Expectations have been high at Stephen F. Austin since Colby Carthel arrived after the 2018 season. In addition to the excitement of bringing in a coach and most of his staff who won an NCAA Division II national title in 2017, the Lumberjacks' new coaching staff has signed some of the FCS’ top recruiting classes.

An 8-4 campaign with an overtime loss to UIW in the 2021 FCS playoffs only increased expectations. Some wondered whether winning the program’s first conference championship since 2010, when the Jacks secured the Western Athletic Conference title in 2022, was enough.

SFA was picked to finish fourth in the newly formed United Athletic Conference entering 2023. However, the ‘Jacks finished the season with six consecutive losses, which caused Carthel and his staff to undergo a period of introspection.

“When you go 3-8 like we did last year and you’re not as successful as you want to be, you have to look in the mirror first,” Carthel said. “I think I was a little slow to adjust to the change of direction college football has taken with the Transfer Portal. I don’t like change. I was depressed when I graduated high school and got depressed when a college roommate moved out. But you can’t expect to not experience change every year in today’s college football.”

Losing coaches and players has become the norm at SFA. Other schools began hiring Lumberjack assistant coaches and staff after seeing the success they’d built in four years. Losing coaches combined with players choosing to follow those coaches to the FBS left the Lumberjacks short of the depth necessary to compete in the UAC.

“What hurt us with so much staff turnover was our recruiting. We lost eight full-time coaches during two recruiting cycles in a row,” Carthel said. “We were able to retain some of our scholarship guys, but what hurt the most was losing a lot of PWOs (Priority Walk-Ons). Those are your program guys. They are here because of their relationships with the position coaches. That hurt our depth quite a bit last fall.”

One change Carthel made was splitting up the East Texas recruiting area among multiple coaches. Another change focused on recruiting high school players used to winning at the highest levels.

“We signed a bunch of state champions or guys that played for a state title or in the semifinals,” he said. “We also wanted more of the East Texas tough kids from the Piney Woods. We had more wins in recruiting East Texas than we’d had in a couple of years, and it wasn’t scientific. We lost our East Texas recruiter two years in a row, so we broke that up to give each coach about 15-20 schools.”

A surprising change made by Carthel during the offseason was at offensive coordinator. He parted ways with Matt Storm after the two spent the last 12 years together on staff. Carthel hired Chris Ross, who holds a 190-82 record as a head coach with stops at Wichita Falls, Cedar Park, Leander, Prosper, Red Oak, and Lovejoy.

“We hired Mr. Texas Football is what we did,” Carthel said. “We’re fired up to have him. I’ve known Chris for a long time, and I have always wanted to get him on my staff because he’s a great offensive mind and a program builder. He’s a coach builder and a people builder. He is passionate about helping others grow and be the best version they can be. I believe in swinging for the fence. We hit a home run with Chris Ross, and I don’t think that ball has landed yet.”

One more change came during spring practice, where the Lumberjacks focused on being physical.

“To be honest, I lost track of who we were a little bit, and maybe we were trying to be something we weren’t here at SFA,” Carthel said. “We hit the reset button, and we’ll get back to who we are and where we want to be. These Piney Woods have that red dirt mindset. We may not have all the bells and whistles, but we can be tougher. So, we cranked things up a bit in our offseason and practice.”

DCTF’s Take

No one understands more than Colby Carthel that SFA didn’t reach its standard last season. But that’s good because Carthel took the time to examine the program and realize that some changes were needed. One of Carthlel’s best personality traits is his loyalty. But every strength comes with weaknesses, and the Lumberjacks offense needed a new voice.

New offensive coordinator Chris Ross will provide the boost the offense needs, but the change most likely to make the most significant difference is the physicality and competition at practice. A refocused Lumberjack team bringing that red dirt mentality to each game should have every team on SFA’s schedule taking notice.