Alma Mater: Austin College, 1998
Seasons: Twelve
Justin "Buck" Buchanan enters his into his 12th year as the head coach of the Hendrix Warriors in 2024.
In 2023, Buchanan's Warriors led the SAA in passing with 345.9 yards per game. Quarterback Jacob Buniff led all of the NCAA in yards passing per game and passing touchdowns through the first five weeks of the season. Hendrix produced eight 2023 All-SAA selections, including Christian Gadison, Parker Turley, and Buniff, who were all named Second Team All-SAA Offense. The Warriors won their most conference contests since 202-21, with one of those wins coming in a 50-49 thriller against Rhodes at War Memorial Stadium.
The 2022 season was highlighted by shutout wins over Austin College and Rhodes. Five Warriors were selected to the All-SAA teams. Tajae White was named 1st Team All-SAA after a standout season as both a receiver and a return specialist, and Jacob Wood was named SAA Offensive Player of the Week after throwing four touchdowns against Sewanee on Oct. 15.
In 2021, the first full season of play following the COVID-19 pandemic, Hendrix went 3-7 and landed four players on the All-SAA teams, including Chris Childress, whose 13 touchdown receptions ranks second in single-season touchdown receptions in program history.
In a shortened 2020-21 season, the Warriors swept the SAA West to advance to the SAA Championship game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, where they fell 21-20 to the Berry Vikings. 13 players from that Warrior team were named All-SAA, including Adonnis Butler, who was later named a 2nd-team All-American.
Buchanan led the Warriors to a 7-3 record on the 2019 year with a fourth-place finish in the SAA standings. Hendrix had six different SAA Player of the Week recipients while Hunter Lawrence earned Google Cloud All-District Academic honors and Sandy Burks was named to the D3football.com Team of the Week. Eight players went on to earn All-SAA honors as well.
For the 2018 season, Buchanan coached one D3football.com Preseason All-American, three D3football.com National Team of the Week recipients, 10 All-SAA awardees and one D3football.com All-South Region player. Running back Kip VanHoose led the entire SAA in rushing while punter Garrett Wolf received the Little Rock Touchdown Award.
In 2017, Buchanan led Hendrix to a program-best 8-2 record that included a third-place finish in the SAA. Buchanan also coached the 2017 SAA Offensive Player of the Year in quarterback Miles Thompson. Thompson completed completed one of the most prolific seasons in college football after passing for 3,472 yards and 37 scores while running for 552 yards and 10 touchdowns as well.
In 2016, the Warriors garnered their first national ranking, making it as high as #22 in the D3football.com Top 25 Poll. Hendrix went 7-3 and broke the NCAA Division III record with 600 yards of total offense per game. The Warriors also ranked first in the nation in pass efficiency and completion percentage, were second in third down and fourth down conversion percentage, third in passing offense, seventh in scoring offense, eighth in first downs, 28th in sacks allowed and 33rd in rushing offense and tackles for loss allowed and 41st in tackles for loss.
In 2015, Hendrix ranked 19th in the nation in pass efficiency and 28th in total offense with 472.3 yards per game. Buchanan also led the Warriors to a Southern Athletic Association championship with an 8-3 overall record and a trip to the NCAA Division III Playoffs in 2015. He was named the SAA Coach of the Year and the AFCA Division III Region 3 Coach of the Year.
In 2014, the Warriors improved to a 6-4 record in just their second year since bringing back the program. The Orange & Black led the SAA with 302.2 passing yards per game, 68.3 completion percentage, 462.9 total offense yards per contest and a 44.1 third down conversion percentage. The Warriors ranked third in the nation in completion percentage, 15th in passing yards, 20th in first downs and 27th in total offense.
In 2013, Hendrix won their first game since the 1960 season in the first contest of the season - a 46-44 home victory over Westminster College on a last second field goal. The Warriors went on to win two more games, finishing 3-7. Hendrix led the Southern Athletic Association with 287.7 passing yards per game, and was second with 420.8 total offense yards. They were also 20th in the NCAA in passing and 44th in scoring offense with 33.7 points per game.
In seven seasons, Buchanan has coached 26 All-SAA First Team selections, 14 second team selections and 38 honorable mentions. He also coached 39 SAA Players of the Week and 22 D3football.com National Team of the Week selections, eight D3football.com All-Region selections, seven CoSIDA Academic All-District honorees and one CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team selection.
Running back Dayton Winn was named the SAA Newcomer of the Year in 2013 and was the SAA Offensive Player of the Year, AFCA All-America Third Team and AP Little All-America selection in 2015. Winn was also the only junior Gagliardi Trophy Semi-Finalist in 2015. He repeated as the SAA Player of the Year and AFCA First Team All-American in 2016, and was once again a Gagliardi Trophy Semi-Finalist. Quarterback Seth Peters was the 2014 SAA Offensive Player of the Year and kicker Steve Crenshaw was the SAA Special Teams Player of the Year.
Buchanan is no stranger in the rebooting of dormant programs. He helped restart the program at Louisiana College in Pineville as an original staff member in 1999. Buchanan served as the Wildcats' associate head coach from 2006-11 and helped guide LC to four consecutive 7-3 records and a top 25 ranking in his final season.
Buchanan served as the Wildcats' defensive coordinator in 2005 and from 2007-11 as he built one of the top-ranked defenses in NCAA Division III. In his final year in Pineville, Buchanan's defense ranked nationally in tackles for loss, sacks, defensive pass efficiency and turnovers. He also coached the American Southwest Conference Defensive Lineman of the Year.
During the 2007, Buchanan was the offensive coordinator. Buchanan’s offense was nationally ranked in passing and total offense. He coached the ASC Freshman of the Year at quarterback who later became Gagliardi Finalist, Mehlberger award winner, and won a gold medal with the United States National Team.
In the summers, Buchanan coached, taught and coordinated American football camps in Sweden, Finland and Czech Republic.
Buchanan was a defensive line coach coach at Austin (Texas) for two seasons (1998-99) and assistant women's basketball coach for three seasons (1996-98).
Buchanan played nose tackle for Austin for four seasons (1993-95, 1997) and medically redshirted in 1996.
Off the field, Buchanan was named a CoSIDA Academic All-American in 1997.
Buchanan earned a Bachelor of Arts in communications and Bachelor of Arts in exercise sport science from Austin and graduated cum laude in 1998. He received a Master of Arts in Teaching in speech and exercise sport science from Austin in 1999.
A native of Denison, Texas, Buchanan attended Denison High School. Buck and his wife, Dr. Michelle Buchanan, reside in Conway.
