Pitarresi: College football is a growing game

I’m a football guy, and I have been since, as far back as I can remember.

 

My father was a player and a coach, and I can remember being on the sidelines with him, staring up at those players who I thought were gods, when I was just four years old. It’s been close to six decades, and the game has been a constant for me as a ballboy, waterboy, player, coach, fan, and sportswriter ever since.

 

We also played baseball, basketball, pond hockey, volleyball, golf, wrestled and even boxed – did some of those things reasonably well and some very badly – and loved them all, but football always was the biggest deal.

 

So, it was gratifying to read the National Football Foundation’s report that 17 colleges plan to add football by 2013. Five of those schools will take the field for the first time this season, including two of Utica College’s opponents this season, Anna Maria College of Paxton, Mass. and Castleton State of Vermont. Among the schools that will start next season is Georgia State in Atlanta, which will be led by Bill Curry, the former Green Bay Packers all-pro center who was head coach at Georgia Tech, Kentucky and Alabama.

 

This is on top of a score of new teams in the last decade, including UC, and frequent Pioneer opponents Becker and Husson.

 

Why is this happening? Colleges are desperate to attract male students for one thing. And, as the NFF points out, the game also can energize campus life, increase media visibility, and build alumni support. There are a lot of colleges – say, Notre Dame, Boston College, Colgate, Williams, Amherst – that have made hay with their football programs in just those ways for a century or more. It can be good business in a many ways, and it can be a very positive experience for players, students, and the communities the colleges serve.

 

Archie Manning, chairman of the NFF, pointed out that there are more than 1 million high school football players in the United States, but that only 66,000 are playing at the college level. There obviously is room for growth.

 

The addition of 17 teams will bring the number of colleges playing the game to 742 – 120 in Division I-A (Football Bowl Subdivision), 126 in Division I-AA (Football Championship Subdivision), 149 in Division II, 238 in Division III, and 92 in the NAIA.