Santiago Gets Extension Through 2004
12/3/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 3, 2002
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -- Stephen F. Austin State University athletic director Steve McCarty announced today that SFA head football coach Mike Santiago has received a contract extension through the end of the 2004 season.
"There is no greater way to show we believe the program is headed in the right direction, than to make sure that Mike Santiago remains the head coach of the Lumberjack football program for the next two years," said McCarty.
Santiago just completed his fourth season as the head coach of the Lumberjack program. SFA posted its third straight 6-5 season, finishing in a tie for third place in the Southland Conference. The outcomes of four of the 'Jacks five losses were decided by one score or less. In his first season with the program, SFA claimed a share of the Southland title, posting an 8-3 record. In three of Santiago's first four years with the program, SFA has played its final conference game with a chance for either a conference title or a playoff spot on the line.
"The future of the program is certainly bright. After watching this team play 11 games this season one can see that with the number of young players making significant contributions, that this team will only get better as those young men gain more maturity and more experience. For that reason, I feel that it is in the best interest of the football program, and the best interest of those young men recruited and brought to SFA by Coach Santiago and his staff, that he remain the Lumberjack football coach through at least the next two years," said McCarty.
The 2002 Lumberjack football team saw 71 student-athletes suit up for at least one game during the season. Among those 71 student-athletes, 53 were either freshmen or sophomores. Eight of the 22 starters on offense and defense for the final game of 2002, were either freshmen or sophomores and have at least two more years of eligibility remaining with the Lumberjacks.
SFA also placed 13 players on the All-Southland Conference teams following the 2002 season, second only to SLC champion McNeese State in the total number of players named to those teams.
Santiago and his staff lost 13 seniors off this year's team and are currently in the process of recruiting prospective high school student-athletes for the February signing date.
