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A university known for losing is betting football can change everything
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- A university known for losing is betting football can change everything
It's the right thing to do.
Those are the words that continuously echoed in Monique Carroll's ears. Just a few months after becoming Chicago State athletic director in July 2022, she embarked on an ambitious quest: Bring Division I football to the South Side.
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While it's nothing new for universities across the country, it's a peculiar one for Chicago State. A predominantly Black university with a historically low graduation rate according to the U.S. Department of Education , athletics has never been a strong suit for the Cougars. Most sports have tremendous all-time losing records. The few bright spots have been in women's tennis, with an undefeated 1991-92 season and in 2024, becoming the first Chicago State team to make the NCAA tournament.
That wasn't going to stop Carroll from trying — and running full speed at it.
"I promised to our president and our board of trustees, if we ever looked up and it did not make sense or something in the landscape shifted that we would make the right decision (to stop)," Carroll told USA TODAY Sports. "Thank God we didn't have to."
In just a few years, Chicago State football has gone from possibility to reality, kicking off its inaugural season Saturday, Aug. 29. The Cougars are starting in the FCS level, becoming the only Division I football team in the Windy City.
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It's an exciting time for a university trying to turn the corner in its athletic resume, all while undertaking an enormous challenge to start up a program from scratch — and keep it going in one of the U.S.' major markets all while trying to change the school's narrative of losing.
While it promotes it as such, Northwestern isn't actually in Chicago; it's just north in nearby Evanston. The last time the city actually had a Division I football team was 1939, when Big Ten founding member University of Chicago dropped its program.
It was pondered for years, but football wasn't viewed as a necessity for Chicago State. Carroll admitted she "wouldn't say it was important" for football to happen. But again, it felt like the right thing to do.
The start of 2023 was when it officially explored the idea of adding football, forming a committee and launching fundraising efforts to help with the strenuous cost. A year later, Chicago State joined the Northeast Conference and added women's triathlon in positive steps.
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There was real movement, but nothing officially set in stone. Still, the administration opened up a coaching search. More than 300 people applied, and in April 2025 it officially hired someone with one of the most unique backgrounds you'll find in the sport.
A coach with experience in... Russia?
A former North Carolina fullback with some stints in the NFL, Bobby Rome II had some stops across the country before it took him to an unexpected spot: Russia.
In 2012, he joined the Moscow Patriots, a powerhouse in the Eastern European Super League. The following year, he was a coach for Saint Petersburg State. Then in 2014, he was hired to launch American football at Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, a Pacific port city roughly 80 miles from the border of North Korea and China.
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Rome coached the Wild Panda for three years, only because that's how long his visa would allow, literally building a program from scratch and teaching people how to play football.
"It was very humbling. Getting overseas, getting to a place where football wasn't very popular, and it taught me how to build. It taught me how to service others. It taught me how to see something through," Rome said. "My experience in Russia was amazing. It's taught me how to do a lot with a little."
Chicago State football coach Bobby Rome II during a summer practice.
He didn't have any idea it would be his distinct mark, and while it was fun and rewarding, Rome didn't figure it would help him in his coaching journey. His father told him "this is gonna help you one day."
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Rome brushed it off, but after a few stints at small colleges in the National Christian College Athletic Association (Virginia-Lynchburg), Division II (Central State) and NAIA (Florida Memorial), he was out of coaching at the end of the 2024 season when he saw Chicago State was hiring.
"The moment Chicago State decided they wanted to start football, I wanted to be a part of it," he said. "It's something about the South Side that I wanted to be a part of. It's something about Chicago State in general."
After a pool the university said included coaches with NFL and college experience, Chicago State introduced Rome as its first coach in April 2025, putting him in a position of building something from the ground up once again.
Guess dad was right after all. Plus, he can say "I am the Chicago State University football coach" in Russian.
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Rome was hired to a four-year deal that started off at $90,000 and increased to $180,000 once football was officially added, according to his contract obtained by USA TODAY Sports. There are also incentives for fundraising
For Rome, it wasn't built in a day. The first couple of months on the job was mostly generating community support, trying to get what was needed to make football actually happen.
There were several moving parts all trying to make it happen. Carroll described it as an intense and stressful time because "you don't want to add programs on top of an unstable foundation."
Then on Dec. 18, after trying to fundraise $4 million, the university board of trustees unanimously approved football.
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"While everyone was celebrating — that's when a lot of the external excitement — we were like, 'OK, now it's finally time to get to work,'" Carroll said.
Rome and Carroll had to work together to get everything sorted in less than a year. There wasn't any other coach, player, a schedule, housing or even a stadium. It was like Chicago State was building the Titanic on water, and the iceberg was rapidly approaching.
Carroll and Rome worked together and on their own to get the pieces aligned. They were able to get an 11-game schedule by February, and secure SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, about a 40-minute drive west, as its home. Uniforms, equipment and everything else came to place. The practice field was painted on the old baseball field.
Rome then assembled a staff and roster — though most of it remains a mystery. He touted a top-10 recruiting class in FCS, with several three-star recruits committing to the Cougars over Power conference FBS schools, pitching how "it was very enticing to be the guy to start this thing." He also received a $5,000 bonus for the first signing class.
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"We all were looking for bringing in young men that understood what the mission was here, and to lay the foundation for Chicago State football," he said. "We wanted young men to understand that they were here to pour the concrete for the foundation for something that's going to last a very long time. They were going to have an opportunity to set the culture."
Chicago State football practice on Aug. 3, 2026.
The roster is intriguing. Most of it comes from its own backyard, with 20 players coming from Chicago, but there are multiple freshmen from throughout the country, from California all the way to the nation's capital.
Most transfers come from outside of Division I, but it does feature some players from FBS schools. While most didn't play much at their previous stops, notable people include Tre People from LSU, who was a three-star recruit in high school, and running back Tre Hartwell from Western Michigan. One of the most experienced guys is receiver Kyrmari Gray, who has played in 32 games during three seasons at Hampton and one at Norfolk State.
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Kaymen Coleman, a Chicago-born receiver who was with NAIA Judson University in 2025, was in the transfer portal and reaching out to schools when he saw Chicago State was starting a team. It immediately intrigued him, having grown up down the street from the university, and when he connected with the staff, it was a clear decision. He not only felt like wanting to represent his hometown, but is one of many looking to make a statement.
"I always felt like I had a chip on my shoulder, something to prove," Coleman said. "I feel like there's no better situation to go into where everybody is coming in the same way."
Regardless, Rome says he likes what he has seen from his roster. He believes he has several quarterbacks capable of starting, a deep running back and receiver room and well-rounded unit in the trenches, "where we invested most of our money at," he said.
It's going to be a historic achievement when the Cougars play fellow Chicago school, Division II Roosevelt Lakers in its inaugural game. Yet, the challenge doesn't end there.
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'No one's gonna support a loser'
You don't need anyone to tell you how expensive it is to fund a program, let alone from scratch. Chicago State relied on a fundraising goal of $4 million to get it started, and it's going to take a lot more to keep it going.
That can be more challenging when it's a university like Chicago State, where sports aren't generating revenue or succeeding much. Carroll is aware of what has long been the view of her university, but she's out to change that — believing football is the key to turning it around.
"Our other sports are ready to rise to the occasion and show that we are building a really comprehensive athletic program at Chicago State and looking to erase the reputation," Carroll said. "The numbers are the numbers. The history doesn't lie, but that's why I'm here."
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The goal isn't to just have a flash in a pan, but for Carroll and Rome to look way down the line from now and reminiscence what they were able to start. The administration still plans to fundraise and generate resources, while keeping a close eye on what unfolds in the ever changing landscape of college sports. Chicago State has not opted into the House settlement, according to the College Sports Commission, something Carroll said can change.
It's anyone's guess how good Chicago State is, and if it can get hot out of the gate.
In addition to Roosevelt, the schedule features Kentucky Christian (NAIA) plus Fort Lauderdale and Virginia-Lynchburg of the National Christian College Athletic Association. But it also has preseason ranked teams in No. 5 Tarleton State and No. 22 UT Martin. Administrators said it was intentional, wanting to play the best to see where it measures up, and hopes to be.
No matter the challenge, Rome isn't playing coy about how he believes his team stacks up. He expects victories early and often.
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"We're not OK with just putting toe to football Aug. 29 and the confetti falling and everyone celebrating that we made history. We want to win football games," he said. "Let's just cut straight to it. We got to win some football games. No one's gonna support a loser. Nobody's gonna support a bad football team. We gotta be a smart, fast, disciplined football team that's gonna put people's asses in the seat. It's just that simple. I think Chicago State has the right man right here that can get it done.
"Talking about it ain't gonna get it done. We're gonna have to line up Aug. 29 and hit somebody in the damn mouth."
Chicago State football practice.
As if the pressure couldn't be more ramped up, Chicago State is also out to proudly represent one of the largest cities in the country. Not only is there no Division I team in the Windy City, but it is in a precarious position with the Chicago Bears seemingly on the way out of not just the city, but the state. There really won't be big-time football in the Second City – and the Cougars want to change that.
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"There's definitely a lot of questions," Coleman said. "Aug. 29, they're gonna be answered."
Carroll has noticed there is community excitement on the South Side, proudly donning her gear when out and about in the city. There is a noticeable shift in how the university is being perceived, and football is believed to be behind it. Now, it wants to capture the attention of the rest of the city — and region.
"It's going to give people another team to have affinity for, something to be excited about. The fact that we are on the South Side, people can feel even more ownership. We want to be Chicago's team. We want to be the Midwest FCS team," Carroll said. "We really want to shine the light on college football with all of the work that we're doing and put it on full display in one of the best cities in the country."
From the administration all the way down to the players, everyone is all in on making this a success. Or as Rome puts it, they all have "pushed all their chips to the center of the table."
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It's what adds to all of the anticipation for the first game — the belief this is the beginning of success for a place that hasn't had much of it.
When the ball is kicked off and the action finally begins Aug. 29, Carroll will be trying her best to be present — not focusing too much on the future and appreciating what it took to get to game No. 1.
"You only get this moment one time," she said.
At that point, it will solidify that bringing Chicago State football to life was, in fact, the right thing to do.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: A university known for losing is betting football can change everything
