Florida Tech Panthers

Position Responsibility: Quarterbacks

Steve Englehart enters his seventh season at the helm of the Panther football team. He has guided Tech to a 39-29 record over the first six seasons in program history, including a 22-21 mark in the best NCAA Division II football league, the Gulf South Conference. 

During that time, Englehart was named GSC Coach of the Year in 2014 and 2015 and coached two GSC Defensive Players of the Year, one Offensive Player of the Year, two Offensive Freshmen of the Year and one Defensive Freshman of the Year. 

Florida Tech has accounted for 49 All-GSC awards since the first season in 2013, including 22 first team selections. Additionally, the football program has had 20 different players garner 52 separate All-American awards. Under Englehart’s tutelage, six Panthers have signed rookie deals with NFL franchises, including four student-athletes this past year. 

The Panthers had another impressive season in 2018 as the team went 8-4 and 5-3 in the Gulf South Conference. It was the Panthers’ fourth winning season in the first six years of the program. During the campaign, Florida Tech picked up key victories over Newberry, Wingate and rival West Florida to earn the program’s first Coastal Classic victory. Following the regular season, Tech earned a berth into the NCAA Division II Playoffs for the second time in three years. The Panthers were unable to make it past a very talented Lenoir-Rhyne team and had their season end in the first round of the playoffs. 

During the team’s fifth season, in 2017, the Panthers went 5-6 overall and 3-5 in GSC play. Tech ranked third in the GSC in total defense (311.3) and fifth in total offense (370.5). Florida Tech upset No. 18 West Alabama, 41-39, on Oct. 21, handing the Tigers their first GSC loss of the season. Five players earned All-GSC distinction in 2017, including two first team honorees. 

The program’s fourth season, in 2016, was unquestionably its most successful, as the Panthers earned their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Playoffs and finished with an 8-3 overall record and a 5-2 mark in the GSC. Florida Tech led the GSC in rushing offense (225.4), rushing defense (85.1) and total offense (479.7). FIT opened the 2016 season with four consecutive victories, including a win over NCAA DI Presbyterian College on the road. The Panthers also knocked off No. 14 Valdosta State, West Georgia and Delta State to clinch the program’s inaugural NCAA Playoff berth as the No. 3 seed in Super Region 2.

In 2015, the football program came within one game of a conference championships and a postseason bid with a 7-4 record. The Panthers registered a pair of monumental wins during the campaign, becoming the first team to defeat then No. 5 Delta State on its home turf in over three years and knocking off the nation’s No. 1 ranked team in West Georgia on Senior Day at Florida Tech Panther Stadium.

In 2014, Englehart’s Panthers surprised and shook up the college football world. Tech notched its first-ever win over a ranked opponent with a thrilling 37-31 victory over No. 12 Tarleton State at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the home venue of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. The following week the Panthers returned to the Sunshine State and narrowly dropped a game at Division I opponent Bethune Cookman after failing to convert a two-point attempt at the end of the game. The program tallied another first later in the year, garnering its first GSC road win with a dramatic 33-32 win at West Alabama.Tech finished the year with a 6-5 overall record and a 3-4 mark in the GSC.

Englehart led Florida Tech Football to a 5-7 record in the program’s inaugural season in fall 2013. The Panthers’ victories included their inaugural game against Stetson, a Gulf South Conference win versus Shorter, a Homecoming triumph over Warner, their last regular season game against Webber International and a victory in the first-ever Eastern College Athletic Conference Division II Futures Bowl over Alderson Broaddus.

Prior to settling in Melbourne, Englehart was the offensive coordinator at his alma mater, Indiana State University, in 2010. His unit set program records, scoring 351 points and 48 touchdowns, and averaged the 17th-most yards in the Football Championship Subdivision at 411.8 yards per game. Running back Darrius Gates excelled under Englehart as he averaged 10.6 points per game, which led the Missouri Valley Conference and was second at the FCS level.

Englehart also coached for four years at NCAA Division III Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. At the time of his hiring, Englehart was the second youngest head coach in all of NCAA football at 28 years old. He guided the Fightin’ Engineers to a 26-14 record. His .650 winning percentage is still the best in program history. During his last three years at Rose-Hulman, his players combined for 30 All-Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference awards. Englehart also coached quarterback Derek Eitel who graduated with every major career passing record, and was named HCAC Player of the Year in 2009.

Englehart played quarterback at Indiana State from 1996-99 where he ran the triple option. He earned letters in 97, 98, and 99. He was named to the Gateway Football Conference’s All-Academic Team in 1998 and 1999, was named a GTE Scholar Athlete three times, and earned Sycamore Honor Athlete recognition for four seasons.

Englehart and his wife, Carrie, reside in Melbourne and have three children, Caden, who is a freshman quarterback for the Panthers, Ty, and Lila.