Amid the worst season of his career, Hatcher is let go by Samford
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
Chris Hatcher was in his hometown just five weeks ago, and didn’t sound like somebody concerned about his future when he spoke to the Macon Touchdown Club.
Granted, his 11th Samford team was struggling severely and appeared en route to the worst season in Hatcher’s career. But he was looking at the bright side of a few things, like how this year’s very young team would be older next year.
Hatcher, though, won’t be there to help the young Bulldogs grow. The winningest head coach in Samford history was fired Sunday afternoon by Samford, a day after the Bulldogs lost 38-14 to East Tennessee State to fall to 1-9.
Samford plays Austin Peay this week and closes out the season on Nov. 22 at Texas A&M.
"Coach Hatcher has always represented the university and our football program with dignity and class," Samford athletics director Martin Newton said in the school’s statement making the announcement. “We’ve enjoyed some incredible moments together with our success on the field and in the classroom.
“However, the results on the field the last few seasons have not met our expectations, and it's time to go in a different direction. I wish Chris and his family all the best moving forward and know the Bulldog family is appreciative of all his hard work."
Hatcher departs Samford with a 62-59 record, 47-40 in Southern Conference play. The Bulldogs had seven winning seasons in Hatcher’s 11, which included three trips to the NCAA playoffs and a SoCon championship in 2022 when they finished 11-2, the first double-digit season for wins since 1991, and only second in program history.
Pat Sullivan was Samford’s winningest coach with 47, a number Hatcher passed in 2022. His winning percentage of 51.2 ties Pete Hurt (1994-2001) at No. 11 among coaches with at least three years as a Samford head coach.
Hatcher is 183-116 in 26 years as a college head coach at Valdosta State (76-12), Georgia Southern (18-15), Murray State (27-30), and Samford, where he is the program’s winningest coach.
This is only his seventh losing season as a head coach.
He was dismissed on Nov. 22, 2009 at Georgia Southern after going 18-15 in three seasons. The Eagles spent the next four seasons in the FCS before moving up to the FBS in 2014. Georgia Southern is 73-65 on the FBS level.
The Mount de Sales grad led Valdosta State as a player, passing for 11,363 yards and 121 touchdowns, earning the Harlon Hill Trophy – Division II’s Heisman – in 1994.
The 52-year-old returned to VSU as head coach and led the Blazers to the Division II national title.
While speaking at the Touchdown Club, Hatcher noted some fatherhood issues.
His son Ty is on the coaching staff at Georgia under Kirby Smart, who worked under Hatcher at Valdosta State. His daughter Talley is a high school senior in Birmingham who is headed to Alabama.
Hatcher talked of more time at Samford and of family time.
“When you take the job, you always take it as it’ll be the last job that you'll ever take,” he said. “That's the only fair thing to the university that you work with.
“I've been very blessed, OK? We haven’t had that great a season, but I've been very blessed that I've been able to see my daughter start at the same place starting kindergarten and now be able to finish her senior year in the same school.
“So I'm very blessed.”