Chris Hatcher Out as Samford’s Head Coach
Amidst a 1-9 season with two games remaining, Samford has relieved head football coach Chris Hatcher of his duties per a university release on Sunday. Samford is 2-13 in their last 15 games and every loss this season has been by double digits.
Here is Samford VP for Intercollegiate Athletics Martin Newton on the firing of Hatcher.
"Coach Hatcher has always represented the university and our football program with dignity and class," Samford VP for Intercollegiate Athletics Martin Newton said. "We've enjoyed some incredible moments together with our success on the field and in the classroom. However, the results on the field the last few seasons have not met our expectations, and it's time to go in a different direction. I wish Chris and his family all the best moving forward and know the Bulldog family is appreciative of all his hard work."
In his 11 seasons, Hatcher compiled a 62-59 record with one Southern Conference championship and three FCS Playoff appearances. In 2022, Samford went undefeated in Southern Conference play winning 11 games total en route to a FCS Playoff quarterfinal appearance.
62 wins is the most by a head coach in Samford history.
However, since 2022, Samford has gone 5-16 and just lost their ninth game in 2025. Samford lost at home to ETSU on Saturday 38-14 finishing winless at home this season.
Samford’s once high-flying offense has seen significant regression over the past two seasons. The 14 points that Samford scored on Saturday were the most they scored in five home games this season.
Here is how many points per game Samford has averaged in the last four seasons.
2022: 32.7 PPG
2023: 29 PPG
2024: 24.3 PPG
2025 (10 games): 15.9 PPG
Here is what Samford President Beck Taylor told us on the State of the Bulldogs Podcast about Samford wanting to be good at football.
“Obviously we’ve got to be good at football”, said Taylor. “I'm a big football fan and Samford's got an interesting story in football and its history, but I think certainly now, I think our fans expect and deserve a good product on the football field and we're all in on that. Football is certainly our biggest investment, if you all in in terms of resources. We want to put a quality product on the field. We want to make deep runs in the FCS playoffs.”
An interim coach will be named at a later date and a national search will begin immediately per the university.
