UTA FB History: Vol. 10 Gm. 6 - Unexpected Rebound

At the halfway mark of the football season, I return to UT Arlington's 1981 season. It will be the fourth time in six games to peak into the season, though the first one was a repeat with no other option. For those that know the outcome of the season, the idea may be I like to cover it for that reason. 

But the reality is this season both exposed the stereotypical nature of UTA football for the previous decade plus and also showed what Maverick, or as they were known then, Movin' Mavs, football could have been. Its demise was not inevitable. The eventual disbandment was just as much due to mismanagement by the program and Athletic Department as it was due to changing student demographics. Maybe even more.

1980's UTA had roughly the same amount of student housing as 1960's Arlington State College/UTA did. In UTA's heyday of the late 1960's, the Dallas Cowboys were just as much of a draw as they were in the 1980's. The Texas Rangers didn't exist in the 1960's and the Dallas Mavericks had started roughly a decade later. I still say hogwash to the idea that if you wanted to go to an NBA game in January, you forego a college football game in October.

WBB Schedule for 2026/27

It's been a little bit since the UT Arlington women's basketball team released the upcoming schedule, but I still wanted to touch on it. The schedule detective likes to see a job through until the end. As usual, I'll list the released schedule, then give a little commentary on it afterwards.

UTA FB History: Vol. 10 Gm. 5 - The Alpha Loss

Checking in with the 1959 Arlington State College Rebels as we enter October on This Day in UTA Football History. In 2015, I covered the first game the team played as a four-year university, a 28-0 win over Southeastern Oklahoma University.

ASC was 1-0 and undefeated as a four-year university. They were still riding high from their 1950's run of success at the Junior College level and it looked like it would continue. 63-20-6 was the combined record of the 1950's JuCo Rebels. Included in that tally is an 0-6-2 record in 1950 and 3-4-1 mark the year following. That is a heck of a run of success.

Head Coach Claude “Cheena” Gilstrap was the architect of that run. He came on a short time after those losing seasons and immediately became a winner. In addition, he was a very humorous speaker capturing the attention of local media. Later he was an instrumental part of the formation of the Southland Conference. He deservedly is in the Hall of Honor for both organizations.

ASC was going to pit itself against a much longer tenured university for its second game. Sam Houston State University played as a four-year school since their first game played in 1912. Joining the Lone Star Conference in 1934, the Bearkats would call it home until 1983. They, along other future Southland Conference rivals Southwest Texas State and Stephen F. Austin, left the LSC and formed the Gulf Star Conference. Future Louisiana and SLC schools Nicholls State, Northwestern State and Southeastern Louisiana completed that six-team league.

In the Middle

It's been a bit since I mentioned the UT Arlington Maverick's volleyball's 2026 journey. It was after the first weekend of the year where they went 2-1 after the University of Arkansas' tournament. A lot of volleyball has been played since then.

UTA hosted the UTA Tournament, going 1-2 with a five-set win over Kent State and losses to Army in three sets and Sam Houston in five. UTA scored over 20 in all three sets to Army while the Mavericks were up 2-1 against the Bearkats but lost by ten in set four and four in set five.

Then, they moved to the Texas Challenge in Nacogdoches, Texas. In the opening match of a tournament, UTA went 3-0 with a four-set win against North Texas. The Mean Green are 8-5 currently with a 1-1 conference mark. It was a quality win in a field of quality teams.

The momentum couldn't be carried on however as Texas State won in five and the hosts Stephen F. Austin swept the Mavs. With those scores, you'd think SFA ran away with it, but Texas State beat the Ladyjacks while UNT beat everyone but UTA. Overall, I really liked this tournament and haven't been this excited for a volleyball non-conference weekend in a long time.

UTA FB History: Vol. 10 Gm. 4 - Righting the Ship

At the conclusion of this entry, the 2026 version of This Day in UTA Football History will be one-third complete. Ironically, this year has solely been focused on the 1981 season prior to this point. Of the four seasons that qualify for this year, it just has been difficult to spread it around. The 1959 season opener was today, for example, covered in 2015. 

Last week was the opener to the 1964 season, a loss to New Mexico State, 3-0. Going back to the prior season, it was the sixth straight loss, a then program record that would be broken in the 1970 season. That record still holds at 13 games, ended in the 1971 season when the newly-renamed Mavericks beat West Texas State.

It may be weird for those who only hear how poor the support was when the program was disbanded. Former Arlington State College used to be a leader in the Southland Conference in football attendance. They used to have a following locally. They used to be winners. 

UTA FB History: Vol. 10 Gm. 3 - A Different Era

For the third week in a row, 1981 gets featured in This Week in UTA Football History. As a reminder, it's not something I like to do. But I touched 1964 and 1970 in the 2015 volume and 1959 hasn't played their first game yet. With a bit of limited options, I wanted to touch a greater theme that touches all of college football today.

Looking at today's opponent, one can see the drastic changes over the decades. It also is a bit of a milestone. I'll touch on both.

In Arlington State College's, turned UT Arlington, quest to move to the highest level of college football, and athletics as a whole, they needed to play higher competition. To move from the College Division to the University Division, half the schedule had to be against University Division schools to join said University Division. Since the Southland Conference schools were in the lower level, the Rebels, then later Maverick, made a point to play University Division schools in the non-conference to achieve that goal.

Included in that University Division pool were the teams close to UTA. I've made a lot about the North Texas State University/UT Arlington rivalry, and deservedly so. With minor exceptions here and there, the NTSU/UTA games are some of the highest attended games in UTA history, home or away.

UTA FB History: Vol. 10 Gm. 2 - Administrative Folly

As This Day ion UTA Football History progresses since the founding of the blog through the years and duplicate seasons occur, I start to have to diverge from some of my rules. In this case, covering the same season in consecutive weeks. As there was one all-time game on September 5, 1981, it was the only option for last week. As such, we'll stay with the 1981 season today.

I mentioned in 2015 how the '81 season is one of my favorites. Those who know the outcome know why. But the outcome was the result of this team. 1985 is also one of my favorite seasons. That was a 4-6-1 year that was ultimately a tie for fifth out of seven teams. But that team had heart and talent, just not luck. 1981 had all three.

But I want to explore a theme from 1981 that really exhibits what UT Arlington football really was about as volume 10 progresses. While the team finished well as a whole, the consistent themes of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, ultimately fatal four full seasons later, are present.

But first, a little background.