Alabama State Hornets football

The Alabama State Hornets are the college football team representing the Alabama State University. The Hornets play in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).

Alabama State Hornets football
2024 Alabama State Hornets football team
First season	1901; 124 years ago
Athletic director	Dr. Jason Cable
Head coach	Eddie Robinson Jr. 4th season, 20–14 (.588)
Stadium	ASU Stadium (capacity: 26,500)
Field surface	FieldTurf
Location	Montgomery, Alabama
NCAA division	Division I FCS
Conference	SWAC
Division	East
All-time record	523–511–41 (.506)
Bowl record	1–0 (1.000)
Claimed national titles	1 (Black College): 1991
Unclaimed national titles	1 (Black College): 2011
Conference titles	2 (SWAC: Championships 1991, 2004)
Division titles	5 (SWAC East: 2001, 2003, 2004, 2010, 2011)
Rivalries	Alabama A&M Bulldogs Tuskegee Golden Tigers
Colors	Black and old gold
Fight song	Hail Alabama
Marching band	Mighty Marching Hornets
Website	bamastatesports.com

Hornet Stadium serves as the facility for Alabama State football games and practices. The 120-yard field turf playing field provides training to ASU football in all weather conditions. In June 2011, construction on the Houston Markham Football Complex was completed. The two-story, 30,000-square-foot facility serves as the new home of the football program.

Conference affiliations

Hornets football players during a game in 2018

• Independent (1901–1912)
• Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (1913–1975)
• NCAA Division II independent (1976–1981)
• Southwestern Athletic Conference (1982–present)

Championships

National

Alabama State has won one national championship.

Year	Coach	Championship	Record
1991	Houston Markham	Black College National Champions	11–0–1

Conference

Alabama State has won six conference championships.^{[citation needed]}

Year	Coach	Conference	Record
1935	Rufus Lewis	Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	9–2–1
1936	Rufus Lewis	Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	6–2–2
1965	Whitney L. Van Cleve	Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Section B	6–4–0
1966	Whitney L. Van Cleve	Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Section B	8–2–0
1991	Houston Markham	Southwestern Athletic Conference	11–0–1
2004	Charles Coe	Southwestern Athletic Conference	10–2
Total Conference Championships:			6

Rivalries

The Magic City Classic is the highest attended and most anticipated regular season ASU football game every year. The Hornets take on in-state rival Alabama A&M Bulldogs in Birmingham, Alabama.

The Turkey Day Classic is an annual event played yearly on Thanksgiving between ASU and another opponent, most recently Prairie View A&M in 2019 and has been played almost consecutively since 1924, except for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alumni in the NFL

Over 20 Alabama State alumni have played in the NFL,^[1] including:

• Reggie Barlow
• Keenan Issac
• Brad Baxter
• Earl Cochran
• Michael Coe
• Isaiah Crowell
• Tytus Howard
• Johnny Huggins
• Tarvaris Jackson
• Greg Jenkins
• Bill Johnson
• Terren Jones
• Zefross Moss
• Eddie Robinson
• Tyrone Rogers
• Ricky Smith
• Jylan Ware

Head coaches

Name	Seasons	Record	Win Pct.
Theodore Bradford	1902–1904	0–2	0.000
J.A. Welton	1905–1908	4–5–1	0.444
John Hope	1909–1916	17–6–1	0.739
"Professor Kilpatrick"	1917–1920	1–3–1	0.250
Ralph Harris	1921–1925	21–13–3	0.618
Bertrand C. Jacobs	1926–1928	16–10–3	0.615
Gaston F. Lewis	1929–1933	31–13–4	0.705
Rufus Lewis	1934–1942	42–32–9	0.568
John Brown	1943, 1945–1948	10–24–1	0.249
Georgie Lockhart & E.B. Campbell a	1944	0–7	0.000
James H. Dixon	1949–1951	5–20–3	0.179
A.E. Simmons	1952–1961	43–40–3	0.500
C.E. Anderson	1962	0–8	0.000
Marino Casem	1963	2–8	0.200
Whitney Van Cleve	1964–1968	35–14–1	0.700
Henry Holbert	1969–1972	21–21	0.500
Willie J. Parker	1973–1976, 1984, 1986	16–38	0.296
George James	1976–1983	43–39–2	0.524
Ron Mitchell (interim)	1985	3–8	0.273
Houston Markham	1987–1997	65–50–4	0.546
Ron Dickerson	1998–1999	7–15	0.318
L.C. Cole	2000–2002	20–15	0.571
Charles Coe III	2003–2006	29–18	0.617
Reggie Barlow	2006–2014	49–42	0.538
Brian Jenkins	2015–2017	10–17	0.370
Donald Hill-Eley	2017–2021	20–21	0.488
Travis Pearson (interim)	2021	2–2	0.500
Eddie Robinson	2022–	13–9	0.591

Future non-conference opponents

Announced schedules as of March 7, 2025^[2]

2025	2026	2027
at UAB	at Troy	vs South Carolina State (Atlanta, GA) MEAC/SWAC Challenge
at Southern	at South Carolina State
Miles College
Tuskegee

Notes

^a At an unknown point in the 1944 season, Georgie Lockhart was replaced by E.B. Campbell. Both coaches share credit for the 1944 season.^[3]