehart and his wife, Carrie, have three children: Ty (a rising senior quarterback on the Blue Hose football team), Caden, and Lila.
So, obviously, this is a man who has experienced success. And, just for the record, he couldn’t care less if HE wins the National Coach of the Year, as much as he would think that honor would reflect well on HIS TEAM and his coaching team. Early on this season, he basically pleaded with people at the Laurens County Touchdown Club to come to Bailey Memorial Stadium and see his team - he said something along the lines of “I think we are going to be good” - three Saturdays ago, 7 THOUSAND people showed up for the Blue Hose and PC Homecoming. Two tough games are coming up: Nov. 8 at Davidson for the Border Cup and Nov. 15 at powerful St. Thomas in frigid Minnesota; you have just two more chance to see the 2025 Football Blue Hose - this Saturday, Nov. 1, against Valpo and Nov. 22 at home against Marist for Senior Day. Go, don’t go, the choice is yours. But if you care anything about College Football, don’t go around ignorant that we - Laurens County, South Carolina - have a top-flight program right here at home; and we have people working every day to keep it that way, and to succeed more. If you know an athlete skilled and determined enough to play college sports, you could do worse than steering that young person toward Clinton. “The coach that never punts” once told a reporter that he told his PC team, “you’ve never won anything here, so what have you got to lose by doing it my way.” We tried it his way, and it lasted all of one disasterous season, all caught on video still preserved on the inter-web. So, don’t blame us if we say:
“Thanks, but no thanks, we’ll keep trying it Steve’s way.”
