POINT
JIBRAN MUHAMMAD- Contributing Writer
Why do almost all U.S. high schools have student football
teams? Why do most major universities make a heavy
commitment to their student football program? Because it’s
good business to have an energized student body. It’s good
business for alumni to remain enthusiastically engaged with
their alma maters throughout their professional lives. It’s
good business to have a successful football program. Is it
time for Virginia’s largest university to inaugurate a student
football program? Initial soundings suggest most students
express great enthusiasm while others reflect indifference.
It would be interesting and useful to determine how VCU
students feel about having a football team. For many, the
answer is an emphatic “yes!”
Why should VCU have a football team? There are so
many important reasons. Look at Virginia Tech. Long
before April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech in Blacksburg
enjoyed national-name recognition. Why? Because it
has a nationally ranked football team. Whoever heard of
Appalachian State University, with its 15,117 students, or
of Boone, N.C., population 13,000, before Sept. 1, when its
football team defeated fifth-ranked-nationally University
of Michigan before 110,000 screaming Michigan fans at
the “Big House” in Ann Arbor? Such name recognition is
priceless and results in thousands of additional student
applications. More applicants means greater selectivity,
which leads to better student performance and a higherranking,
more sought-after university. Almost everyone
wants to be associated with a winner.
Launching a football program is likely to be expensive
and will take much time and effort, but the payoff can
be great. Can you think of anything the university could
do that would generate more student enthusiasm and
student involvement? In addition to all students, their
friends and relatives who would attend games, think of
all the alumni who would come to Richmond on game
days, pouring millions of dollars into the coffers of the
university and into the local economy. The financial
benefits to the university and the community would be
beyond comprehension. Ask the administrations of most of
the universities in major college football conferences.
Closely related to the immediate benefits are the
longer-term benefits that derive from alumni relations.
If VCU ever expects to receive significant endowments,
it will have to do a better job of maintaining alumni
involvement. What better way than to have home
football games? When alumni regularly return for
homecoming, they are more likely to lobby their sons
and daughters to similarly attend VCU. And when they
are drafting their wills and bequests, they are more likely
to remember VCU if they maintain their involvement
with the university. How many scholarships, stadiums,
buildings, professorial chairs, fountains and campus
gates have been named after generous alumni around
the country? Such endowments form a major part of
the financial stability of many colleges and universities
offering scholarship funds, research grants and building
funds for attracting more and better students. It would
be interesting to hear the president of Virginia Tech
talk about the financial and psychic value of “Hokie
Nation.” Has anyone heard of “Ram Land”?
Perhaps the most important reason for a VCU
football team is the positive effect it would have on
school spirit. Thirty-two thousand
students are living out what should
be some of the most memorable and
most enjoyable days of their lives at a
university where less than 10 percent
of the students voted in the last Student
Government Association election. An
extraordinarily large percentage of the
students are simply putting in their
time, walking off with their degrees
and moving on with their lives – never
looking back. How sad. What a loss.
They are paying the price in tuition and
effort, and yet they are missing what
so many college graduates consider to
be the most enjoyable experiences of
their university careers. Not only are
the individual students short-changed;
the entire student body is handicapped
by this lack of interest, enthusiasm and
involvement. In talking to faculty and
graduates of other universities, I feel this
loss keenly. An important role of the
university is to prepare students to be
responsible citizens in their communities
across Virginia and around the world.
The state’s financial contribution to VCU
is premised on this role. How likely is it
that uninvolved university students will
suddenly start voting in state and national
elections and assume community leadership
positions upon their graduation?
Do we really believe that intellectual
development is the best preparation for
responsible citizenship?
It is time for VCU to begin a football
program. The question is not whether
it will happen, but when. Without
significant work by many people from
all levels of our community, we will not
know the problems and obstacles that
we must overcome. But overcome them
we will. A wise man once said, “The
journey of a thousand miles begins with
a single step.” If even half of the students
at VCU say, “Yes! Run with the ball!”,
we will not be denied. We must create
the VCU of tomorrow. We must create
it now. This is our time. We are ready.
Our time has come! We are ready!
COUNTERPOINT
JONATHAN HOWARD- Sports Editor
Look … I’m as big a fan as the next guy,
but football at VCU is not the answer. At
this point, the administration’s refusal to
add the sport to its rolodex doesn’t bother
me. As far as I’m concerned, the VCU
student body can complain all it wants
about a lack of a football team. If Rams
fans want something new, they have to
support what is already in place. Men’s
basketball sells out … sometimes. I’ve seen
many people go to games when VCU gets
on TV… strictly because they want to get
on TV. Other than that, VCU sporting
events are not well attended. The baseball
team won the CAA title last season – how
many people went out to The Diamond
to witness it? Both soccer teams and the
field hockey team are off to outstanding
starts – outside of friends and family how
many are watching every week? The tennis
teams are competing to go to the NCAA
tournament every year – how many people
actually know they play right behind T.
Edward Temple Building?
You can make the argument VCU needs
a football team because these other sports
aren’t interesting to many people, but my
point is that students need to show support
for what they have before they get something
else. Ignoring that VCU President Eugene
P. Trani will not allow a team under his
supervision, there is no reason to suggest a
team would be worth this university’s time.
Lots of people talk about how bad they want
a football team – but how many would
actually take the time to go to games every
Sunday? How many people take the time to
go out to the games that already take place?
Until students can support what we have,
we don’t deserve something else.