UVM Football Still Fighting

The 2008 University of Vermont Club Football season started on Sunday. It could be said that this season and last season have begun in very different ways.

I am proud to have been the head coach of the UVM Club Football Team that started the 2007 campaign with much fanfare. There were articles in all of Vermont’s major newspapers from St. Albans to Rutland; most of which were written by non-sports writers. I was pleased to have been interviewed on the local ESPN radio station, on Newschannel 5 TV, and in a nice nine-minute interview on the Corm and the Coach show. Even Peter Freyne, known more for his political writing, wrote an article about us in his blog and even posted a nice photo.

Quite a few curious onlookers, who wondered if this was the beginning of varsity football returning to UVM, attended the first practices. Our first game was on the road, a semiprofessional contest against division foe Northern Berkshire. The Catamounts first drive was spectacular! My pro-style, west coast offense was run perfectly and the first drive went 73 yards in eight plays, culminating in a 14-yard touchdown pass from Rob Kimmel to Tim Snow. UVM football was back and had a seven-point lead in less than eight minutes!

Once the news of victory hit the airways, the anticipation turned to exhilaration. As the t-shirt says: "UMV Football: Undefeated Since 1974”. And undefeated we were for our first home game which drew over 2,300 fans. I’m pretty sure that’s record attendance for any Vermont club or semipro sporting event. And we didn’t disappoint, either. We won that game too, 10-7.

But, what a difference a year makes. I was notified on January 2, 2008 that my contract would not be renewed even though we had made the semi-finals of our semipro league and I was named League Coach of the Year. Needless to say, the news was shocking. The person picked to replace me was my former assistant, David Motherway. Coach Motherway is knowledgeable, I will admit, but had never coached football before his one-half year as my special teams assistant.

Also gone is the semipro football league we played in. The Northeast Independent Football League was absorbed into the Eastern Football League this past winter and the Club decided not to pursue the EFL or any other semipro league for 2008. Instead, they have opted for an NCAA Division III junior varsity schedule.

I can see the positives. There’s a sense of credibility that you get by competing against other universities: it “feels” more like college football. And then there’s the level of talent that the 2008 team will face. Gone are the more experienced “adults” and in are other college-aged opponents with similar sizes and athletic ability.

But the minuses outweigh the plusses in two big ways. First, the local media outlets do not cover club sports. Last season we were treated as semipro and got more coverage than even the Vermont Ice Storm, who won a National Championship. And with no media coverage, you’d never know that the Catamounts now play their games on Sunday instead of Saturday, or that the Cats have a new coaching staff. And that affects the bottom line: money. Gate revenue and merchandise sales suffer greatly when nobody knows you’re still out there.

But out there they still are. The Catamounts played their very first game of their second season on Sunday September 7, 2008, but you’d never have know it. There was no fanfare and no media interviews. There was no rapt anticipation for the first home game of the year. Consequently, there was no crowd, no revenue, and no idea that Catamount club football was back again.

There was, however, Norwich University’s JV football team and a confident group of UVM players eager to test their mettle. In 2007, the UVM offense looked confident and sure and the first drive ended with a touchdown en route to a win. In 2008, the offense looked uncomfortable and unsure, and the new option attack fumbled the ball nine times.

Norwich scored early and looked comfortable the whole game. There was a feeling from early on that the outcome would not be in doubt as the Cadets beat the Catamounts, 27-15 on Buck Hard Field at Burlington High School. It’s not the start the Catamounts wanted but it’s very important because they are still playing.

Win or lose, what those UVM students are doing is truly remarkable. Bringing football back wasn’t easy and keeping the program alive won’t be easy either. And though they’ve made some errors this season, I hope the future remains bright and that these Fighting Catamounts keep fighting. Go Cats!