On September 8, 2012, the ULM Warhawks did something no one in Monroe will ever forget. They walked into Fayetteville, Arkansas, faced the eighth-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks, and won 34-31 in overtime — the greatest victory in school history, the night the Sun Belt announced itself as a giant-killer and the moment Kolton Browning became a Louisiana legend. The 2012 season ended at 8-5 with an Independence Bowl trip, the program's high-water mark, and for one autumn Monroe believed anything was possible.
That belief has been tested. ULM football is, by any honest measure, one of the toughest jobs in the FBS. The Warhawks are 149-269-1 in 36 seasons at this level. They have not had a winning season since that 2012 campaign. The program's proudest banner — a national championship — dates to 1987, at the I-AA level, a lifetime ago. In 25 Sun Belt seasons, the record is 102-195. And yet the program endures, because Monroe loves its Warhawks with a devotion that has never required winning to survive.
Bryant Vincent understood that when he took the job in December 2023. Vincent had been the interim head coach at UAB in 2022, winning the Bahamas Bowl after Bill Clark's sudden retirement, and he brought an offensive mind and a builder's patience to Monroe. His first season was a revelation: the 2024 Warhawks started 5-1, the best start since that 1987 championship season, and the town dared to dream. The dream died in November — five straight losses, a 5-7 finish — but the foundation looked real.
The 2025 season followed a crueler script. Another 3-1 start under Vincent — the second straight — and then the bottom fell out again: eight straight losses, a 3-9 finish. Off the field, Vincent was asked to do something almost no head coach has done: in August 2025, he was appointed the university's interim athletic director after John Hartwell's resignation, running the entire department while coaching the team, until S.J. Tuohy's appointment in late November. It was a testament to the trust Monroe places in him — and a staggering workload for a coach already fighting the toughest rebuild in the Sun Belt.
Now comes 2026, Vincent's third season, and the hardest stretch of his tenure. The Warhawks are 0-4, owners of the second-longest losing streak in college football at 12 games. The last win came on September 27, 2025 — more than a calendar year ago. The losses have been lopsided and familiar: a 62-13 blowout at Mississippi State in the opener, a blown lead at UAB, a back-and-forth loss to FCS Southeastern Louisiana, and a 45-17 home defeat to Florida Atlantic. ESPN's FPI projects an FBS-low 1.2 wins. Athlon ranked ULM 136th of 138 teams. The Warhawks were picked seventh in the Sun Belt West. Nobody is picking them — which, in Monroe, has never stopped them before.
There are pieces to work with. New offensive coordinator Jesse Montalto has been tasked with fixing a unit that finished 130th in scoring and 118th in total offense a year ago. Quarterback Aidan Armenta threw for 278 yards and two touchdowns against FAU before giving way to Landon Graves, and Houston transfer Austin Carlisle is in the room. Charlotte transfer Donald Chaney Jr. gives the ground game an identity behind left tackle AJ Vinson, with JP Coulter and Memphis transfer tight end Bryce Anderson as weapons. Kicker Abram Murray drilled a career-long 52-yard field goal in the opener — ULM's first from at least 50 yards since 2022. Linebacker Noah Flemmings and Arkansas transfer safety Taijh Overton lead a defense bringing back just 40 percent of its starters.
And here is the strange, stubborn reason for hope: Bryant Vincent is 2-0 in Sun Belt openers at ULM, beating Troy in 2024 and Arkansas State in 2025. The calendar turns to October, the conference slate begins — at South Alabama this Saturday — and the Warhawks get the reset they have been waiting for. Southern Miss on Halloween looks winnable. The Battle of I-20 against Louisiana Tech on October 17 is the game that matters most in Monroe, no matter the records.
Gameday at Malone Stadium remains one of the Sun Belt's best-kept secrets. The 2025 season brought the program's best attendance in five years — proof that Monroe shows up even when the wins don't. The tailgates on the Grove, the Warhawk marching band, the student section that never sits: ULM football is a community ritual first and a record second. The town has decided, year after year, that this program is worth its Saturdays.
Winning in Monroe has never been easy, and it is not easy now. But the standard was set on a September night in Fayetteville fourteen years ago, and it has never been lowered: on any given Saturday, the Warhawks can beat anyone. The 2026 season is the test of whether that belief is a memory — or a promise.