Haney Catchings

Haney Catchings (January 15, 1949 – April 19, 2015) was an American football coach. He served as head coach at Prairie View A&M University from 1987 to 1989 and at Tuskegee University from 1993 to 1995, compiling a career college football record of 19–41.

Coaching career

Prairie View A&M Catchings was the 16th head football coach at Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas and held that position for three seasons, from 1987 until 1989. He initially served in an interim capacity for the final seven games of the 1987 season, taking over for Conway Hayman who was fired after a 0–3–1 start. When the administration was slow to act, the players boycotted the program.

Program suspension In May 1989, Prairie View shuttered its entire athletic program, except for track and field, due to massive financial problems. A month later, the Houston Chronicle reported that some $100,000 was missing from the athletic department's account. Eventually, Catchings was charged with filing fraudulent expense reports. In 1991, he pleaded guilty to felony and misdemeanor charges related to the scam. He was sentenced to five years' probation and ordered to pay over $1,500 in fines and restitution.

The fallout from the fraud would hobble Prairie View for several years to come. Ahead of the team's planned return to the gridiron in 1991, school officials sent a letter to 30,000 alumni asking for donations. However, only 150 people responded--not nearly enough to fund scholarships for the football team. Prairie View would go on to lose 80 consecutive games from 1989 to 1998, dating back to the final two losses of Catchings' last season--the longest losing streak in NCAA history. Even after breaking the losing streak in 1998, Prairie View would only win a total of 23 games over the next nine years until going 7-3 in 2007--the school's first "official" non-losing season since 1976.

Head coaching record

CFB Yearly Record Entry championship = year = 1987 name = Prairie View A&M