The 2021 Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks football team represented the

University of Louisiana at Monroe The University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM) is a public university in Monroe, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System. History ULM opened in 1931 as Ouachita Parish Junior College. Three years later it became the Northeast Cen ...

in the 2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Warhawks played their home games at

Malone Stadium Malone Stadium is a stadium in Monroe, Louisiana, United States, on the campus of the University of Louisiana at Monroe. It is primarily used for football and is the home field of the ULM Warhawks. The stadium, named for former coach James L. Ma ...

in Monroe, Louisiana, and competed in the West Division of the Sun Belt Conference. They were led by first-year head coach

Terry Bowden Terry Wilson Bowden (; born February 24, 1956) is an American college football coach, currently the head coach at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Bowden was previously head coach at Salem University (1983–1985), Samford University (1987 ...

Previous season

The Warhawks finished the 2020 season with a 0–10 record (0–7 in conference), finishing dead last at fifth in the Sun Belt West Division. Louisiana–Monroe was not invited to any postseason competition. Following the season, head coach

Matt Viator Matt Viator (born September 3, 1963) is an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at McNeese State University from 2006 to 2015 and the University of Louisiana at Monroe from 2016 to 2020. Viator began his coaching career in ...

was fired after amassing a record of 19–39 over his five years serving in his capacity.

, son of head coach

Bobby Bowden Robert Cleckler Bowden (; November 8, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was an American college football coach. Bowden coached the Florida State Seminoles of Florida State University (FSU) from 1976 to 2009 and is considered one of the greatest college ...

and brother of

Tommy Bowden Tommy Pearce Bowden (; born July 10, 1954) is a former American football coach. He served as the head coach at Clemson University from 1999 until October 13, 2008. He is a son of Bobby Bowden, former head football coach of Florida State Universi ...

and former head coach at Salem, Samford, Auburn,

North Alabama North Alabama is a region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Several geographic definitions for the area exist, with all descriptions including the nine counties of Alabama's Tennessee Valley region. The North Alabama Industrial Development Associ ...

, and

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city ...

, was hired soon after to fill the vacancy.

Preseason

Recruiting class

Source:

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Preseason

Sources:

Sun Belt coaches poll

The Sun Belt coaches poll was released on July 20, 2021. The Warhawks were picked to finish fifth in the West Division.

Personnel

Schedule

The 2021 schedule consists of 6 home and 6 away games in the regular season. The Warhawks will travel to Sun Belt foes

Coastal Carolina Coastal Carolina University (CCU or Coastal) is a public university in Conway, South Carolina. Founded in 1954 as Coastal Carolina Junior College, and later joining the University of South Carolina System as USC Coastal Carolina, it became an in ...

, Appalachian State,

Texas State Texas State University is a public research university in San Marcos, Texas. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to the second largest university in the Greater Austin metropolitan area and the fifth largest university ...

, and

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. ULM will play host to Sun Belt foes

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...

, Georgia State,

South Alabama South Alabama is the various parts of southern Alabama. Although it is not a strictly defined geographic region, it generally includes all Alabama counties south of the Black Belt (region of Alabama), Black Belt. In that view, ''South Alabama'' co ...

, and

Arkansas State Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

. Troy will host two of the four non-conference opponents at

Jackson State Jackson State University (Jackson State or JSU) is a public historically black research university in Jackson, Mississippi. It is one of the largest HBCUs in the United States and the fourth largest university in Mississippi in terms of studen ...

, from

NCAA Division I FCS The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...

Southwestern Athletic Conference and

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

, a FBS Independent, and will travel to

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

and

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

, both from the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

Game summaries

At Kentucky

Jackson State

Troy

At Coastal Carolina

Georgia State

Liberty

South Alabama

At Appalachian State

At Texas State

Arkansas State

At LSU

At Louisiana

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2021 Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks football team Louisiana-Monroe Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks football seasons

Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks football The University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM) is a public university in Monroe, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System. History ULM opened in 1931 as Ouachita Parish Junior College. Three years later it became the Northeast Ce ...