NATCHITOCHES – Sam Goodwin, the architect of Northwestern State's golden modern era of football, died Friday night following complications from a recent surgery.
 
Services are pending for the school's all-time leader in football victories and a member of the N-Club Hall of Fame, Southland Conference Hall of Honor and the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.
 
"Northwestern State has lost a giant today," Director of Athletics Kevin Bostian said. "Coach Sam Goodwin's ability to build winners on and off the field took the Demon football team to some of its greatest heights and its most memorable moments. Seeing coach Goodwin's relationship with (current Demon head football) coach Blaine McCorkle the past couple of years gave those of us who were not here when coach was on the sidelines a look into what made him and his teams so successful. His impact on Northwestern and Natchitoches is unmistakable and everlasting."
 
Goodwin, 82, won a school-record 102 games in 17 seasons at the helm of the Demon program, turning it into a perennial Southland Conference championship contender while setting the Southland Conference wins record.
 
A Pineville native, Goodwin led the Demons to four conference championships – the 1984 Gulf Star crown and the 1988, 1997 and 1998 Southland titles. He twice was named Southland Conference Coach of the Year.
 
His 1998 Demon team reached the FCS semifinals where it fell to eventual national champion UMass. That 1998 team equaled the school single-season record of 11 wins and featured four of the 22 All-Americans Goodwin coached at Northwestern.
 
His 1988 squad advanced to the FCS quarterfinals and is the only Northwestern team to go unbeaten in Southland play. That season, Goodwin's "Road Warriors" picked up five straight conference or playoff wins away from Turpin Stadium, including a regular-season-ending 20-17 victory at Stephen F. Austin, which had previously been ranked No. 1 in the nation. Two weeks ahead of the win at SFA, the Demons took down another top-ranked team, North Texas, on the road.
 
That run included the Demons' 22-13 victory at Boise State, which marked the first FCS playoff victory in program history and came amid wintry weather in Idaho. Northwestern's 10 wins that season marked the program's most victories in 49 years.
 
In addition to the on-field All-Americans he produced, Goodwin also coached two Academic All-Americans, a National Football Foundation Scholar-Athletes, 42 first-team All-Southland Conference selections and 38 players who reached the NFL.
 
Goodwin earned induction into the N-Club Hall of Fame – the highest honor the university awards to student-athletes and athletic staff members – in 1999.
 
Goodwin spent two seasons as an assistant on the late Lou Holtz' coaching staff at the University of Arkansas after a stellar nine-season run at Parkview High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he won 72 percent of his games and led the Patriots to five state championships.
 
He then spent two seasons as the head coach at Southern Arkansas University before making his way to Northwestern.
 
An alumnus of Pineville High School, Goodwin was a two-way player (offensive guard and defensive tackle) who was named team captain his senior year. Goodwin helped lead Pineville to the Class 2A state championship his senior year after returning from a broken ankle suffered earlier in the season.
 
Following his prep career, he played at Henderson State, beginning his Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame career. Goodwin earned enshrinement in the Arkansas hall for both his playing career and his success at the helm of Parkview.
 
During his Henderson State playing career – Goodwin later returned to his alma mater as athletic director after retiring from his coaching position at Northwestern in the summer of 2000 – Goodwin was a standout two-sport athlete.
 
An NAIA All-American selection in 1965 as a two-way player, Goodwin was the 1965 team captain for the Reddies' football team and was a three-time conference champion in the discus, setting the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference discus record.
 
In addition to being selected as the Henderson State MVP in 1966, Goodwin was part of the AIC All-Decade Team as chosen by Dave Campbell's Arkansas Football Magazine. He was enshrined in the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.