Cris Dishman has high expectations for the Texas Southern football program. He’s witnessed his share of coaching philosophies along with plenty of wins and losses during his 31 years in professional football. The former Houston Oilers cornerback spent 13 years in the NFL playing under multiple head coaches, including Jerry Glanville and Jack Pardee with the Oilers, and Dennis Green during his final season in Minnesota.

When you add the 17 years Dishman spent as an assistant coach at 10 different spots, including stints in the NFL (San Diego and Arizona), NFL Europe (Berlin), Canadian Football League (Montreal), United States Football League (New Jersey), XFL (Vegas), NCAA Division I (Baylor), NCAA Division II (Menlo College), and high school (IMG Academy) before being named head coach at Texas Southern, you understand why he exudes confidence when discussing establishing his culture at Texas Southern. He’s seen almost everything in football.

His memories of the most successful teams he was a member of, the 1993 Oilers and 1999 Washington Redskins, are what he uses to guide how to build the culture of his program.

“We have great leadership in our senior class, and brought in some guys from the portal who will help with our leadership. Establishing a culture starts with the players. The best teams I was on were the ‘93 Oilers and ‘99 Redskins,” Dishman said. “They were a player-led team, and the coaches managed, and that’s what we’re trying to establish here. The players have to hold each other accountable not only at practice, but in the classroom, dorms, being respectful to women on campus, and being leaders in the community.”

To help achieve becoming a player-led team, Dishman has instituted a leadership council – something he first saw while playing for Norv Turner in Washington.

“We have some guys who are hungry and dedicated to their craft during the offseason. Some guys took the time in the offseason to lose weight, gain more muscle, and get faster,” Dishman said. “We’re on a mission, and I think everybody is buying in now. The guys not buying in will be left on the sidelines, and we’re letting our player leadership council make those decisions. They’re the ones telling us who’s not buying in or making the wrong decisions away from the field.”

For those still questioning whether Dishman is serious about his players' performance in the classroom, he has set an ambitious goal to attain when the NCAA releases the Academic Progress Rate (APR) report.

“Right now, everybody should be concentrating on getting their grades up and helping improve our APR and GPA. My goal this year is to attain a 1,000 APR,” Dishman said. “People keep telling us we can’t do it because we have so many players, but I’m challenging the players to take on that mission.”

Dishman believes stressing the importance of consistent performance in the classroom will help develop habits that players will carry with them into the meeting room and on the field.

On the field, the Tigers will have a new starting quarterback in 2025, with three players competing for the job. Staying on message, Dishman said that “whoever steps up and takes ownership of being the leader of the team” will win the battle, and believes the team has some pieces to place around whoever wins the battle.

“We’re very excited about the pieces we have at receiver,” Dishman said. “Our running backs did a great job during the spring of running hard and not allowing the first guy to make the tackle.”

Dishman maintains the same expectations for his program on the field that he set when assuming control of the program.

“We can be competitive in the SWAC this year. Our goals remain the same. Beat Prairie View A&M, win the West Division, win the SWAC, and win in Atlanta,” Dishman said. “Those four goals will always remain the same.”

Cory’s Take

Cris Dishman is building a football program on a foundation that he hopes will last, for a program whose last conference title, not vacated, was in 1968. Make no mistake, Dishman is serious about achieving all four of the goals he’s set for the team this year. TSU accomplished the goal of defeating Prairie View A&M in Dishman’s first year as a head coach. Their five victories tied the 2014 and 2022 teams for most wins since 2010.

Achieving all four goals in 2025 will be a significant challenge for the Tigers. However, they have a favorable conference schedule this year as they avoid SWAC East Division favorites Jackson State and Florida A&M, and could make a run at the West Division title.

- Written by Cory Hogue