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.

2026/27 Men's Basketball Schedule.

I had a comment for the schedule detective when I found that Jacksonville of the Atlantic Sun was visiting Arlington in December. However, there was an error and when I pressed publish, the comment box came up the said "publishing..." but it never would actually publish. I did it many times and tried different ways but no success. 

In the end, it didn't matter terribly much as the schedule is basically done. I got a copy of the schedule, sans start times. Everything I learned was there and of course the rest has been filled in with no real surprises. 

The schedule for this coming year:

UTA FB History: Vol. 10 Gm. 1 - 1981 Rerun

Today is the first iteration of This Day in UTA Football History for the 2026 season. Unfortunately, there is only one game that has occurred on this date and that was covered 11 years ago today in 2015. For those that know, they know why 1981 was an important season. However, it both exemplifies and shows what could have been with Maverick Football. 

On this Day in UTA football history, UTA opens the 1981 season.

The Maverick Rambler: UTA Football Vol. 3, Game 1: End of an Era

It Begins

The UT Arlington volleyball team began the 2026 season this past weekend at the Razorback Invitational. After a 2-1 start, all three matches showed a team that looks much improved over last year's team. Now, if you remember, last year's team was 8-5 in the non-conference, but had a disappointing showing with a 3-8 record in Western Athletic Conference play. At one point, they were 8-2. However, if you look back at my posts, I saw cracks in the armor and that 8-2 start that gave me concern.

Before I continue, I just want to get a warning in that there's a real chance my volleyball coverage will not be as frequent or regular as the past two years. I work half my work week on the weekend for my regular bill paying job, so getting to physically watch the games will be a challenge. I volunteered to be the booster club president for the junior high school two of my boys attend. While it isn't set in stone, it does look like they will both start for their respective grade. In addition, my junior in high school has transitioned from junior varsity starter to varsity starter. There's a real chance there will be very little down time. That's to say nothing of This Day in UTA Football History, which usually requires around two hours, sometimes more, per entry. This week's entry will be a repeat, so there's not much to it, giving me time to give the volleyball team and its players their proper due.

Plus, I'm already behind. Before I get into the weekend's start, the United Athletic Conference released their preseason poll and just by looking it over and knowing what occurred last year, there's a real chance this will be the toughest slate since UTA left the Sun Belt Conference.

The coaches predicted the following finish:

That's one way to do it

I mentioned several months ago about Chicago State starting a football team. We were in the middle of an athletic year and I generally try to avoid more esoteric topics when games and competitions are in high gear. We aren't now and I want to briefly touch on their journey to a football team.

For those who aren't familiar, Chicago State is a poor, cash-strapped athletic program with declining enrollment. They have had a hard time finding a conference home for much of this century. They were in the Great West Conference, a coalition of wayward schools that did not have a formal path to the postseason. UT Rio Grande Valley's precursor, UT Pan American, was in that conference. Both schools took advantage of the Western Athletic Conference's desperation and CSU became a conditional member. Essentially, they paid the WAC to be a member. It really didn't help them overall, as they remained a cash-strapped program.

When the WAC added the Texas Four and later UT Arlington, along with other schools, the WAC declined to renew the conditions and the Cougars were independents again. They had no home in the late 1980's and early 90's, and again in the mid-2000's. The third time, they had decided no more.

2026 Schedule Detective

For those new to the blog or who need a reminder, in the summer, I try to piece together the upcoming basketball schedules from various sources. It usually is a combination of Rocco Miller on X, looking at certain team's releases and conference release of UT Arlington's current home. 

This year has been really quiet in that regard. I have yet to see UTA on anyone else's schedule. No guarantee games at a larger school, no certified home and home releases. I can speculate on who is a second game from a previous home-and-home, but like Oral Roberts showed, there was a year between the two games contract so nothing is set in stone.

With that said, the only official release I have is from the United Athletic Conference. This week, they released the conference slate and the former Western Athletic Conference turned UAC is doing away with what they have done the last few years. 

And I'm on board with it.

A Hint of Things to Come

A little over a week ago, I went to the website of the Western Athletic Conference to finish up some statistical attendance numbers from this past athletic year. However, WACSports.com was redirected to UACSports.com and the site itself was redesigned. 

The look was clean, but the colors were different and brighter. I like the more subtle look of the old site but do like the color scheme of the new one. It does reinforce several things that I had learned over the years but contradicts some persistent rumors that were false that just wouldn't go away. It also revealed some new information.

The first, and what I think is the most egregious persistent falsehood is the conference has not gone away, this is not a new conference. I've heard verbally and seen online that folks still think the WAC is now a defunct conference. The three holdover members of the WAC, Abilene Christian, Tarleton State and UT Arlington, have welcomed five former Atlantic Sun members and the Little Rock Trojans to the fold. It is no different than any other conference welcoming new members and saying goodbye to old ones.

Flag Football Proceeds

There's been some developments in UT Arlington's fledgling women's flag football program that kind of got lost in the spring sport shuffle of the previous three or four months. Some of the news is internal, some external and with that comes speculation.

In my last full post on the topic, seen here, it mentioned the American Southwest Conference, a Division III conference composed primarily of small private schools, will sponsor the sport. They were the first NCAA conference to sponsor flag football. I heard minor speculation that the ASC could be a home for UTA's newest sport. Without hearing anything from an official source, I had then and still have doubts. I speculated there would be a DI conference offering the sport within half a decade.

Turns out, that was too long. In April, the Big South Conference announced they would sponsor the sport, becoming the first at the highest level to take the plunge. What's interesting to me is how the schools in the Big South treat flag football.

Below Expectations

I teased today's entry in the introduction of the last post of The Maverick Rambler. There, I gave the spring recap, primarily because the bulk of the UT Arlington Athletic programs are spring sports (eight compared to three fall and four winter), but also because it sets the stage for today's entry. 

When I interviewed Athletic Director Jon Fagg over the summer, he mentioned at the end of the interview that fundraising was at an all-time high but due to a decline in international students in the graduate program, overall revenue was actually down. I've thought about that line often the last few months. Watching the results come in hammered that point and overshadowed the optimism I felt in the offseason.

But on the other side of the equation, there were reasons to have a sunny disposition. UTA had only six conference members in most sports to compete against this year. I had high hopes going into this season. It had been a while since the foes were so diminished. The 1986/87 season was the last one where the conference make-up was that small. That year, the men's teams were independents due to the University dropping football. So 1985/86 is the last year where the entirety of the department faced six conference opponents. In that year, men's cross country, volleyball and softball won conference titles.

Not so much this year. The following is a recap of the regular season finishes for all the programs:

Spring Recap

I've mentioned here and there on the Maverick Rambler that certain sports don't get the same coverage that others do, particularly the individual sports. It's usually because either they are result-driven sports like cross country and the best I could usually offer is the result (no better than UTAMavs.com) or it's not a sport I have a decent knowledge base in to comment on the team, such as tennis or golf. I understand the basics, but offering anything else would expose that knowledge deficiency. 

So today, I'm going to kind of rapid fire a little about the results with a smidge of commentary about the spring sports. It's at least enough to give them a spotlight, while also setting up the next entry later this month or early June. I'll go in chronological order.

The Last WAC Tournament

As soon as the first game of the previous series for the UT Arlington baseball team was in the books, I immediately thought of my last post. I was talking about how well their chances were to go as high as fourth or even third in the upcoming Western Athletic Conference tournament. 

Their chances were high because they were facing a team who had not won a conference series entering the sixth and final one of the season. The Utah Valley Wolverines had been swept three times. UTA's pitching was clearly superior while the offenses were a bit more even with a slight nod to UVU. Pitching usually wins out in these scenarios.

But the one part of the post stood out Thursday and especially after Friday's loss, giving Utah Valley the series win, their first of the year.

In more good news, UTA faces one remaining team in the WAC race, the last place team. Utah Valley, at 2-13 has been swept three times in five WAC series' and has not won a single series to this point. Now the cycnist in me will say this will be the time because their opponent is the Mavs. We Mav fans have seen heartbreak way too often to ever be comfortable. 

The rest of the WAC outcomes didn't favor UTA and as a result, the Mavericks fell to sixth in the standings. Utah Tech swept Abilene Christian, vaulting the Trailblazers to third. That put ACU in a tie for fifth with UTA, but the Wildcats won the series against the Mavs, giving ACU the higher seed. Sacramento State won their series against the regular-season champions in Tarleton State, giving them the fourth seed.

Crunch Time

The 2026 sprint of a baseball season, at least on the conference level, is entering it's last weekend and the UT Arlington squad is in a good position. Not great mind you, and certainly not at historic levels we've seen over this decades, but given the recent history after COVID cancelled the 2020 season, the prospects look promising.

Much of the last post about baseball still ring true: the pitching is above average, the offense is struggling, there have been close wins and large losses. But I'll cut to the chase. At 7-8 in the Western Athletic Conference, UTA has clinched a spot in the WAC tournament, the field is set, the seeding is not and the Mavericks sit in a tie for fifth with Utah Tech, but are a game out of third as Abilene Christian and Sacramento State are tied at 8-7.

The good news, UTA just won their series against the Trailblazers 2-1 and have not been swept by any team in the conference. Bad news, the 9-8, 10-inning loss to Abilene Christian on April 25th cost them that series while a 2-1 loss on day one of the previous series against the Hornets cost UTA that WAC three-game set. To really hammer that point, after winning the opening series against the WAC leaders in Tarleton State, who have clinched a tie for the regular season trophy with three games remaining, UTA dropped a 6-4 decision to second place California Baptist that lost them that series. A slightly more potent offense and UTA has an outside shot at a regular season title at this point in the season. 

Softball's Changeover

The regular season has concluded for the UT Arlington softball team and for the first time in six years, UTA will have a winning record. At 24-21, regardless of the results in the upcoming Western Athletic Conference tournament, the Mavericks are guaranteed to have more wins than losses. A late 3-8 stretch last year put the UTA one game below .500.

This year came on the strength of a 12-6 conference mark. With a .667 winning percentage, that is the best conference mark since the COVID year's 2-1 mark. The last in a full season was a 20-10 mark in 2011 during the Southland Conference era. In the Sun Belt, there weren't many winning conference seasons, but 2019's 17-10 mark was the high-water mark. It's the first winning WAC season in five tries, including the lone year in 2013.

The results came on the backs of a relentless offense. UTA hit 59 home runs this year, a program best. In the WAC, second-place Tarleton State hit 42 for comparison. What's impressive, is UTA's 45 games played is last in the WAC. The range is a high of 55 by TSU and California Baptist (the top two teams in the WAC standings) to a low of 47 by sixth-place Southern Utah. Keep that in mind for the following stats.

In addition to being first in home runs, UTA sits second in runs with 304, second in RBI with 268, second in slugging percentage at .519, third in hit by pitches at 35 and third in on base percentage at .390. Had they played the same number of games as TSU and CBU, many of those stat categories see UTA at the top. Also note, these numbers were gathered with one game left for every other team in the conference and are subject to change.

With such a dominant performance, of course there will be some players atop the conference.

What about Softball?

Yesterday, I mentioned the UT Arlington baseball team opened conference play this weekend. The softballers, whose season starts a week earlier, are in the middle of Western Athletic Conference play. The season has been interesting, but not the rollercoaster ride of their male diamond counterparts.

At 15-17 on the year, the team has done well in some games, then dropped the ball, intended figuratively, in other games. But, the important record, 4-2 in WAC play is good.

At 192 in RPI, UTA is fifth out of the seven team conference race. UTA beat Abilene Christian at their place 2-1 to start conference play, winning the first two before dropping the rubber match. That formula was repeated in Arlington against Tarleton State. ACU is well below UTA in the RPI rankings currently at 235, compared to UTA’s 192. The Texans, however, are 154. That is a good series win.

Like in years past, this team has strengths and weaknesses. I don’t know what it is, but pitching has been problematic. California Baptist leads the conference with a 3.02 earned run average. Utah Valley is under five and in second place. Southern Utah and TSU are third and fourth with ERA’s in the five. UTA is fifth at 6.52. Utah Tech is a quarter of a run behind and poor ACU is last in the nine’s.

The Confusing Non-Conference

The UT Arlington baseball team begins Western Athletic Conference play this weekend and the results have been mixed to say the least. In fact, this may be the most opposite of seasons I have ever seen in my two and a half decades plus of following UTA Mavericks.

At 11-16, the record certainly reflects a year that has been less than stellar, but it's those weird dichotomies that make this one a headscratcher. To enter into the record: 12 times on the year, UTA has scored three runs or less. They are 1-11 in those games, understandably so. But in games where they scored just one more run, they are 2-2. UTA has scored double digit runs six times, all wins. Proving they can score. There are some weird inconsistencies, as caliber of opponent seems to matter little, as I'll get into shortly.

The pitching staff has allowed three runs or less six times. While not as numerous as the 12 times they scored three or less, that is still a wide difference in runs from offense to defense. Their record in that category is 5-1. When they've allowed exactly four runs, they are 0-2. They have given up double digit runs six times, a 1-5 record.

But the real odd one to me that I just can't explain is a head scratcher to everyone.

Basketball Year End Buzzer

As a fan blog, with no ties to any monetary incentive or fear of displeasing any one group, I can run this blog as I want. As a fan, I can succumb to stupid fan superstitions too. I've done a conference tournament post quite a bit in the past. Since I've started this blog, the UT Arlington men's team has not won the conference tournament. So it has to be me right?

Spoiler, it was not. I will not go into details of the games, but both teams won at least one game in Las Vegas. Depending on your viewpoint, it was a success or shoulder shrug. Depending on the team, the outcome could be a success or a shoulder shrug.

Starting with the men's performance, there was no shocker either way. The seeds held for both games. As the fourth seed, UTA beat the fifth seeded Southern Utah Thunderbirds 69-63 before losing to the top seeded Utah Valley Wolverines, 67-65, ending their season at 18-14. Ironically, the end results were roughly what I expected, but the up and down nature of this year's Mavericks squad meant I wasn't comfortable against SUU. 

It was generally a consistent game as the teams battled in the first half. UTA used a late spurt for a five-point lead. In the second half, they built a short-lived, double-digit lead twice before the Thunderbirds reduced the deficit. However, UTA never coughed up the lead before time expired for the win. Had this performance been more common, the Mavs would have won more than 20 games.

As it is, it was a winning season. K.T. Turner has now done that two times in three years. He is 3-3 in the conference tournament. A title game trip occurred in his first year. A one-and-done marred last year. A .500 trip for a team that went .500 in Western Athletic Conference play looks par for the course.

The last game played for this academic season was both a reassuring sign that Coach Turner punches up in March, but a disappointment as well. 

UTA lost to UVU three times in the regular season. And none were close. In two, UTA had a late run that made a laugher look not as laughable, but UVU was comfortably ahead. Scores in Orem include 86-74 and 81-60. The lone game in Arlington was about the same, 66-54. 

To lose by only two to the regular season champs was a marked improvement. UTA made a furious rally to erase a 16-point UVU lead with nine minutes remaining. Senior forward Raysean Seamster just missed on a desperation three that would have won the game as time expired. The shot was on line, but just a bit short.

And that shot really hits at the disappointment portion. I said on X that the shot represents UTA's basketball history. Just missed. And it applies to many different aspects. 

The Scott Cross firing. He is a coach who won on Texas Hall and still holds so many records and milestones. And he was fired after three twenty-win seasons. 

Or the fact that UTA has played in a conference tournament 39 times since the first SLC postseason event in 1981. They have missed the field six times. They have won it once in 44 eligible seasons. That's a percentage of 2.3 percent. They have won it once in 39 participations, a percentage of 2.6 percent. 19 different teams have won a conference tournament UTA participated, 20 if you count the Mavs lone win in 2008. Their all-time conference tourney record is 24-38.

By round, they are 13-17 in the quarterfinals, a decent 8-8 in the semis and a paltry 1-7 in the finals. That's a winning percentage of 12.5 percent. That's about as close but nope as it gets. If they won it 50/50, they quadruple the all-time tourney appearances. Instead, it was 1/8th of the time. Close but nope.

Now we transition to watching the team get whittled away in the portal. In my chat with the Athletic Director this summer, Jon Fagg said they approach it as an opportunity to get these talented kids for one year, similar to Kentucky from a couple of decades ago. 

And that is the right approach from an administrative level. The portal isn't going away. I wish the one-year sit out rule after the first transfer was still in place, but that's not current events.

But as a fan, I hate it. So mixed with the emotional loss of watching the shot just miss, the immediate thought went to the portal and how bad the roster turnover will be this offseason. While typing this, sophomore guard Cash Chavis has already declared. What could this team have done this year if Chendall Weaver, Makiah Williams and Kade Douglass were still on the roster? I'd wager that is a championship caliber team. 

As it is, the sample size is small, but Coach Turner has fielded competitive teams in this era and Mav fans will cling to the hope it continues.

As for the ladies, a season chock full of disappointing close loss with one bad quarter ruining a good output culminated in a 2-1 run through the WAC tournament. In the first game, the seed held as the sixth-seed Mavs beat the seventh seed Utah Tech Trailblazers 77-73. In the quarterfinals, UTA upset the third seeded Thunderbirds, 70-65. In the semis, Abilene Christian showed they were just a tier above the rest of the WAC, defeating the Mavericks 70-50.

In both wins, it looked like the formula for the season was on the verge of repeating itself. Against UT, they built a 15-point lead in the first quarter, but then coughed it up in the second. By the end of the third quarter, the Mavs trailed for the first time. In most games this season, UTA would play a tough fourth, but just not have enough overall. However, this game was different a s six-point UTA advantage led to a four-point one. Halfway through the final quarter, the Trailblazer lead swelled to seven points. I knew UTA was done. But they proved me a cynicist and went on a 13-5 run to get their first lead of the frame. The Mavs made all seven free throws attempted in the last thirty seconds to keep the lead and seal the win. 

Against SUU, UTA trailed early, but chipped away until a free throw from senior point guard Nya Threatt gave UTA their first lead early in the third. SUU regained it to start the fourth and built a multi-possession lead. Like the previous game, UTA's opponent had a lead under five minutes remaining. Again, I just knew UTA, like they had done many times this year, was about to finish a game on the short end. And again, they proved I was a cynicist when they initiated a 7-3 run after a tie ballgame with two and a half minutes left in the game. Defense won the last 35 seconds as the team only shot four of eight from the free throw line. The defense didn't allow a basket on three shots while also getting a turnover in that time to guarantee they won more games than they lost in the WAC Tournament.

ACU, as expected owned their game start to finish. I thought there clearly was a delineation between the top two teams in the WAC and the remaining five. ACU proved that with the 20-point win. California Baptist proved that on their end as they would win the whole thing.

Historically, this is where I'd point out the potential this team would have in the coming years. While the women don't have the roster turnover by percentage the men do, there's still a lot of movement. UTA lacked a scoring guard this year who could consistently put up points. Former Mav Gia Adams was 11th in scoring for Tarleton State this year. Her 11.7 points per game would have put her second on the team, 2.5 points ahead of Threatt. Since she is a point guard, it is safe to say Adams would have added about three more points for UTA on average at that position. That certainly would have cut into the negative scoring margin of just over six.

But at least the 2-1 run in Las Vegas let Mav fans go to the offseason with a small sense of confidence.