Harding Bisons football
| Harding Bisons football | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| First season | 1924 | ||
| Athletic director | Jeff Morgan | ||
| Head coach | Roddy Mote 1st season, 0–0 (–) | ||
| Location | Searcy, Arkansas | ||
| Stadium | First security Stadium (capacity: 6,500) | ||
| NCAA division | Division II | ||
| Conference | Great American Conference | ||
| Colors | Black and gold | ||
| All-time record | 410–312–16 (.566) | ||
| National championships | |||
| Claimed | 1 (2023) | ||
| Conference championships | |||
| 8 | |||
| Rivalries | Arkansas Tech Henderson State Ouachita Baptist Southern Arkansas | ||
| Fight song | Harding Fight Song | ||
| Mascot | Buff the Bison (mascot) | ||
| Website | hardingsports.com | ||
The Harding Bisons football program represents Harding University in college football as a Division II member of the Great American Conference. Harding is located in Searcy, Arkansas. The Bisons are led by head coach Roddy Mote, a former Harding quarterback, running back, longtime assistant and defensive coordinator. They were NCAA Division II national champions in 2023, and national runner-up in 2025, led by Paul Simmons.
The 2016 and 2017 seasons were some of the most successful runs in the history of the program. Ronnie Huckeba's 2016 squad, before his retirement from coaching, won the conference title and made it to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II playoffs. The following year under first-year head coach Paul Simmons, the Bisons won three post-season games to make it to the semifinals of the playoffs before losing to East Texas A&M (the storied football program formerly and widely known as East Texas State, now in NCAA Division I FCS).
Simmons achieved his first undefeated regular season in 2023, with a mark of 11–0. That team later defeated Lenoir–Rhyne in the NCAA Division II semifinals to send Harding to its first-ever national championship game. On December 16, 2023, Harding defeated Colorado School of Mines to win the 2023 NCAA Division II national championship.
On December 13th, 2025, Harding defeated Kutztown 49-27 to make its way to Harding's second national championship game. Harding had traveled 1,100 miles to the Kutztown game in deep eastern Pennsylvania. The next week, Harding lost the national championship game to Ferris State 21-42.
On January 6, 2026, Coach Paul Simmons was promoted to the newly created position of general manager of the Bisons football program, and longtime assistant and defensive coordinator Roddy Mote was promoted to head coach.