Head coach Clint Dolezel is spending a lot of time inside what he refers to as the “War Room” at East Texas A&M. If you picture an underground room filled with depth charts and information on players in the transfer portal similar to what you see during the NFL Draft, you’re probably not far off. After all, he admitted the room is downstairs from his office.

If each season is viewed from the perspective of being a war and each game a battle, the Lions have lost quite a few battles in Dolezel’s first two seasons leading his alma mater on the gridiron.

Still, even the casual fan could see ETAMU’s improvement from Year 1 to Year 2. Although the overall record showed an improvement of two wins from 2023, the Lions held their own while playing a challenging schedule. They opened with consecutive trips to California to play FBS San Diego State and No. 18 UC Davis, followed by home contests against Grambling and No. 11 Sacramento State before beginning Southland Conference action.

“The wins didn’t show up, but we were leaps and bounds better than we were the year before,” Dolezel said. “Stephen F. Austin beat us by 35 points in 2023, and we beat them last year. UC Davis beat the crap out of us two years ago, and we were driving to tie the ballgame in the fourth quarter last year when they returned a pick-six on us. Now, we have to figure out how to win those games.”

The Lions were starting to figure out how to win those games in 2024, finishing with wins against SFA and Houston Christian in their last three games. ETAMU nearly finished with three consecutive victories before No. 6 and Southland Conference champion, UIW, scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to overcome a seven-point deficit.

The Lions' luck began to change after the Texas A&M Board of Regents approved the school’s request to change its name from Texas A&M-Commerce to East Texas A&M – a move many alums clamored for since joining the Texas A&M System in 1995.

“(The name change) has been great for us. We’re 2-1 since we became East Texas A&M, and were a drive away from being 3-0 with a win over the No. 6 team in the nation,” Dolezel said. “Another big deal with the rebranding is switching from Under Armour to Nike. I think we’ve proven that we made the right move when we decided to transition from Division II to Division I.”

Victories on the football field will not be easier for ET in 2025, considering the Lions open with road games against College Football Playoff participant SMU, Florida State, and Grambling. The calendar nearly turns to October before their first home game on September 27.

While most of ETAMU’s offensive starters from last year return for 2025, Dolezel and staff are tasked with replacing nine starters on defense.

“We’ve got the talent in here, and we signed a good recruiting class in December. Now, we’re on the war board trying to get some defensive players in here to make that side of the ball better than it was last year,” Dolezel said. “We’ll dissect the transfer portal and find guys that can fit us on defense because we’ve got holes to fill for starters and backups. We need some depth.”

Depth is a constant issue for college football programs, and Dolezel said the Lions will also add some offensive players during the summer, focusing on reinforcing depth on the roster.

“We lost a couple of offensive players to the portal because they didn’t want to compete, and that’s fine,” Dolezel said. “But we need to fill those slots because we’re going to have injuries during the season, and you start getting in trouble in Weeks 5 and 6 if you don’t have quality depth.”

Cory’s Take

The name change to East Texas A&M was a breath of fresh air, not only because it made sense, but it signaled a change in direction for the university and athletic department. Suddenly, enthusiasm spread across campus, alumni, and the community. The university announced it had received approval to build a $70 million on-campus event center in March, with plans to have the event center anchor a “campus event district.”

Granted, nothing mentioned above directly leads to victories on the football field in 2025, and more improvements are needed at “The Hawk.” However, the increased enthusiasm helps with recruiting, and the Lions could finish in the middle of the Southland Conference if they can remain healthy during a brutal early stretch against FBS teams.

- Written by Cory Hogue