NEW ORLEANS — Texas State seemed poised for its best Sun Belt season last year. The Bobcats had won seven games the year before, and their first bowl game as an FBS member was a minimum expectation.
But the Bobcats sputtered to a 3-9 season, which included a 2-6 Sun Belt mark and the eventual resignation of Coach Dennis Franchione.
Now, under new Coach Everett Withers, the Bobcats have gone from on the cusp to challenging for the top spot to starting over in just one season.
Will it work? No way to know just yet. But even Withers, who was hired from James Madison, didn't spend his stint at Sun Belt media day preaching a quick fix.
"Everybody is going to look at wins and losses," he said. "We look at things that we're going to grow our football program with: discipline, toughness, relentlessness and focus. ... If we can build that in our program — the toughness, the discipline, being a relentless team and being a focused team — then to me the wins will start taking care of itself."
The start began with scrapping a roster that was depleted of players who helped Texas State win six games in 2013 and seven games in 2014. Withers said "45 percent" of Texas State's roster was turned over in the offseason. The biggest losses, perhaps, came last month when he dismissed receivers Justin Gamble, Demun Mercer and Brice Gunter. Mercer was Texas State's leading returning receiver, and after the loss of the team's top four receivers from last year, the other two were expected to help add depth.
But Withers didn't bring up the loss of the receivers at media day and didn't express remorse about an inexperienced roster; rather, he tried to put a positive spin on the opportunity of starting over. The Bobcats have nine returning starters, the least in the Sun Belt.
"We'll be a young football team," he said. "That's by design. So we can grow those guys in our philosophy and in our culture."
Withers at least has a starting quarterback to work with on offense. Senior Tyler Jones has started 31 games and is a career 61.9 percent passer with 44 touchdowns and 22 interceptions. But Texas State doesn't have a single receiver who caught a pass last year and also lost its leading rusher in Robert Lowe and three starters on the offensive line.
Withers has installed a 3-4 defense to a group that returns six starters.
"Very unproven on defense," he said. "But I think that's not always a bad thing."
FOOTBALL PREVIEWS
Arkansas State reporter Troy Schulte previewed each team in the Sun Belt conference. Read each one below:
Texas State at a glance
2015 RECORD 3-9, 2-6
ALL-TIME SUN BELT RECORD 9-14, in three seasons
COACH Everett Withers (25-13 in fourth season overall, 0-0 in first season at Texas State)
RETURNING STARTERS Nine (three on offense, six on defense)
KEY PLAYERS QB Tyler Jones, OL Ryan Melton, DB Javante O'Roy, P Lumi Kaba
KEY LOSSES RB Robert Lowe, WR C.J. Best, WR Jafus Gaines, OL Adrian Bellard
TITLE SCENARIO Texas State has a favorable end to the schedule, with four of its last six games at home, including a season-ending game against Arkansas State. But getting to that stretch run with stakes still to play for is the challenge. The Bobcats play at Arkansas and host Houston in the nonconference before opening their Sun Belt schedule with road games at Georgia State and Louisiana-Monroe. The Bobcats missed out on playing Georgia Southern, which it lost to 37-13 last year, but has to play at Sun Belt favorite Appalachian State and also at New Mexico State to play Larry Rose III, the Offensive Player of the Year. The Bobcats didn't win a road game last year, which followed a season in which it won four of its seven games away from San Marcos.