The Samford Bulldogs have named John Grass as the football team’s next head coach. Grass was an assistant coach with the Clemson Tigers for the previous four seasons.
Grass is familiar with the state of Alabama. He graduated from Jacksonville State in 1990 and then spent 22 years as a high school coach in Alabama. In 2013, he became the associate head coach and offensive coordinator at Jacksonville State before taking the head coaching spot in 2014.
Jacksonville State dominated the OVC with Grass in charge. The Gamecocks won the OVC six times in seven seasons, reaching the FCS playoffs on all six occasions. JSU reached the FCS Championship in 2015, losing 37-10 to North Dakota State. JSU reached the second round each of the next three seasons (2016-2018).
In 2019, the Gamecocks went 6-6 before rebounding during the 2020-21 COVID-impacted season to finish 10-3 overall. JSU reached the FCS Quarterfinals that year and moved to the WAC in 2021. They opened in 4-5 overall before Grass resigned from the head coaching position. JSU finished 5-6 overall in 2021. In his 8 seasons at Jacksonville State, Grass went 72-26 overall, won 6 OVC Championships, reached the FCS playoffs 6 times, and finished with 10 or more wins in 5 seasons.
In 2022 and 2023, Grass was a special assistant to the Clemson offense. In 2024 and 2025, he was a senior offensive assistant and assistant quarterbacks coach. Grass will replace Chris Hatcher, who went 62-59 overall in 11 seasons. Samford was 1-9 during the 2025 season when the school decided to part ways with Hatcher. The Bulldogs finished 1-11 this year, with the lone victory coming against VMI, 24-22. Samford made 3 FCS playoff appearances under Hatcher in 2016, 2017, and 2022.
The Bulldogs have only two known opponents for the 2026 season: Incarnate Word (Southland) on Saturday, September 5, and UAB (American) on Saturday, October 3. Both of those matchups are road contests.
Photo Credit to Jacksonville State University Athletics
