The Presbyterian College athletic department named Steve Englehart the 17th head coach in PC football's century-long history in January 2022. The 2025 campaign will be Englehart's fourth season guiding the Blue Hose, holding a record of 11-23 during his time in Clinton and an 81-72 all-time ledger.
Going into the 2025 season, his 81 career victories rank as the second-most among the 11 active head coaches in the Pioneer Football League.
After two-plus seasons of rebuilding Presbyterian into a contender in the PFL, Englehart steered the Blue Hose to a sensational finish in 2024 by accomplishing the team's first four-game winning streak since 2007. That flurry allowed PC to finish 6-6 by season's end (their most wins in a sole season since 2014), going undefeated in the month of November for the first time in 22 years.
Defeating Stetson, Dayton, Marist, and #23 Butler to close out the campaign in style, Englehart's crew won those final four meetings by an average of 18 points. Their victory over Butler on Senior Day registered as Presbyterian's first win over a nationally-ranked opponent since joining the PFL in 2020, a feat not seen by the program in 10 years.
In all three of Englehart's seasons with the Scotsmen, he has directed a player to Freshman All-America by Phil Steele publications (wide receiver Dominic Kibby in 2022, kicker Mack Mikko in 2023, and quarterback Collin Hurst in 2024).
The crown jewel of that trio was Hurst last fall, named a top-ten finalist for the Jerry Rice Award (an honor given to the most outstanding freshman in all of FCS football). He was chosen as the PFL Offensive Freshman of the Year after captaining a Blue Hose offense that broke the school D-I-era record for completion percentage (63%) and pass efficiency rating (150.5).
A symbol of Presby's late-season renaissance, six of Englehart's players were named All-PFL First Team in 2024 (Dominic Kibby, Worth Warner, Alex Herriott, Zach Switzer, Carter Szydlowski, & Caleb Francis). Wideout Cincere Gill was also included on the all-league Second Team list.
PC's six First-Team honorees was a number that tied eventual conference champion Drake, matching the most in school history along with the 2005 and 1979 squads (both affiliated with the South Atlantic Conference in the Division II ranks).
It had been 13 years since the Blue Hose had seen seven total All-Conference recipients, as Englehart's gang topped the Pioneer League and ranked sixth nationally in average kick-return yardage (26 yards). PC's 2024 turnaround included ranking inside the NCAA top 20 in fewest interceptions thrown (6) and clocking in at number 16 in fewest rushing yards allowed (114 per game).
The 2024 Blue Hose rushed for 21 touchdowns, tied for PC's most in a single season since the turn to Division I in 2007. Their 27 sacks and 13 interceptions are both the highest single-season numbers ever charted by Presbyterian in the D-I era.
Englehart's 2024 group ranked second in the school record book for yards per play (6). Their 4,653 offensive yards, 388 total yards per game, and 337 overall points scored are each third-place in the annals of Blue Hose football.
The first of that season-closing four-game winning streak, PC stomped Stetson in Florida thanks to 663 yards of total offense, the most in Englehart's three years with the Scotsmen. They stacked up 329 rushing yards, the most that Presbyterian has ever secured against a fellow Division I opponent.
Englehart has concocted a steady transformation of the PC football program in his short stay, coaching eight different All-PFL honorees (with six of those eight ascending to First-Team status).
PC rapidly grew from year one to year two under Englehart's leadership (2023), claiming three more victories than the previous campaign which included numerous program-altering moments.
The first of these came on September 16, 2023, when Presbyterian pulled off a 23-20 triumph over rival Wofford in Spartanburg, the first time that PC knocked off the Terriers since the early 90's and the first time in history that any of the 11 Pioneer Football League schools earned a win over a member of the Southern Conference.
PC's turnaround didn't stop there, however, picking up their first-ever PFL victory on October 14 with an overtime W over Dayton. They'd finish out the 2023 season by downing Morehead State at Bailey Memorial Stadium by a 31-27 clip, denoting the 75th victory of Englehart's heading coaching career.
The Blue Hose were showered with praise after steering the program in the right direction, displaying three All-PFL first team performers (wide receiver Dominic Kibby, tight end Worth Warner, and linebacker Alex Herriott), not to mention 10 others who were named all-conference Honorable Mention.
Englehart recruited and developed kicker Mack Mikko into an FCS Freshman All-American via Phil Steele Magazine, following in Kibby's footsteps from the prior year who was also given the award.
PC scooped up four weekly awards in 2023 after failing to receive any during the rebuilding stage of '22. Mikko was twice chosen as PFL Special Teams Player of the Week, while Herriott and Brooks Russ-Martin were both named PFL Defensive Players of the Week during the heart of league play.
Eight of Presby's 11 meetings in the 2023 season were decided by 10 points or less, with the Blue Hose conceding an average of only 24 points per game in conference affairs and just 144 passing yards per contest which topped the Pioneer Football League.
Englehart spent 13 years as the head coach of Florida Tech and Rose-Hulman prior to accepting the job at PC, set for his 17th season as a collegiate head coach this fall. He directed two teams to the NCAA Division II Playoffs while at Florida Tech and was twice selected as the Gulf South Conference Coach of the Year.
In his prior head coaching position, Englehart assisted in starting and guiding the Florida Tech Panthers football program from 2011-20, compiling a 44-35 record. In 2014, in the Panthers' second season as a football program, he guided the team to a 6-5 record garnering Gulf South Conference Coach of the Year honors. In 2015, he guided the Panthers to a 7-4 record with wins over two teams ranked in the Top Five of the Division II national rankings. He was named Gulf South Conference Coach of the Year for the second straight season.
In 2016 and 2018, he led the Panthers to the NCAA Division II playoffs. Due to financial implications from the pandemic, Florida Tech disbanded its program in the spring of 2020.
Prior to his head coaching career at Florida Tech, Englehart served one season as offensive coordinator for his alma mater, Indiana State. In 2010, Englehart coached a Sycamores' offense that finished 14th in the nation in scoring after tallying a school-record 351 points.
In 2006, Englehart was hired as the youngest head coach in the NCAA and spent four seasons as head coach at Rose-Hulman in Terre Haute, Ind., where he led the football program for the first time in school history to four consecutive seasons with at least six wins. In 2007, he guided the Fightin' Engineers to a 7-3 record, the program's best record since 1994. Prior to becoming head coach in 2006, he spent four seasons as Rose-Hulman's offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator.
The Terre Haute native graduated from Indiana State with a degree in Health Education in 2000. During his playing career at Indiana State from 1996-99, Englehart played quarterback and was a three-time GTE Scholar-Athlete award winner and also was a two-time Academic All-Gateway Conference selection.
Englehart and his wife, Carrie, have three children: Ty (a rising senior quarterback on the Blue Hose football team), Caden, and Lila.
