By Lynn Ramsey - Florida Catholic
Photographer: SCOTT GILLIG | STU
St. Thomas University President David Armstrong holds up a football as cheerleaders and the Bobcat mascot celebrate the announcement that the archdiocesan university will field a football team in 2019. The Bobcats will play in the Mid-South Conference of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
MIAMI | Starting a high-school football team is one thing. Starting a college program, with its greatly increased travel, is entirely another.
Nearly 20 miles to the north of St. Brendan High School, St. Thomas University has turned its football hopes to a president who has traveled this path successfully. David A. Armstrong started a football team at Notre Dame College in Cleveland and helped build a successful program at Thomas More College in Kentucky before he came to St. Thomas.
Photographer: SCOTT GILLIG | STU
St. Thomas University's Bobcat mascot shows off the uniforms for the archdiocesan university's new football team, which will take the field in 2019. The Bobcats will play in the Mid-South Conference of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
Armstrong said enrollment was the primary reason to start football at St. Thomas. Currently, the archdiocesan university has 800 fulltime traditional undergraduate and 550 fulltime law-school students among its 6,000 students – the rest being part-time and online students.
St. Thomas had started a Master Plan in 2011 which included football. Only the university had intended to start in 2021. Armstrong’s arrival in August fast-forwarded the decision. “A lot of people think that money is important” in building football, he said. “Actually, the most important things in football are conference affiliation and a schedule.”
The Mid-South Conference — a football affiliation of three other National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics conferences — provided the conference. The Bobcats will reside in the Sun Division with Ave Maria University, Keiser University, Webber International, Southeastern University, Warner University and Edward Waters College — all but one schools in Florida. The Bobcats will have athletic scholarships and other financial aid available for players, Armstrong said.
Athletics Director Laura Courtley-Todd said the conference setup happened at just the right time for St. Thomas. “Webber International and Warner University for years were traveling far out of state, even to the west coast,” Courtley-Todd said. “Us waiting a little longer, that made that travel so much easier.”
The 10-game schedule kicks off Sept. 7, 2019, at home against Thomas More College. Armstrong also said that football adds to the student life of the campus. Football has also brought a marching band to St. Thomas. Ken Carr, who led bands and choirs at Thomas More College, will take the same positions at St. Thomas.
Photographer: SCOTT GILLIG | STU
St. Thomas University's Bobcat mascot holds the football after the announcement that the archdiocesan university will field a football team in 2019. The Bobcats will play in the Mid-South Conference of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
St. Thomas has the plan for a team. Now it’s time to build. Courtley-Todd said the Bobcats want at least 100 players on their roster. She and the admissions office are leading the recruiting until a coach arrives. The process has worked so far with 50 students already expressing interest. She expects that number to quadruple once a coach is hired.
Armstrong said he hopes to have one on campus by October and announce him in December. Courtley-Todd said 25 applications came in after they announced the program on Aug. 29. Their hiring goal: “Having the right fit of a coach, who believes in the same Catholic mission as us,” she said. “We are very big into the mission of champion of character and having the student-athletes buy into that. That has worked for our baseball team for many years.”
Both Armstrong and Courtley-Todd say recruiting in the talent-rich south Florida area should help the Bobcats start great. Transfers could also help. “A lot of students who may not work out with the University of Miami or Florida International or Florida Atlantic and may be more at this level actually go out of state,” she said. “With this opportunity, they get to stay close to home.”
They also need to build the team’s facilities. Armstrong said his first choice would be to partner with next-door Msgr. Edward Pace High School to share a football facility, but the Bobcats have other options.
Armstrong also said that the Bobcat Club’s fundraising efforts will go toward facilities. He plans to run the football program out of the athletics department’s operating budget, with his goal of football bringing in at least $500,000 to the bottom line.
Ultimately, he said, football fits at an institution like St. Thomas. “We’re a small faith-based institution,” he said. “We believe in education of mind, body and spirit. Traits that a character-formation activity such as football builds are immense — traits of hard work, discipline, attitude of gratitude, colorblindness.”
