History of the Lions

The history of Texas A&M Commerce dates back to 1889 when it was founded as East Texas Normal College by former Confederate soldiers who wanted to provide educational opportunities for rural Texans after Reconstruction ended. In 1917, it became East Texas State Teachers College before changing its name again to East Texas State University in 1965 following its transition into a comprehensive university offering both bachelor’s and master’s degrees programs across multiple disciplines including business administration and engineering technology.

In 1996, East Texan State University merged with nearby Sam Houston State University becoming part of what is now known as today's TAMUC (Texas A&M-Commerce). As part of this merger agreement on athletics between both schools, they decided that ETSU would keep their athletic program while SHSU will start up theirs all over again which led to them having no intercollegiate sports teams until 2003 when they started competing at the NAIA level then finally joining NCAA DII level six years later where we find them today still trying hard every season making sure they fight tooth & nail for each game win so that one day soon enough can make another run towards another National Championship title like those ones achieved during 1986 & 1989 respectively under head coach Eddie Vowell's era leading his players through several successful campaigns along his tenure.

Overall, the success story behind TAMUC Football Program has been written by many generations but always leaves us wanting more out there due to all those great memories left behind through time thanks mostly because of all these dedicated student-athletes coming together year after year representing proudly not just themselves but also everyone else around them striving every day towards excellence even if sometimes things don't go exactly how you planned or expected.