The Lamar Cardinals are led by second year head coach Mike Schultz. Coach Schultz was the running game coordinator at TCU from 1998-2000 and most notably coached LaDanian Tomlinson. In 2001, he was promoted to offensive coordinator at TCU when Gary Patterson took over the head coaching duties in Fort Worth. Schultz held that position until 2008 and aided in the development of current Cincinatti Bengals QB Andy Dalton. After that coach Schultz has had stints as offensive coordinator at Illinois, Middle Tennesee, and Texas State before taking his first collegiate head coaching job at Lamar.
Since 2010, when the Lamar football program was reinstated after being dropped from the university in 1989, the Cardinals have only had one winning season.