Southland Conference

Houston Christian released its spring practice schedule. HCU held its first scrimmage last Saturday and will have another scrimmage on Saturday, April 15, at 10 a.m., with the spring game scheduled for April 22 at 10 a.m. All practices and scrimmages are open to the public.

Lamar began the first of its 15 spring practices last Tuesday. The Cardinals spring game is scheduled for Friday, April 28, at 6 p.m. According to a release, Lamar is returning 24 players on offense and 23 players on defense from last year’s roster, including the Cardinals top passer, top five leading rushers, two of the top three leading receivers, and three of their top five tacklers from a year ago.

Following a 10-month search, Texas A&M-Commerce has named Jim Curry as director of athletics. Curry brings over 17 years of experience at the Division I level, including spending the last 11 years at Florida State. He served as the Seminoles senior associate athletics director since 2016 and oversaw the football, women’s basketball, women’s soccer, and men’s and women’s tennis programs. 

Western Athletic Conference

Stephen F. Austin officially added three members to its coaching staff before the start of spring practice. Mike Mutz will serve as defensive coordinator after serving the last seven years as the linebacker coach at Tulane. Kirby Ennis will coach the outside linebackers and was a defensive line assistant last year at Texas Tech. Ty Warren was added to coach the defensive line and serve as the run game coordinator.

UTRGV released renderings of the soon-to-be-constructed Vaqueros Performance Center. The performance center is a 45,000+ square foot facility that will be north of the Vaqueros baseball stadium and will house the football program. The center will house multiple sports upon completion, expected by fall 2025. Two practice fields will be available for football and soccer and are expected to be completed by the summer of 2024. One field will be natural grass, and one will consist of synthetic turf.

Lone Star Conference

The Lone Star Conference was dealt a blow to its 2023 football schedule when Simon Fraser announced it was immediately discontinuing football. The move comes after the LSC had told the Red Leafs that they would not be an affiliate member for football after this season. Each team will now decide whether to fill the hole in their schedule or use it as a bye week. Hardin-Simmons coach Jesse Burleson is still looking to complete his schedule and has expressed the Cowboys have possible open dates for Sept. 16, Sept. 23, and Oct. 14.

Texas A&M-Kingsville finalized its 2023 schedule with the addition of a home-and-home series against West Georgia. The Javelinas will host the Wolves in Week 2 this season. West Georgia finished 8-2 last year and ended the season on a five-game win streak, including a road win over No. 6 Delta State. The Javelinas won their first seven games last year and earned a berth in the FunTown RV Heritage Bowl.

American Southwest Conference

Howard Payne announced its 2023 schedule featuring three non-conference games. The Yellow Jackets will open the season in Newberg, Ore., against George Fox before hosting SAGU and Lyon in weeks two and three. HPU opens conference play at Hardin-Simmons and closes the regular season with a home game against Mary Hardin-Baylor.