# Nelson Lions football

The Nelson Lions football team represents Nelson University (formerly Southwestern Assemblies of God University) in college football in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The Lions are members of the Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC), fielding its team in the GPAC since 2013. The Lions play their home games at Lumpkins Stadium in Waxahachie, Texas.
Their head coach is Jared Hudgins, who took over the position for the 2024 season.

## Conference affiliations

* NCCAA independent (1996–1997)
* NAIA independent (1998–1999, 2005–2007, 2012)
* Central States Football League (2000–2004, 2008–2017)
* Sooner Athletic Conference (2018–present)

## List of head coaches
### Key

Key to symbols in coaches list :
| General | General | Overall | Overall | Conference | Conference | Postseason | Postseason |
| No. | Order of coaches | GC | Games coached | CW | Conference wins | PW | Postseason wins |
| DC | Division championships | OW | Overall wins | CL | Conference losses | PL | Postseason losses |
| CC | Conference championships | OL | Overall losses | CT | Conference ties | PT | Postseason ties |
| NC | National championships | OT | Overall ties | C% | Conference winning percentage | | |
| † | Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame | O% | Overall winning percentage | | | | |

### Coaches

List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records and conference records :
| No. | Name | Season(s) | GC | OW | OL | OT | O% | CW | CL | CT | C% |
| 1 | John Allen | 1996–1997 | 13 | 2 | 9 | 2 | 0.231 | — | — | — | – |
| 2 | Tommy Sugg | 1998 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0.200 | — | — | — | – |
| 3 | Paul Burgard | 1999 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 0.100 | — | — | — | – |
| 4 | Tim Truman | 2000–2001 | 20 | 3 | 17 | 0 | 0.150 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0.111 |
| 5 | Jesse Godding | 2002–2014 | 137 | 43 | 94 | 0 | 0.314 | 12 | 24 | 0 | 0.333 |
| 6 | Frank Tristan | 2015–2017 | 32 | 20 | 12 | 0 | 0.625 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 0.650 |
| 7 | Ryan Smith | 2018–2021 | 37 | 18 | 19 | 0 | 0.486 | 13 | 19 | 0 | 0.406 |
| 8 | Greg Ellis | 2022–present | 13 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 0.615 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0.600 |

## Year-by-year results

| National champions | Conference champions | Bowl game berth | Playoff berth |
| Season | Year | Head coach | Association | Division | Conference | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Postseason | Final ranking |
| Season | Year | Head coach | Association | Division | Conference | Overall | Overall | Overall | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | | | Postseason | Final ranking |
| Season | Year | Head coach | Association | Division | Conference | Win | Loss | Tie | Finish | Win | Loss | Tie | Postseason | Final ranking |
| Nelson Lions |||||||||||||||
| 1996 | 1996 | John Allen | NCCAA | — | Independent | 1 | 3 | 1 | | | | | — | — |
| 1997 | 1997 | John Allen | NCCAA | — | Independent | 1 | 6 | 0 | | | | | — | — |
| 1998 | 1998 | Tommy Sugg | NAIA | — | Independent | 2 | 8 | 0 | | | | | — | — |
| 1999 | 1999 | Paul Burgard | NAIA | — | Independent | 1 | 9 | 0 | | | | | — | — |
| 2000 | 2000 | Tim Truman | NAIA | — | CSFL | 2 | 8 | 0 | 6th | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | — |
| 2001 | 2001 | Tim Truman | NAIA | — | CSFL | 1 | 9 | 0 | 4th | 1 | 3 | 0 | — | — |
| 2002 | 2002 | Jesse Godding | NAIA | — | CSFL | 0 | 9 | 0 | N/A | | | | — | — |
| 2003 | 2003 | Jesse Godding | NAIA | — | CSFL | 2 | 8 | 0 | T–5th | 1 | 4 | 0 | — | — |
| 2004 | 2004 | Jesse Godding | NAIA | — | CSFL | 1 | 10 | 0 | 7th | 0 | 6 | 0 | — | — |
| 2005 | 2005 | Jesse Godding | NAIA | — | Independent | 2 | 8 | 0 | | | | | — | — |
| 2006 | 2006 | Jesse Godding | NAIA | — | Independent | 2 | 8 | 0 | | | | | — | — |
| 2007 | 2007 | Jesse Godding | NAIA | — | Independent | 1 | 9 | 0 | | | | | — | — |
| 2008 | 2008 | Jesse Godding | NAIA | — | Independent | 4 | 5 | 0 | | | | | — | — |
| 2009 | 2009 | Jesse Godding | NAIA | — | CSFL | 3 | 7 | 0 | 4th | 2 | 3 | 0 | — | — |
| 2010 | 2010 | Jesse Godding | NAIA | — | CSFL | 2 | 8 | 0 | 7th | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | — |
| 2011 | 2011 | Jesse Godding | NAIA | — | CSFL | 4 | 6 | 0 | 5th | 1 | 4 | 0 | — | — |
| 2012 | 2012 | Jesse Godding | NAIA | — | Independent | 4 | 6 | 0 | | | | | — | — |
| 2013 | 2013 | Jesse Godding | NAIA | — | CSFL | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2nd | 4 | 1 | 0 | — | — |
| 2014 | 2014 | Jesse Godding | NAIA | — | CSFL | 4 | 6 | 0 | 2nd | 4 | 1 | 0 | — | — |
| 2015 | 2015 | Frank Tristan | NAIA | — | CSFL | 8 | 3 | 0 | 3rd | 4 | 2 | 0 | Won 2015 Victory Bowl | — |
| 2016 | 2016 | Frank Tristan | NAIA | — | CSFL | 4 | 6 | 0 | T–4th | 2 | 4 | 0 | — | — |
| 2017 | 2017 | Frank Tristan | NAIA | — | CSFL | 8 | 3 | 0 | 2nd | 7 | 1 | 0 | Lost 2017 Victory Bowl | 19 |
| 2018 | 2018 | Ryan Smith | NAIA | — | SAC | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5th | 4 | 4 | 0 | — | — |
| 2019 | 2019 | Ryan Smith | NAIA | — | SAC | 0 | 8 | 0 | 9th | 0 | 10 | 0 | — | — |
| 2020 | 2019 | Ryan Smith | NAIA | — | SAC | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3rd | 3 | 2 | 0 | — | — |
| 2021 | 2021 | Ryan Smith | NAIA | — | SAC | 9 | 3 | 0 | T–4th | 6 | 3 | 0 | Won 2021 Victory Bowl | — |
| 2022 | 2022 | Greg Ellis | NAIA | — | SAC | 7 | 3 | 0 | T–4th | 6 | 3 | 0 | Lost 2022 Victory Bowl | — |
| 2023 | 2023 | Greg Ellis | NAIA | — | SAC | 4 | 6 | 0 | 6th | 4 | 5 | 0 | — | — |
| Nelson Lions |||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 2024 | Jared Hudgins | NAIA | — | SAC | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — |