Football Championship Subdivision<\/a> level as a member of the Northeast Conference in 2026. That\u2019s only 91 years after Central Connecticut State, which last season represented the NEC in the FCS playoffs, began playing football. Other NEC schools have been in the football business even longer than that.<\/p>\nRome wasn\u2019t built in a day, but Bobby Rome might not have that kind of time.<\/p>\n
The 38-year-old from Norfolk, Va., was officially introduced by the school on Tuesday, reminding some of us who haven\u2019t been paying the closest attention that Division I football is coming to the city. With all due respect to Northwestern, which bills itself \u201cChicago\u2019s Big Ten team,\u201d this is Roseland \u2014 the South Side \u2014 we\u2019re talking about, not the North Shore. Chicago State will join Division II Roosevelt as well as North Park and the University of Chicago, both Division III, as city schools with football teams.<\/p>\n
One potential game site that\u2019s clearly worth exploring at least in the short term is Gately Stadium, a CPS facility that sits one mile from campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can guarantee regardless of where we practice, regardless of where we play, we\u2019re going to be damn good and a big part of this community,\u201d Rome said.<\/p>\n
There were more than 200 applicants for the coaching position, according to the school. It would be hard to believe any of them came close to having a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 like Rome\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Rome went to North Carolina to play quarterback and \u2014 what a fun coincidence \u2014 shared a QB room for a while with a fellow Tar Heels backup by the name of Ben Johnson. Perhaps you\u2019ve heard of Johnson? Yes, the new Bears coach. (Rome also describes former Bears running backs coach and interim offensive coordinator Chris Beatty as his \u201cmentor.\u201d) Rome eventually transitioned into an H-back role and became a frequent starter.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s his head coaching path \u2014 a string of roles that reads almost like satire \u2014 that led him to this point.<\/p>\n
It started at Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, Russia, which is so mind-numbingly far from Moscow, it takes roughly nine hours to fly there directly and is \u2014 who knew? \u2014 the eastern terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway. As the crow flies, it\u2019s less than 20 miles to the China border and only a bit farther than that to the North Korean border. There, after having played professionally in Moscow, Rome inherited a group of students who wanted to play football and had convinced the school\u2019s administration to give it a shot. It took awhile to put a team together, but eventually the Wild Pandas \u2014 coached by a 20-something American with an interpreter at his side \u2014 took the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t think I could turn this thing into a career,\u201d Rome said, \u201cbut I caught the bug.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2018, Rome took over at Virginia University of Lynchburg, an HBCU in the National Christian College Athletic Association, where the Dragons were on a 44-game losing streak and had been outscored by a total of 428-28 the season before. At Rome\u2019s first team meeting in the non-scholarship-based program, there were, he estimates, well under 20 players in attendance. He built the roster to over 100 and actually won a handful of games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just love the challenge of taking something from the start and making it yours,\u201d he said, \u201ceven if it\u2019s really bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2020, Rome arrived to coach Division II Central State, an HBCU in Ohio. Fifteen days later, the season was put on what would become a permanent hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The team had gotten in all of two days together in Rome\u2019s long-planned offseason program. The Marauders would win three games in 2021.<\/p>\n
After that, in 2022, Rome began a three-season stint at Florida Memorial, an HBCU in the NAIA ranks that had recently come off a tiny hiatus from football of, oh, 62 years. In Rome\u2019s second game, the Lions lost 86-0 to Southern. He implored his players not to give up. Two weeks later, they won a game. Over the following two seasons, they won 12 more.<\/p>\n
And the latest stop on Rome\u2019s shake-your-head path: moving up to Division I. Moving to the big city. Moving to Chicago State, a school without a football field or even a football player.<\/p>\n
What could go wrong?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s time to set up an office. It\u2019s time to meet a bunch of high school coaches and players. It\u2019s time to reach out to the Bears\u2019 Johnson, because who knows what wisdom he might share? It\u2019s time for Rome to envision something, anything, and begin to make it happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not looking to win tomorrow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Rome wasn\u2019t built in a day.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it has to start right here in Chicago,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no place better.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n