Big news out of Arlington Thursday as the UT Arlington Mavericks will be bringing football to the official sports offering of the Athletic Department.
I thought about using that line on the Western Athletic Conference message boards, but wanted the full qualifier in the title there to avoid misleading the average reader. I did it to one of my sons who got really excited. He wanted to go to Maverick Stadium in the fall.
But here, either you already know the news or, for some weird reason, you choose the Maverick Rambler as your news and know my irreverent style already.
Women's Flag football will debut on campus for the Spring 2027 season.
Before I ramble, here are some of the known facts regarding the sport and UTA:
- As mentioned, the first game is in Spring of 2027. There is only one Division I team that currently fields a team, Alabama State. They had seven games on the schedule for their inaugural year this year against five different teams.
- Long Island University, Mercyhurst and Mount Saint Mary's have announced future programs, the only other Division I institutions that have done so after Alabama State. LIU made an announcement in March and starts a program next year. MU's Announcement was in December. They have already hired a head coach and will start play next year. The Mount was the first of the three to formally add the sport, made public in November, has a coach, will start play next year and also has announced their first student athlete.
- UTA will be the first NCAA DI program in the Southwest and obviously first in Texas. LIU is in the State of New York, MU is in Pennsylvania and MSM is in Maryland. I'm sure I don't have to announce where Alabama State is. There are approximately 20-30 Division II programs that have started or will start a flag football program and a handful of others at Division III.
- There are approximately 40 to 50 programs in the NAIA, the small school association of colleges and universities.
- Home games will be played at Maverick Stadium, the first game in 2027 will be the first time since November 16, 1985.
- Flag football is not an official NCAA sport yet. However, the governing body is set to make it an emerging sport in the near future. Bowling and beach volleyball were recently emerging sports and are now official sport offerings of the NCAA. Additionally, it will be a part of the 2028 Olympic Summer Games.
- Flag football is not officially recognized by the University Interscholastic League, the governing body of Texas high school athletics. However, there are high school programs in Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin that have organized city championships. UTA's FAQ about the new program said 50 high schools are in the metro area. The prevailing belief is it is on the horizon for the UIL.
- UTA will hire a coaching staff and begin the recruiting process in the coming months.
During the summer of 2022, I made a post about sports expansion in Arlington. Women's flag football wasn't even a possibility then on any scale. I also haven't spoken to anyone with the University about generic sports expansion in quite a long time. This came out of the blue to me.
There are so many exciting things from me about this. But let me get the elephant in the room out of the way first. This is independent of the fall sport on the men's side. This is independent of the student vote two years ago. There is no guarantee or promise male football is coming.
From the UTA FAQ:
Is this a precursor to bringing back D1 Football? No, it is not. However, to be in NCAA Title IX Compliance, UTA would need to add multiple women sports if the university decided to reinstate men’s football.
If that fact disappoints you, I get it. If you have no excitement for flag football coming to Arlington because there is no fall tackle football, I don't know what to tell you. I was excited for women's golf when it was announced. I, however, cannot attend golf game. Maybe I can go to the course and watch a few holes, but it is not the same. I can support them but can't root for them the same way I can at a basketball or baseball game. I am very much looking forward to sitting in Mavericks Stadium for that first game.
This is the first team addition since 1973 when all the women's teams started play. It's funny to think that UTA, with all their budgetary issues from the 1970's, had more team sports from 1973 to 1985 than the U had from 1986 to 2026. That should be exciting in its own right.
Also for the first time since the early 1980's, UTA will have a sport that does not have a home in its primary conference. In the 1960's up to the end of the '70's, UTA had a very successful men's swimming program, winning individual national titles often. It is common knowledge, but not widely known, that Doug Russell, an Olympic gold medalist, swam for the then-Rebels. He would later coach the renamed Mavericks. The Southland Conference never offered a swimming championship and UTA competed as an independent. A conflict with the Athletic Department and the Physical Education Department, which had control over swimming pool and related facilities, prompted the Athletic Department to drop the sport. That pool he swam in is still standing at Nederman and Greek Row Drives.
Much lesser known is the very short tenure of the sports of weightlifting, fencing and pistol shooting, according to the Shorthorn. I have seen a Dallas Morning News article about the UTA fencing coach starting the program. Also confirmed is Steve Vandenberg as the fencing coach, Britt Brewer as the rifle coach and former linebacker Willie Thomas as the powerlifting coach in the 1981 UTA football media guide. None of those three sports appear in the 1980 or '82 media guides.
In that time, the NCAA required two means to be in Division I-A, now known as the Football Bowl Subdivision. The first was a 17,000 attendance average over a four-year period. Prior to the start of that 1981 season, that average would have been roughly 5,950. In some years, they counted the Texas Stadium game against North Texas that saw 15 to almost 20,000 as a home game, but that is the true home game average. Those UNT games also would not have gotten them close to the 17,000 average fans needed.
The second prong was number of sports offered. Back then, the NCAA was not the governing body for the women's side of collegiate sports. So when the NCAA said schools needed 12 to be in I-A, it was all men's sports. That prompted the new offerings. When UTA was relegated to I-AA, or the Football Championship Subdivision, of today, those sports were dropped after a year.
Flag football is not like that scenario at all. And that's what gets me most excited. At the press conference, it appeared that UTA President Jennifer Cowley was the brainchild behind the initial process. Athletic Director Jon Fagg said it best in the press conference that they want UTA to get out ahead of the curve and become a national powerhouse. I'm pretty stoked at how proactive UTA was in the process.
The SLC sponsored women's soccer in the fall of 1997 and women's golf in spring 2002. UTA did not start either while in the conference. Later, the SLC sponsored bowling and beach volleyball. The Sun Belt Conference had women's swimming in 2001, stopped prior to UTA's entry and resumed last year. This is the third year of SBC beach volleyball. UTA doesn't sponsor the following WAC sports, with year started by the conference: men's soccer (2013), women's soccer (1996), men's swimming (2014) and women's swimming (1991). Football has been hit and miss in the WAC lately, so I'm excluding that one. At no point was UTA proactive within sports expansion.
Women's golf was added to assist UTA in its Bubas Cup quest, the Commissioner's Cup of the Sun Belt. UTA finished with two points of first place three times. The hope was that sport would get them over the edge. It didn't. By the time UTA added it, so many hundreds of programs were firmly established that UTA faced an uphill battle.
Flag football at UTA doesn't have that impact, at least yet. It is purely to get in on the ground floor and build a winner.
Teams that have a long history in a "non-revenue" sport tend to be competitive in that sport. With UTA being proactive in its newest sport, they aren't following the crowd. They identified an opportunity to excel in a sport. To be on the ground floor of that opportunity should get fans of the University's sports programs excited.
Another point of excitement comes in geographical proximity. I texted one of my Mav buddies and his first point was opposing team proximity. Early on, I view that as a good thing. Like I have mentioned a few times throughout the years, one of the competitive advantages of a men's soccer program would be lack of programs locally to compete in the region. UTA would have greater or easier access to local athletes. Same would be true of a flag football squad.
Now there's a real chance more schools follow UTA's lead. Four DI schools play next year. Three of them announced it within seven months. Other schools could make their own announcement over the summer or fall. Many could follow the same path. In fact, I'd bet many see UTA doing it and think they should too.
While I am overly enthused about the addition, like anything else, there are downsides. too
The first and still one of my biggest gripes: UTA needs help in the fall, not the spring. In March, this blog falls behind because there is so much going on. Over half the sports are active that month. However, in the fall, the only team sport is volleyball for two and a half months. I don't know of any other school that has that issue. I realize there would be logistical issues for the team to play in the fall, but something more has to occur.
There's an episode of King of the Hill, the Courtship of Joseph's Father, Hank laments the current state of the football team by noticing how well the cross country team is doing. The next line is him saying he'd give anything for that to not be true. That's the best-case scenario for UTA.
The other issue I see is rivalry. It may take time for it to develop. Concordia University is a Division III school in Austin. Most other schools sponsoring flag football are several states away. Rivalry is the lifeblood of college sports. When you look at the top attended games across all sports, the same schools appear over and over. Those schools currently have no flag football now or on the horizon.
I don't know how long it will take but others will follow. That issue will be remedied at some point. The wildcard is who, when and where. In the short term, excitement should carry the team forward. In the long term, there has to be another school or three the fans want to see UTA play and beat.
But that's it. I can't think of any other bad things. This is an aggressive, positive add. For the first time in my lifetime, I am in my mid-40's, UTA made a strategic move in sport offerings that have a potentially large benefit. The main thing for me, this is great news. I will be at the opening day. I know I won't be the only one.
No comments:
Post a Comment