Texas Southern University appears ready to turn the page on the Clarence McKinney Era.
HBCU Legends is reporting the decision has been made not to renew his contract, one week after a report by HBCU Sports that McKinney would not have his contract renewed. This announcement comes just days after Texas Southern University suffered a 35-34 defeat to an Arkansas-Pine Bluff team it led by 21 points at the start of the fourth quarter.
McKinney has compiled a 12-35 record since being hired following the 2018 season. He has never had a winning season, with a 5-6 record in 2022 as the peak of his time in Houston. In fact, 5-6 is the best record the program has had over the last decade, recording the same record in 2014 prior to his arrival.
McKinney arrived in Houston after multiple stints as a running backs coach for Kevin Sumlin at Arizona, Texas A&M and Houston. His team went winless in 2019, won a single game in the abbreviated SWAC spring season of 2021. He landed talented quarterback Andrew Body heading into the fall 2021 season, injecting a level of excitement into the program. The team won three games that fall, beating Southern for the first time in years. It followed it up with that five-win 2022 season in which it was in the running for the SWAC West title.
Many people expected Texas Southern University to take a leap forward in the 2023 season, but an early-season injury to Body put a damper on the season and TSU has remained in the cellar of the SWAC West. Ironically, McKinney pulled off one of the most important wins of his career in Week 11, knocking off Alcorn State and altering the SWAC West race.