December 03, 2008

College Student Starts University Football Program: When Doug DeLuca enrolled as a freshman at the University of Vermont in the fall of 2006, the school hadn't fielded a football team since 1974. DeLuca changed all that by starting a club football team, raising $35,000 for equipment, negotiating a million-dollar insurance policy and finding 50 players, coaches, trainers, opponents and a place to play and practice. Now they're the school's official team. Go Catamounts!

posted by rcade to football at 12:06 PM - 9 comments

This is awesome.

posted by dfleming at 12:13 PM on December 03, 2008

Amazing.

posted by tommybiden at 12:21 PM on December 03, 2008

Man, I wish Doug DeLuca had gone to U of T instead.

*rimshot*

posted by DrJohnEvans at 12:58 PM on December 03, 2008

Wow. That is made of awesome. As are club sports in general. It's great to hear that they're making a comeback!

posted by lil_brown_bat at 01:54 PM on December 03, 2008

I am not in any way a traditional student. Could someone kindly explain to me what a club sport is? Versus a JV/Varsity team? Thanks in advance and excuse my ignorance!

posted by adammcd at 02:28 PM on December 03, 2008

Club sports are non-scholarship programs with minimal involvement of school officials. The Times ran a recent feature on them that explains how they're booming.

posted by rcade at 02:47 PM on December 03, 2008

Cool!

posted by yzelda4045 at 12:00 PM on December 04, 2008

rcade,

Thanks for the link. I appreciate it!

posted by adammcd at 01:34 PM on December 04, 2008

This is a tragedy! As a UVM grad, I used to proudly state that the University of Vermont football team had been undefeated since 1974. They even sold t-shirts in the bookstore that said that.

Seriously, this is great for UVM. They'd fit right into Division III's NESCAC, I bet -- Middlebury plays football in that conference.

posted by Rock Steady at 08:20 PM on December 05, 2008

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