EMCC’s Buddy Stephens inducted into NJCAA Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – East Mississippi Community College head football coach Buddy Stephens has been inducted into the NJCAA Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame as the Class of 2024 honoree, as announced by the National Junior College Athletic Association.

"This honor is humbling and very much appreciated," Stephens said. "This accomplishment lends credence to the outstanding players and assistant coaches we've been fortunate enough to have grace our campus through the years. None of this happens without our great players and coaches in addition to the administrative support we've received here at East Mississippi."

Dating back to the 2008 football season upon his arrival on the Scooba campus, Stephens owns a 17-year EMCC head coaching overall record of 148-28 (.841), which includes five NJCAA national championships, nine Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference/NJCAA Region 23 titles, and 11 MACCC North Division crowns. The Lions also finished the 2023 season as national runners-up. In addition, Stephens presently owns a career mark of 86-10 (.896) in regular-season division games within the MACCC – formerly known as the Mississippi Association of Community & Junior Colleges (MACJC).

"I would like to congratulate Coach Buddy Stephens on being inducted into the NJCAA Football Coaches Hall of Fame," EMCC Director of Athletics Sharon Thompson said. "This outstanding accomplishment is very deserving considering the numerous NJCAA national titles that EMCC has won under his guidance. He is one of the best to ever do it on the NJCAA level."

This past season, East Mississippi went 5-4 overall and 4-2 in MACCC North Division games to extend the program's current streak to 16 consecutive non-losing football seasons under Stephens' guidance. The Lions have finished 4-2 or better within the division every season in which they've played since 2008, and only once during the Stephens era (5-5 in 2010) have they not had a winning overall record on the gridiron.   

Including separate winning streaks of 25, 20 and 17 consecutive games (twice), Stephens' EMCC Lions are 124-20 (.861) collectively with seven double-digit win seasons spanning back to the start of the 2011 campaign. With the program's five national championships having come during an eight-year span (2011-18), East Mississippi became just the second NJCAA member school to claim back-to-back national football titles twice (2013-14 & 2017-18). The Lions currently trail only Butler (Kan.) and Northeastern Oklahoma A&M for the most national football championships (six apiece) in NJCAA history.

Presently sitting third on the NJCAA's all-time list for career winning percentage among coaches with 100 or more career games coached, Stephens also ranks third among the NJCAA's winningest active head football coaches behind Lackawanna's Mark Duda and Scott Strohmeier of Iowa Western. Stephens also ranks 21^st on the NJCAA's all-time wins list and is fifth in Mississippi junior college football history behind George Sekul (Mississippi Gulf Coast), Bobby Franklin (Northwest Mississippi), Sim Cooley (Jones), and Gene Murphy (Hinds).

For his outstanding coaching efforts throughout his EMCC career, Stephens is a four-time NJCAA Football Coach of the Year recipient along with having received national honors twice by the American Community College Football Coaches Association (ACCFCA) and the American Football Monthly magazine. The nine-time Region 23 Coach of the Year also received the George Sekul Award from the All-American Football Foundation in 2011.