When Cory Hogue of Texas Football drove around Memorial Stadium in late August last year, he saw cranes working around the event center behind the fieldhouse and he realized what the tiny agricultural school in Stephenville he remembered has done in six years. Not just the new barber shop, the nutrition area, the locker room, or the freshly renovated fieldhouse. Imagine going from 7,400 seats in 2018 to 24,000 in 2024, per Hogue. Even their Senior Associate Athletic Director for Communications, Jake Withee knows how, “Everything about the Memorial Stadium, how much it’s changed.” Last year, around October, the Tarleton State Texans’ name echoed louder in the college football landscape. 

Ross Dellenger and Chris Vannini reported, Tarleton State was in “deep and serious discussions” to join the Mountain West Conference when the Texans became eligible to feature in the NCAA Division 1 FCS Playoffs. How did their first outing go? A second-round 42-31 loss to the South Dakota Coyotes. Eight months after the Mountain West rumors, Todd Whitten’s Texans hit the headlines once again.

On June 2, Barstool Texans tweeted, “Tarleton State will receive $3.5 million over the next 10 years in the naming rights agreement with EECU.” As Texas A&M System Chancellor John Sharp stated, Tarleton State is now in its “Golden Age.” Given the current milestone, it turns out to be true.

The good news came after their five-year journey of the NCAA Division I transition process was wrapped up. Most of the country outside the non-FCS and Texas bubble has never heard of Tarleton. But the school underwent a massive glow-up since its departure from the NCAA Division II and the Lone Star Conference in October 2019. Now, Tarleton State and EECU are one of the largest locally owned financial institutions in North Texas. Both programs announced a naming rights agreement for the university’s new event center, proposing to name their venue the EECU Center, which was approved on June 1 by the Texas A&M System Board of Regents.

Tarleton State President Dr. James Hurley released a statement. “We are thrilled to team with EECU as we begin an exciting new era on campus. Prominently featuring the name of a regional fixture like EECU on our new event center is a natural choice for a venue that will be a community gathering spot for years to come. We are grateful to all who made this partnership possible and look forward to hosting our first events in our best-in-class facility.” 

Now, what makes Tarleton State University so excited about this new milestone? With more than $4.2 billion in assets and over 292,000 members, EECU is one of North Texas’s largest locally owned financial institutions. Scheduled to open this fall, the EECU Center will offer seating for nearly 10,000 for concerts and up to 8,000 for basketball games. It also includes a $120 million two-story multipurpose arena that will host NCAA Division I games, symposiums, conferences, concerts, and conventions. As they step towards a bigger future, even EECU President and CEO Lonnie Nicholson shared:

“EECU is honored to partner with Tarleton State University on this exciting new chapter in its proud history. The EECU Center represents more than a state-of-the-art venue — it symbolizes our shared commitment to education, community and the future of North Texas.”

This move came just a year after becoming a full-fledged NCAA Division I university.

The Tarleton State Texans are officially ready for takeoff

Tarleton State University successfully completed its four-year reclassification period in February. This has been a dream-come-true moment for them, as they have been chasing to achieve this for the past four years. On July 1, 2020, Tarleton State began its NCAA Division I era. With it came a four-year reclassification period, set by NCAA decades ago, in which the Texans were ineligible for NCAA postseason play. Not only this. The university was even barred from competing in conference tournaments for the first two years.

Stepping into the NCAA Division I, Tarleton State can now take part in postseasons across all sports and win national championships. Well, Texan Football took second in the United Athletic Conference and became one of just three teams since 2004 to post winning seasons in all four years of reclassification. With this classification came a big revamp, facility-wise. The Texan Fieldhouse added important team rooms, including a nutrition area in February. Amidst all this exciting growth, Tarleton State is gearing up to host a special event.

The Tarleton State Football team opened the gates to their 10 camps back in March this year. They will be hosting summer camps between June and July. There are camps available for virtually all youth ages. The first one that is scheduled for June 2-4 is the Little Texans Camp. It is open for kids aged between 5 and 12 or entering 7th grade in Fall 2025. It will be followed by a One-Day camp for the 14-24 age group and a high school elite camp for the 8th-12th grades. The last camp of the summer will be July 19. That’s how the Tarleton State Texans have hit the pedal of success with no more buffers. Imagine what they can do with more funds!