Samford’s Newton Addresses Coaching Change and SeArch For New hire
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - November 13, 2025
Samford is in search of a head football coach for the first time since Chris Hatcher was hired to replace Pat Sullivan on Dec. 10, 2014. Hatcher was 62-59 during his time at Samford and led the Bulldogs to three FCS playoff appearances, including a trip to the quarterfinals in 2022.
Samford athletic director Martin Newton met with media members on Tuesday to talk about what Hatcher meant to the Bulldogs football program and what is ahead in the coaching search.
Opening statement: I think first of all, I want to thank Coach Hatcher. He was here for 11 years and did a tremendous job of representing this university in everything he did, how he graduated players. We had some fun exciting times, the 11-2 season (in 2022). So, there was a lot of excitement. Being the all-time winningest coach (at Samford) was a testament to his ability to coach. I'm really thankful and grateful to him for all that he did here and how he represented Samford University. He's a man of great character and class and a really good football coach. We wish he and his family the best.”
On some of his reasons for the decision: “I think just the record obviously. I mean we came off an unbelievable 11-2 season and I think we were 11-21 since then. I think that just consistency. The hardest part you know is the transfer portal at this level has really affected things because it used to be you could get kids that would transfer down from the FBS and play at this level immediately. Well now that they can transfer FBS to FBS (with immediate eligibility), you're not getting as many of those kids. So having to adjust how you play, how you scheme, how you do things has been a real challenge for FCS programs. I think Coach Hatcher did a tremendous job especially that first year of hitting right in the portal (in 2022). But I think we may have made some misses and again I think it was a consistency thing more than anything else. Look, the guy can coach football, he's won a national championship at the Division II two level, so that's not a question. I just think there was the lack of consistency.”
On when the decision was made: “I think with anything, especially at a place like Samford it's not just about wins and losses. Don't get me wrong, we want to win. We’ve won more championships in the Southern Conference than anybody in the last 12 years, so winning is important. And I have a president whose expectations for this university and everything we do is about excellence. You just drive around this campus now you see 300 million dollars worth of construction and new dorms, new rec centers. Excellence is important here but there's more to it than that. It's about fit, it's about understanding the beliefs and the missions of this university and I think Hatch embodied all those things. But last year we were 4-7 and the product on the field we weren't competitive and then this year was kind of the same thing. We just weren't competitive. We started off the season with a tough loss to West Georgia who ended up being a really good team but then as we got into conference play we still weren't competitive. Coach Hatcher and I had these conversations about we’ve got to be more competitive. We've got a great fan base and we've got people in this community that really support us and as we kind of saw that it was not going in that direction Dr. Taylor and I had conversations. We felt like he deserved to go out the way he wanted to go out because he was the all-time winningest coach here. But at the end of the day, I told Coach Hatcher that the minute that I knew 100%, that I'd be brutally honest with him and tell him, rather than dragging on to the end of the season. We had the meeting after our last conference game against ETSU. It was to say at the end of the season that we're gonna go a different direction. And so again, I have nothing but gratitude for Coach Hatcher and I feel like he and I have a good relationship. He's a good man, a great father, a great person and so I'm wishing him the best.”
On the growing trend of replacing coaches during the season: “Yeah, you know, again, what the expectation was and the hope was is that he would stay in coach throughout the end of the season. But I think he just felt like he couldn't give it 110 percent knowing. And so I think he wanted to go on and make that decision. That's not all bad for a couple reasons. I think he was thinking about Samford and the kids as well. It gives us a longer runway to start the process of trying to find a new coach. And then it also, it allows these kids to maybe have a new voice for a couple of games and see if they can't create some energy there.”
On how the new world of college athletic shape what type of candidate he’s looking for: “I think the portal has been interesting at this level because again, like I said, you used to get to transfer down, so you could always count on getting those kids eligible. Now you've got to really evaluate the high school ranks. You've got to figure out ways to build programs through the high school ranks, recruiting high school kids and then mix in the portal. You can't flip your roster every year at this level, in my opinion. You've got to build a base and then you've got to pull in some key components through the portal. We have to develop kids at this level now. You know, the James Bradberry’s and the Jaquiski Tartt’s, those kids aren't coming through the door anymore. They're gonna go get money at the Power Four level or the Group of Five level. For us, it's really to be able to identify those kids who you can develop. Maybe you get an offensive lineman that's 275, that you can put some weight on him and he's got the strength and the scale and the size that eventually he'll get in to make to be an All-FCS type player but you got to develop those. I think it's a combination of building the base with high school kids and then sprinkling in some key components to the point you can't go portal heavy. If you go portal heavy at this level in my opinion it's a disaster. It's a recipe for disaster and that consistency that we talked about you can't build that consistency.”
On the uniqueness of Samford: “I think first and foremost at Samford, it’s about community. I go back to Bucky McMillan and why Bucky McMillan was such a great fit for this university. He was from this community and he brought in community. Samford itself, the institution is about community, it's about family. When you come on this campus, you feel that sense of community and family. It's a residential campus, it's not a commuter campus where people are coming in and out. We're here, some of it's 365 days a year, the students are here at least nine months of the year. So I think it's really important to have somebody that understands and builds that community and understands the community that we're in. Bucky was able to do that. And so I think that's kind of what you're looking for in the next coach, somebody that has some ties to this area, understands this area and this level of football. The gap between FCS football and Group of Five and then the gap between Group of Five and Power Four it's like the Grand Canyon and it's getting bigger every day. And so I think you've got to be really comfortable with who you are, what you're about and what football means to your campus. Look, we're in the South, right? People like football down here, which is a great thing. But you got to understand who you are, and what we are, we're about faith, we're about family and we can be about football, but we also got to be about fun. Those are the things that I think we're trying to emphasize and I think that's what we'll look for in the next coach, somebody that really has that kind of system.”
On his criteria for the hire: “I made a decision, I've screwed up the hiring process quite a few times. There's no exact science as you're seeing to the hiring process. You can think you're hiring the next Nick Saban or the next John Wooden or Mike Krzyzewski. It's tough. Fit is so important. I’ve always focused on three C's - character first and foremost, competency, can they do the job, and chemistry do they fit the place. I made a decision in hiring the last basketball coach before Bucky, I made a decision that I was not gonna go with anybody that didn't have head coaching experience. I've tried to hire an assistant coach from a big school and those 18 inches of moving over from this chair to that chair are really difficult. I made a decision then that I didn't care what level of head coaching experience they had, but I felt like they needed to have some kind. They need to be the guy that called the time outs and made the adjustments. That's what we did with Bucky. And I think the same criteria will stand true with this. I want somebody that's had head coaching experience. And again, I'm not worried about the level. I mean, it could be a Division III, it could be Division II, it could be Division I that's gone on and done something else or it could be high school. I just want somebody who has character, understands the mission of this university, can coach, you gotta be able to coach. But you gotta be able to do more than coach now. Today, you gotta be able to really communicate with young men. It's different today. The old school coaching that I had was you did what I said and you're gonna do it now or you're not gonna play. Well, now if you do that, they just say, you know what, I'll see you, I'm going somewhere else. So you gotta have somebody that has a lot more than just the Xs and Os. And then the third thing is the fit, the chemistry. We've gotta have somebody that understands this place, understands this community and can build on that.”
On what he learned from hiring Bucky McMillan from Mountain Brook High: “I think what I learned is you gotta quit worrying about winning the press conference. I think so many times as athletic directors, and presidents too, we worry about winning the press conference. What you realize about the press conference, especially in today's word of social media, 30 minutes later, two days later, it's done, it's over with, that's behind you. Now you're stuck with this person and now you gotta do the day-to-day, you gotta do the grind. I'm not worried about winning the press conference. I'm worried about is finding the person that could come into this university that can make an impact on this community, that can win. That's important, that's the reason we got a scoreboard, right. But can also help us achieve the goals we want as an institution, not just as an athletic program. Look, football for us is as much about driving enrollment, driving male enrollment, bringing alumni back for homecoming, for family weekends, for preview days. That's what's important about this football at our level. I think we gotta stay true to that and not get worried about, man, this is a splash, look at us, look what we did because that's gone tomorrow.”
On whether hiring someone with Samford be a factor: “Not necessarily, but I think it helps to understand the university. I mean, look, we are a Christian university, and we're not going to waver from that. Quite frankly, I think the fact that we haven't is what's propelled us to the success as an institution that we've had with record enrollment. There's very few, maybe a handful of really successful Christian universities that have Division I athletics and we're one of those. I think we're going to remain true to that. Having somebody that understands that and having the knowledge of Samford understands that. We're unique. We're in a unique area. You think about this. We've got two of the biggest football brands in the country in this state, Alabama and Auburn. And then in this city itself, you've got UAB that is a Group of Five school that sits right over there as well, that flirted with taking football away, brought it back. So they're still trying to figure out their identity. And then we're FCS football. I will challenge you that there's some people, until we went to the NCAA men's basketball tournament, weren't even sure we were Division I athletic program. Yet our women's soccer team's is leaving on Thursday to go play Florida State again in the NCAA tournament. Our volleyball program, our baseball program has won games in the NCAA tournament. There's a lot of people, because of the level of football we were, they didn't realize we were Division I prograink somebody that has that understanding and that can get out in the community and build that brand of Samford University is going to be really important.”
On the importance of being good in football: “Look if you're gonna do something and this is what I love about Dr. Taylor, if we're gonna take the time to do something then we're gonna do it with excellence. If we're gonna have a business school, we'll be the best business school in the country. If we have a Divinity school, we're gonna be the best Divinity school in the country. If we're gonna have an athletics program, we're gonna be the best Division I athletic program in the Southern Conference. That's our goal so absolutely football fits into that. Football is the driver on most campuses as it relates to all of those things I talked about by bringing community back in. Yeah we need to be competitive, we need to win, we need to not apologize for winning but we need to do it within the confines of who we are as an institution.”
On the structure of the search: “The president will be very involved obviously. I'm not gonna hire a search firm. I've never hired a search firm. You could argue that's good bad or indifferent but I'm a little old-school. I feel like the role of the athletic director is to hire and fire coaches. I'm not gonna have to hire a search firm and have somebody else kind of do the legwork. I've got people that I trust within the industry, people that are my mentors. Look, the reality of this business if you're doing it right you've got a lot of relationships with people because that's what this business is all about. I've got a lot of people that I trust that I'll talk to about it but at the end of the day it'll come down to myself Dr. Taylor and Corey Green who's our executive associate AD will be a part of that process as well. That was kind of our process to the basketball coaching hire with Coach (Lenny) Acuff. It worked well for us with Coach Acuff. I think it will work well. But I will talk to a lot of people. I don't want to sound like it’s my decision I'm going to be the guy that's doing it. There'll be a lot of people that will have input. I'll listen. God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason so we'll listen to a lot of people.”
On whether he’s watched how UAB interim head coach Alex Mortensen handled a tough situation: “Look, I will tell you that every athletics director, regardless of whether your coach is winning conference championships or not, has a list of about five to 15 people that they constantly update. So I'm always looking. I'm watching games, I'm noticing things. I will tell you the way he handled the first game, obviously, against Memphis was great, but even just the way he's handled himself through that whole process. That's difficult. Anytime there's a coaching change, it's really hard. You’re dealing with family's lives, you know, and so it's really difficult. The emotions run deep. To watch him how he handled that, the maturity he had that he handled that with, I thought was really good. Unlike some of the talk show folks that are out there that talk about firing coaches all the time, they've never understood what it does to the families around that. I'm very aware of that. The process that we went through, I will tell you our staff, how they've handled this has been incredible to me. How Coach Hatcher has handled this has been incredible to me. ut yeah, I've watched (Mortensen). I've watched quite a few people.”
On what Samford athletics and Samford football are capable of: “It's a great question. I mean, I think it goes back to the university, right? I've said it several times. We are a faith-based institution. We're not gonna waver t from that. That's important. That's an important part of our DNA. Now, when I say that, I think people get the attention of what you guys think. It doesn't mean that we're perfect. We make a lot of mistakes, but we know that what we're proud of and we know what our calling is here. Our calling when we bring student athletes in is number one to graduate them. But it's also to show them the loving face of Christ. We should not have a kid that comes in here whether they're a believer or not that doesn’t walk out of this place feeling that they saw the loving face of Christ and maybe it maybe it changes their lives in some way. That's who we have to be, that's who we're called to be. I think that's really important. I think our coaches that we hire, our people that work here, again none of us are perfect but we know that's what we're all about. What's been fun is to see not only student athletes but coaches that have come in here that have embraced that and it's changed their lives and it's helped their lives and they've gone off to be better people. Yeah, that's who we are and we're not going to shy away from that.”