Shaw Bears Release 2025 Football Schedule, Ready To Launch Lamar Manigo Era

The 2025 Shaw Bears football schedule is a tale of contrasts: three non-conference games against relatively unknown opponents, followed by a grind through some of the CIAA’s most familiar rivals.

New head coach Lamar Manigo will lead Shaw into the season opener on Aug. 30 against Albany State — a Georgia program the Bears have faced only four other times in their history. The Bears also will travel to play Ferrum (moving up from Division III to Division II this fall) and close the season at Emory & Henry, a South Atlantic Conference school that recently found itself in need of a November opponent. 

The middle of the schedule brings a much more traditional stretch, with three straight October home games against CIAA rivals Winston-Salem State, Johnson C. Smith and Fayetteville State — all familiar North Carolina showdowns with deep histories.

Shaw’s full 2025 schedule was released Tuesday, featuring an early bye week, five total home games and hopes of building on last year’s 6–4 finish as the program transitions into a new coaching era.

📌 Shaw Bears Schedule Highlights

🏈 Season opener vs Albany State (Aug. 30): Shaw defeated the Golden Rams 43–40 in a shootout in week two of the 2024 season and will host this year’s rematch on home turf. Prior to last season, the Bears and Rams played in 2008, 1977 and 1968.

✖️ Week 2 bye gives Shaw an early breather before a stretch of nine straight games.

🆚 Ferrum (Sept. 13) and Emory & Henry (Nov. 8) round out the non-conference schedule. Ferrum now competes in Conference Carolinas, while Emory & Henry plays in the South Atlantic Conference with North Carolina powerhouse programs like Wingate and Lenoir-Rhyne.

#ShawU | #BearWithUs | #ManiGOTIME pic.twitter.com/WjXn3BQ26s — ShawU_Football (@ShawU_Football) May 13, 2025

🎓 No season-ending St. Augustine’s matchup this year — St. Aug’s will not field a team again in 2025 after missing 2024. The recent closure of Limestone University in Emory & Henry’s conference opened up the date for both schools to schedule a November non-conference duel.

🎉 Shaw’s homecoming will take place Oct. 18 vs Johnson C. Smith, one of three major October home dates alongside Winston-Salem State (Oct. 11) and Fayetteville State (Oct. 25). This could be a make-or-break stretch for the Bears, aiming to win their first CIAA crown since collecting three trophies in 2007, 2008 and 2010.

🏟️ Worth Noting

Although Shaw University is based in Raleigh, the Bears will once again play home games at Durham County Memorial Stadium — which also happens to be the site of this year’s CIAA Football Championship Game. The CIAA title tilt had been held at Salem, Va. the past several seasons.

🔁 Coaching Transition

The 2025 season marks the debut of head coach Lamar Manigo, who was hired in January following the dismissal of longtime coach Adrian Jones. Jones, who led the Bears for eight seasons, now serves as head coach at CIAA rival Elizabeth City State — though Shaw and ECSU will not meet this year.

📉 2024 Recap

Shaw finished strong a year ago, defeating Fayetteville State 38–35 and then taking down Livingstone 24–17 in the season finale. Those victories gave the Bears a winning record both overall (6-4) and in conference play (4-3).

🐻 Shaw Bears 2025 Football Schedule

🐻 Shaw Bears 2024 Football Results