For the last decade, the Tennessee-Martin football program has been nothing short of a running comedy routine. Coaches were getting fired, scholarships were cut and the Skyhawks were on the wrong side of constant blowouts.

In 2006, the Skyhawks are trying to prove the joke is on everybody else.

“I could tell this was a program striving for success once I got here,” said UTM head coach Jason Simpson. “The culture and mentality had to change.”

The laughingstock of the Ohio Valley Conference suffered 41 straight league defeats from 1997 to mid-2003.

“Four years ago you could mark them down in the preseason as a win,” Eastern acting head coach Mark Hutson said. “They are no longer that gimmee game.”

As the Skyhawk faithful prepare for Homecoming, UTM is set to take the field in arguably the biggest regular season game in school history.

“There’s more buzz around the program than ever before,” Tennessee-Martin athletic director Phil Dane said.

For the first time since 2002, OVC ranked teams face off in a game that will have playoff consequences.

“We have to win a big ballgame,” Simpson said. “We can’t come close, we have to do it.”

The UTM program hit rock bottom in 2002 when it ended the season with a five-year I-AA losing streak that extended to 49 games.

“They weren’t even rebuilding,” said Eastern defensive coordinator Roc Bellantoni. “I remember going down there with only 50 people in the stands and they were running a option offense because they didn’t have the talent to do anything else.”

At that point, the people of Martin, with a population of just over 10,000, were turning their attention and coverage to the local high school program.

Tennessee-Martin found itself competing in terms of attendance with the more successful Westview High School. The AA high school team had nine playoff appearances in the decade where UTM was struggling for wins.

“I was telling somebody this morning how exciting it is how we are doing so well and receiving more attention with the local high school experiencing a down year,” Dane said.

The mentality changed with two crucial decisions: the hiring of new chancellor Nick Dunagan and the building of a $3.5 million Martin Regional Sports Complex.

“After being in a building built in 1927 and never been renovated, we were in dire need for better facilities,” Dane said. “(The old building) was leaky, ugly and a place we never took recruits into at all.”

In January 2006, Simpson began to set the new expectations and how it was acceptable for the program to dream big.

“I said from the beginning that it was okay to start thinking about winning OVC championships,” Simpson said. “This year, every game we do win is another milestone for this program.”

A win against the Panthers would be UTM’s seventh win in 2006 which is something the Skyhawk fans haven’t witness since 1988. In addition, Sports Network’s Matt Dougherty has UTM as a potential at-large team if they can get through OVC play with only one loss. The league hasn’t gotten multiple bids since 2002 and UTM has yet to see postseason play as a I-AA program.

“Obviously, this program is not used to winning,” Simpson said. “I don’t know if everybody knows what to expect.”

Simpson was one of the many candidates that applied for the vacancy last offseason, which was a change of pace from the lack of excitement over the negative perception at UTM in the last 10 years when the Skyhawks went 18-84.

“The pool of candidates was five times better than previous searches,” Dane said. “I can’t blame coaches and athletes not wanting to come to a program with a tradition of losing.”

UTM now has many new things to be excited about including six straight wins, the highest poll ranking in school history and the potential for an undefeated I-AA season along with its first ever Ohio Valley Conference championship.

“The small town atmosphere revolves around the university and it’s important that we get that emotional support,” Simpson said.

Starting with former coach Matt Griffin (now at Murray State) and continuing through Simpson, UTM is starting to recruit high-quality athletes like former 4-year starting quarterback Brady Wahlberg and 2006 Butkus Award candidate Markeseo Jackson even though they have to compete locally for prospects with OVC rivals Tennessee Tech and Tennessee State.

“They’ve done a tremendous job,” said Tennessee Tech head coach Doug Malone. “As successful as they’ve been, yeah, maybe it’s a little bit because of the new staff.”

Being the only Division I athletic program in west Tennessee, the Skyhawks are starting to go after high school seniors that would’ve been out of their grasp before the new facility and scholarship money.

“I can’t say enough about what Matt Griffin started there and Jason has just continued that this season,” Hutson said.

The key for the alumni, fans and coaching staff is to maintain winning consistency in a program known for losing.

“We had one of the best Division II programs in the country 20 years ago and then stood pat,” Dane said. “We have to prove this isn’t just a glitch and not let people pass us by again.”