Western Illinois Leathernecks football

The Western Illinois Leathernecks football program is the intercollegiate American football team for Western Illinois University located in Macomb, Illinois.^[2][3] The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). They are members of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC), and play their games as part of the OVC–Big South Football Association, which combines teams from the Ohio Valley and Big South conferences. The team plays its home games at the 16,368 seat Hanson Field.

Western Illinois Leathernecks football
2025 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team
First season	1902; 123 years ago
Athletic director	Paul Bubb
Head coach	Joe Davis 1st season, 4–8 (.333)
Stadium	Hanson Field (capacity: 16,368)
Year built	1950
Field surface	Matrix Turf
Location	Macomb, Illinois
NCAA division	Division I FCS
Conference	OVC–Big South
All-time record	512–444–38 (.534)
Bowl record	2–1 (.667)
Playoff appearances	1 (NCAA Division II) 1973 11 (NCAA Division I) 1988, 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2010, 2015, 2017
Playoff record	0–1 (NCAA Division II) 7–11 (NCAA Division I)
Conference titles	13 1939, 1942, 1949, 1958, 1959, 1964, 1969, 1981, 1988, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002
Colors	Purple and gold[1]
Fight song	We're Marching On
Mascot	Colonel Rock (live Bulldog), Rocky (costumed Bulldog)
Marching band	Western Illinois University Marching Leathernecks
Outfitter	Adidas
Website	goleathernecks.com

Western Illinois Leathernecks

History

See also: List of Western Illinois Leathernecks in the NFL draft

Western Illinois had an unofficial football team in 1902, the year the school was established. The team played four games against regional high schools and the Western Illinois Normal & Business Institute going 2–2. In 1903, the school formed an athletic association for the fall football season, which is considered the official beginning of Western Illinois football by the school.^[4]

The team adopted its nickname in 1927 when coach Ray Hanson, a decorated officer in the United States Marine Corps, asked the U.S. Navy for permission to use the Corps' Fighting Leathernecks nickname and logo for his team. Western Illinois is the only college which officially takes its nickname from a branch of the U.S. military.^[5]

From 2008 through 2023, the Leathernecks were members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The university announced on May 12, 2023 that its football program would remain in the MVFC through the autumn of 2023 before joining the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) in 2024. The remainder of the Leathernecks' athletic programs transitioned to the OVC one year prior, on July 1, 2023.^[6]

Conference affiliations

Years	Conference	Classification
1902–1913	Independent
1914–1949	Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic
1950–1969	Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic	NCAA College Division
1970–1972	Independent
1973–1977	Independent	Division II
1978–1980	Mid-Continent
1981–1984		Division I-AA
1985–2005	Gateway Football
2006–2007		Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS)
2008–2023	Missouri Valley Football
2024–future	Ohio Valley

Championships

Conference championships

Years	Conference	Overall Record	Conference Record
1939	Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	5–1–1	2–0–1
1942	Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	5–0–2	3–0–1
1949	Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	9–1–0	4–0
1958	Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	6–1–1	5–1
1959	Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	9–0–0	6–0
1964†	Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	6–3–0	3–1
1969	Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	8–2–0	3–0
1981†	Mid-Continent	5–6	2–1
1988	Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference	10–2–0	6–0
1997	Gateway Football Conference	8–3	4–1
1998	Gateway Football Conference	11–2	6–0
2000	Gateway Football Conference	9–3	5–1
2002†	Gateway Football Conference	11–2	6–1

† Co-championship

Playoffs and bowls

Playoffs

Season	Result	Classification
1973	First Round	NCAA Division II Playoffs
1988	First Round	NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs
1991	First Round	NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs
1996	First Round	NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs
1997	Quarterfinals	NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs	(Pecan Bowl)
1998	Semifinals	NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs	(Pecan Bowl)
2000	First Round	NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs
2002	Quarterfinals	NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs	(Pecan Bowl)
2003	Quarterfinals	NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs	(Pecan Bowl)
2010	Second Round	NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs
2015	Second Round	NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs
2017	First Round	NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs

*Note: Since 1981, the NCAA Division I-AA/Division I FCS Playoffs Regional Championships were commonly referred to as the Boardwalk Bowl (East Region Championship), Pecan Bowl (Midwest Region Championship), Grantland Rice Bowl (South Region Championship), and Camellia Bowl (West Region Championship).

Bowl games

Season	Bowl	Opponent	Result
1949	Corn Bowl	Wheaton	W 13–0
1953	Corn Bowl	Iowa Wesleyan	W 32–0
1955	Corn Bowl	Luther	L 20–24

Head coaches

Years	Name
1902–1903	Unknown
1904	L. H. Laughlin
1905	A. Laughlin
1906, 1910	Oliver Morton Dickerson
1907–1908	Charles A. Barnett
1909	Francis Taft
1911	Albert Walrath
1912–1913	Unknown
1914	Edward S. Dowell
1915	Unknown
1916–1917, 1919	Erskine Jay
1918	No team
1920–1921	W. A. Cleveland
1922–1925	Howard Hawkes
1926–1941	Ray Hanson
1942–1943	Wix Garner
1944	Bob Barnwell
1945–1947	Wix Garner
1948	Harold Ave
1949–1953	Vince DiFrancesca
1954–1956	Wes Stevens
1957–1959	Lou Saban
1960–1968	Art Dufelmeier
1969–1973	Darrell Mudra
1974–1975	Brodie Westen
1976–1978	Bill Shanahan
1979–1982	Pete Rodriguez
1983–1989	Bruce Craddock
1990–1998	Randy Ball
1999–2009	Don Patterson
2008–2012†	Mark Hendrickson
2013–2015	Bob Nielson
2016–2017	Charlie Fisher
2018–2021	Jared Elliott
2022–2023	Myers Hendrickson

† Acting head coach first seven games of 2008 season and last eight games of 2009 season.

Season records

Year	Overall record	Conference record	Standing (Total teams)
1903	0–3	–	–
1904	5–2	–	–
1905	4–2	–	–
1906	1–4	–	–
1907	2–3	–	–
1908	2–3–1	–	–
1909	2–3	–	–
1910	4–1–1	–	–
1911	4–3	–	–
1912	4–3	–	–
1913	5–3	–	–
1914	3–2–1	0–1	T-14th (15)
1915	1–5	0–4	T-16th (28)
1916	1–7–1	0–5	T-18th (19)
1917	2–4	1–4	13th (18)
1918	No games played	N/A	N/A
1919	5–2	1–2	16th (19)
1920	0–3–1	0–2–1	T-17th (21)
1921	3–3–1	1–2	T-16th (23)
1922	6–2	2–1	T-6th (23)
1923	1–6–1	1–4–1	20th (23)
1924	4–3	3–3	8th (22)
1925	4–3–1	4–3–1	9th (22)
1926	4–3–1	4–3	8th (19)
1927	6–3–1	4–3–1	9th (16)
1928	2–3–3	2–3–2	14th (22)
1929	3–5[Note A]	2–5	18th (23)
1930	4–4	3–4	15th (22)
1931	2–6	2–4	18th (22)
1932	4–2–1	4–2–1	7th (21)
1933	3–5	2–4	16th (21)
1934	5–3	4–2	T-6th (20)
1935	2–6	1–6	17th (20)
1936	3–2–2	3–2–1	T-7th (21)
1937	3–4–1	3–1–1	6th (21)
1938	6–2	2–1	4th (8)
1939	5–1–1	2–0–1	1st (5)
1940	1–6–1	0–3–1	4th (5)
1941	3–4–1	1–2–1	4th (5)
1942	5–0–2	3–0–1	1st (5)
1943	1–6	0–4	4th (5)
1944	0–8	0–4	4th (5)
1945	1–5–1	0–3–1	T-3rd (5)
1946	2–6	0–4	4th (5)
1947	4–4–1	0–4	4th (5)
1948	4–4	1–3	3rd (5)
1949	9–1	4–0	1st (5)
1950	7–1	4–1	2nd (7)
1951	7–1–1	4–1–1	2nd (7)
1952	7–2	5–1	2nd (7)
1953	8–2	5–1	2nd (7)
1954	6–1–3	3–1–2	3rd (7)
1955	5–4–1	2–3–1	T-4th (7)
1956	6–3	4–2	2nd (7)
1957	5–4	4–2	T-2nd (7)
1958	6–1–1	5–1	1st (7)
1959	9–0	6–0	1st (7)
1960	6–2	5–1	2nd (7)
1961	5–3	4–2	T-2nd (7)
1962	5–3	2–2	3rd (5)
1963	6–3	3–1	2nd (5)
1964	6–3	3–1	T-1st (5)
1965	4–5	2–2	3rd (5)
1966	1–7–1	1–2	3rd (4)
1967	2–6	1–2	T-3rd (4)
1968	2–7–1	1–2	T-3rd (4)
1969	8–2	3–0	1st (4)
1970	7–3	–	–
1971	8–2	–	–
1972	9–2	–	–
1973	7–4	–	–
1974	7–3	–	–
1975	5–4–1	–	–
1976	7–3	–	–
1977	3–7	–	–
1978	3–6–1	1–3–1	T-4th (6)
1979	3–8	1–4	5th (6)
1980	4–6	0–4	5th (5)
1981	5–6	2–1	2nd (4)
1982	2–8	0–3	4th (4)
1983	3–8	0–3	4th (4)
1984	6–4–1	0–2–1	4th (4)
1985	6–5	2–3	3rd (6)
1986	6–5	2–4	5th (7)
1987	7–4	5–1	2nd (7)
1988	10–2	6–0	1st (7)
1989	4–7	1–5	6th (7)
1990	3–8	3–3	5th (7)
1991	7–4–1	4–2	3rd (7)
1992	7–4	4–2	2nd (7)
1993	4–7	4–2	3rd (7)
1994	8–3	4–2	2nd (7)
1995	4–7	2–4	6th (7)
1996	9–3	3–2	2nd (6)
1997	11–2	6–0	1st (7)
1998	11–3	5–1	1st (7)
1999	7–4	2–4	4th (7)
2000	9–3	5–1	1st (7)
2001	5–5	4–3	4th (8)
2002	11–2	6–1	1st (8)
2003	9–4	5–2	3rd (8)
2004	4–7	2–5	5th (8)
2005	5–6	3–4	5th (8)
2006	5–6	2–5	6th (8)
2007	6–5	3–3	4th (7)
2008	6–5	4–4	4th (9)
2009	1–10	0–8	9th (9)
2010	8–5	5–3	2nd (9)
2011	2–9	1–7	9th (9)
2012	3–8	1–7	9th (10)
2013	4–8	2–6	9th (10)
2014	5–7	3–5	8th (10)
2015	7–6	5–3	5th (10)
2016	6–6	4–4	6th (10)
2017	8–4	5–3	4th (10)
2018	5–6	4–4	5th (10)
2019	1–11	1–7	10th (10)
2020	1–5	1–5	9th (10)
2021	2–9	2–6	11th (11)
2022	0–11	0–8	11th (11)
2023	0–11	0–8	11th (11)
2024	4–8	3–6	6th (9)

^A. Adjusted record is 0–8 (3 wins vacated). After the season Western was forced to vacate their wins due to an ineligible player.

^[7][8]

Individual accomplishments

Award winners

• Walter Payton Award finalists

  Paul Singer – 1988 . . . 2nd

  Aaron Stecker – 1997...2nd

  Charles Tharp – 2000...8th

  Russ Michna – 2003...6th

  Herb Donaldson – 2007...13th

  Herb Donaldson – 2008...3rd

• Buck Buchanan Award

  James Milton – 1998

  Edgerton Hartwell – 2000

• Buck Buchanan Award finalists

  Cyron Brown – 1997...3rd

  Edgerton Hartwell – 1999...5th

  Lee Russell – 2002...6th

  Lee Russell – 2003...5th

  Jason Williams – 2008...4th

  Kyle Glazier – 2010...T-2nd

  Brett Taylor – 2016...7th

  Brett Taylor – 2017...2nd

  Darius Joiner – 2021...6th

• Eddie Robinson Award finalists

  Randy Ball – 1997...6th

  Randy Ball – 1998...5th

  Don Patterson – 2000...13th

  Don Patterson – 2002...3rd

  Mark Hendrickson – 2010...2nd

College Football Hall of Fame members

Name	Position	Years	Inducted	Ref.
Darrell Mudra	Coach	1969–1973	2000	[9]

Future non-conference opponents

Announced schedules as of July 25, 2025.^[10]

2025	2026	2027	2028	2029	2030	2031
at Illinois	at Wisconsin	at Oklahoma State	at Purdue	at Wyoming	at Indiana State	at Northwestern
at Northwestern	Morehead State	Dayton		Indiana State
Valparaiso
at Eastern Washington

Notable former players

Notable alumni

Jaelon Acklin Don Beebe David Bowens Fabien Bownes Sam Clemons Bryan Cox Booker Edgerson Larry Garron Don Greco Rodney Harrison

Edgerton Hartwell Frisman Jackson Leroy Jackson William James Rob Lazeo Lance Lenoir Lamar McGriggs Russ Michna Red Miller Dennis Morgan

J. R. Niklos Khalen Saunders Mike Scifres Rich Seubert Paul Singer Aaron Stecker John Teerlinck Marco Thomas Mike Wagner Jason Williams Frank Winters

See also

• Western Illinois Leathernecks
• List of NCAA Division I FCS football programs