Texas A&M-Commerce football coach Bailiff won't return
Nov. 25—David Bailiff won't be back as the head football coach of the Texas A&M University-Commerce Lions.
"He's not going to come back, that's all I can tell you," said Avi Mehta, A&M-Commerce's assistant athletic director for communications.
A&M-Commerce and Bailiff "couldn't agree to terms for extension," according to Eric Coleman, A&M-Commerce's interim athletic director.
Mehta said A&M-Commerce will make an official announcement on Tuesday about the coaching change, after Bailiff has a chance to meet with the players.
The Lions under Bailiff went 23-13 in three seasons, including a 5-6 record in 2022 after they moved up from NCAA Division II to Division I FCS and switched from the Lone Star Conference to the Southland Conference.
The 2022 Lions, who had been picked to finish sixth in the Southland, opened conference play with three straight victories, becoming only the fourth new FCS team to ever do that, but then lost their last three conference games to finish in a tie with Nicholls State of Louisiana for fourth place in the conference at 3-3.
They lost their last game on Saturday, 22-14 in non-conference play to Tennessee State.
The Lions, coached by Bailiff, also went 7-4 in 2021 and 11-3 in 2019. They skipped the 2020 season due to concerns over COVID-19.
Bailiff's career record as a head coach at the college level is 101-108. He went 21-15 in three seasons at Texas State, his alma mater, and was 57-80 in 11 seasons at Rice.
