It's astounding. Florida, a national hotbed for high school football,
boasted more than 40,000 players last season. Yet for those thousands of
high school student-athletes, many who would want to stay close to home
and play college football, a mere 200 college spots exist in the state,
excluding Division I programs.
The state of Florida lacks a single NCAA Division II or III football
program, and only two schools, Weber International University and
Edward Waters College, play NAIA (National Association of
Intercollegiate Athletics) football.
Ave Maria University, an institution in the Catholic tradition with a
generous stretch of land just outside Naples, Fla., hopes to give
Florida high school football players a new option to play at the next
level in their home state. The school announced Feb. 12 that it will
field a team in 2011, playing in the NAIA's Sun Conference with a mix of
players from the Sunshine state and around the country.
"We are adding football because it's a great character builder, and
it's the most visible of all the sports," said Ave Maria Chancellor
Thomas Monaghan. "We have plenty of land to play football. We have to
put in some bleachers, but we have been talking about it for some time.
Now that we have about a dozen sports, we thought that it was time to
add football."
Monaghan knows a thing or two about winning franchises as the
founder of the Domino's Pizza chain and the former owner of the Detroit
Tigers when they won the 1984 World Series. Monaghan also employed the
late College Football Hall of Fame coach Bo Schembechler as president of
the Tigers from 1990-92, following the legendary coach's retirement
from Michigan.
Brian Scanlan, the Ave Maria athletics director, said he hopes other
schools from the Sun Conference and the state might add programs in the
near future, citing two schools in the Miami area, Florida Memorial and
St. Thomas University, as two possible additions.
"The really exciting thing is to have two or three other teams
looking to add football," said Scanlan. "The great excitement would be,
'wow!' We don't need to drive 12 to 15 hours to play another team. And
we can drive two or three hours. How great would it be to have five or
six teams in the Sun Conference in South Florida where we can play each
other?"
Webber International University and Edward Waters College are
members of the Sun Conference, but they currently compete as NAIA
independents in football. The University of South Carolina Beaufort and
Northwood University are two additional Sun Conference schools mentioned
as possibilities to add football. That could give the Sun Conference as
many as seven football schools, surpassing the six teams required for
an automatic bid to the NAIA playoffs.
As part of the Feb. 12 announcement, the school introduced Barry
Fagan as the Gyrenes' first head coach. Fagan, who played wide receiver
for College Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Paterno at Penn State from
1974-76, comes with a 30 year-plus coaching resume, including the
previous eight years as the offensive coordinator at Hillsdale College
in Hillsdale, Mich. Fagan had a rigorous first 12 days on the job. He
attended eight different recruiting fairs in South Florida, meeting with
more than 350 high school coaches. His immediate goal includes landing
30 student-athletes for the 2010 fall semester en route to a full roster
for the 2011 kickoff.
"In going to the recruiting fairs, most of the schools were all from
the North [of Florida]," said Fagan. "The key is that there is so much
talent down here in Florida that the kids have to go north [to play
college football]. We're giving them an ability to stay at home... These
kids can come here and their family and friends can come and watch them
play without having to travel 18 hours. That's important for a young
man."
With 24 scholarships and 100 rosters spots available, "Coach Fagan
was very well received at these recruiting fairs," said Scanlan. "There
are lots of great players in Florida that do not have Division 1 options
available to them."
