Presbyterian head coach Steve Englehart is departing for the same role at West Georgia. Englehart led Presbyterian to a 10-2 record in 2025, which included the school’s first-ever top 25 ranking. In four years at Presbyterian, Englehart went 21-25 overall and 12-20 in the Pioneer Football League.
Englehart’s first head coaching experience came in 2006 with the Rose-Hulman Fightin’ Engineers of the NAIA. He led them for 4 seasons, going 26-14 overall and 16-12 in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference. In 2010, He left Rose-Hulman to take the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach position for one season at his alma mater, Indiana State.
He returned to a head coaching position in 2011 at the NCAA Division II Florida Tech Panthers. Florida Tech was a new team, with Englehart building the program during the 2011 and 2012 seasons. The first season on the field was in 2013, when the Panthers went 5-7 overall. Englehart led Florida Tech to D-II playoff appearances in 2016 and 2018, losing in the first round both times. The program was shut down in May 2020 due to financial issues. In 7 seasons, Englehart and Florida Tech went 44-35 overall and 25-26 in the Gulf South Conference.
In 2022, Englehart took over a Presbyterian program that went 2-9 in 2021 under Kevin Kelley. Kelley spent one season at Presbyterian and was known for eschewing punting and field position strategies, opting to go for it on fourth down. The Blue Hose went 1-10 in Englehart’s first season, followed by a three-game improvement to 4-7 in 2023. In 2024, Presbyterian improved again to 6-6 overall.
The 2025 season saw Presbyterian’s breakthrough. The Blue Hose defeated #11 Mercer, 15-10, to open the season. That was followed up with a second straight road win over a SoCon opponent when Presbyterian defeated Furman 39-38 in overtime. The Blue Hose started the season 7-0 before losing its first game at Dayton 35-19. Two weeks later came a close loss at one-win Davidsion, 14-13. Presbyterian won the final two games to reach 10 wins for the first time in 20 years and was one of the first four teams out of the 2025 FCS Playoffs. For his career, Englehart is 91-74 overall and 53-58 in conference games.
Englehart will take over a West Georgia program that has seen early success in the FCS. The Wolves went 12-10 in the first two years under Joel Taylor, who departed for Mercer. The Wolves opened 2025 at 5-0 and broke into the top 25 in year two for five weeks. A three-game run against ranked teams (Abilene Christian, Austin Peay, and Tarleton State) saw them drop out, but the team rallied to win the final three games to finish 8-3. UWG is slated to open the 2026 season at home against Chattanooga.
Englehart is the 19th FCS coaching change to occur in the current cycle. Albany (CAA), Bucknell (Patriot League), Cal Poly (Big Sky), Florida A&M (SWAC), Gardner-Webb (OVC-Big South) Hampton (CAA), Howard (MEAC), Mercer (SoCon), Monmouth (CAA), New Hampshire (CAA), Penn (Ivy League), Portland State (Big Sky), Sacramento State (Big Sky), Samford (SoCon), Southern (SWAC), VMI (SoCon), Weber State (Big Sky), and West Georgia (UAC) have also announced changes. The full list of changes can be found here.
Photo Credit to Presbyterian College Athletics
