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Our Rich History: Thomas More College adds a football program which has become very successful


By Dr. Raymond G. Hebert
Thomas More University

Part 29 of Our Series: “Retrospect and Vista II: Thomas More College/University 1971-2021”

It was on Thursday, February 9, 1989, that a much-talked-about article appeared in the Cincinnati Post entitled: “Mount St. Joseph Sees Campus Growth with Football.” As the Vice President for Academic affairs (VPAA) at Thomas More College at the time, I was a member of the President’s Cabinet and will never forget the discussion several days later at our weekly cabinet meeting.

President Charles Bensman, on the occasion of naming the Convocation Center in honor of Coach Jim Connor (Connor Convocation Center). (TMU Archives)

The first item on the agenda that morning was entitled: “If Mount St. Joseph can start football, why can’t we?” Several of the article’s main points were then discussed: 1) “For example, Tiffin University in northern Ohio introduced football only four years ago, when its enrollment was 510… now it’s close to 800”; 2) “football’s mere presence tends to have a secondary, positive effect, helping the student body further grow”; 3) the tuition revenue eventually could help offset the costs of initiating the sport”; 4) “with more programs available we could form new conferences”; 5) as quoted in the article, the Findlay College athletic director, Ron Niekamp, concluded: “there’s no shortage of young men who want to play, a small college fulfills that opportunity for them” (“Mount St. Joseph Sees Campus Growth with Football,” Cincinnati Post, February 9, 1989, p. 1D).

The cabinet meeting discussion took the entire two hours. There was a clear consensus among those in attendance that it was an idea worth pursuing, particularly as a Division III non-scholarship sport. President Charles Bensman had already had several conversations with local high school coaches who unanimously supported the idea, pointing out that there was a wealth of talented football players on both sides of the Ohio River who yearned for the opportunity to continue playing and yet were not big enough or fast enough to be sought after by Division I Schools.

A feasibility study was commissioned, and it is telling that page 1 of that 250-page report, when it appeared, included a copy of the February 9, 1989, Post article quoted above. The possibilities of being outdone by a local rival, The College of Mount St. Joseph, and the likelihood immediately of a final game-of-the-year annual rivalry were incentives that remained in the forefront throughout the planning period. An important influence was the results of a “Football Survey” of similar-sized institutions that had recently started football, including four established programs and seven new programs.

Richard Herdlein, Vice President for Student Development (TMU Archives)

All (100%) reported a substantial increase in the enrollment of traditional students, even excluding football players. Also, football increased school spirit on their campuses. It was also helpful that of the seven new programs, “six out of the seven played their football games at a local high school stadium” (Football Feasibility Study, 1989, TMU Archives). Clearly, the cost of a football stadium was not likely to be an expense that could be added to the annual budget at Thomas More College as it stood at that time.

Not surprisingly, the most outspoken champions for beginning a football program at Thomas More College were President Charles Bensman, who soon had a number of Board of Trustees members and local coaches on his side, and Vice President for Student Development, Dr. Richard Herdlein. According to Vice President Herdlein, the greatest influences on our positive decision to move forward that same year were Mt. St Joseph College in Cincinnati and Gannon University in Erie, PA, who had begun new programs in the fall of 1989. Both were to become opponents in our first year (“Herdlein letter to Football Feasibility Committee,” February 8, 1989, TMU Archives). Dr. Herdlein was soon recommending that Thomas More begin recruiting students who would be on Thomas More’s campus to play football in the fall of 1990.

One other interesting aspect of the Feasibility Study were the survey results that were “responses to the questions included in the Player’s Survey with 64 high-school senior Football Players responding.” In every category, 95-100% of those former athletes would have continued to play at a Division III school after their high school careers if the opportunity existed locally. In addition, 91% responded that they either strongly agreed (60%) or agreed (31%) that they “would seriously consider Thomas More for football because it offered Division III football on the college level if Thomas More initiated a program in fall 1990” (Football Feasibility Study, fall 1989, TMU Archives).

Coach Vic Clark, Thomas More’s inaugural football coach (TMU Archives)

Meanwhile, there was enough interest on campus that Dr. Herdlein could announce in a letter in the fall of 1989 that a “Football Coach Search” was underway with “valuable input from former Cincinnati Bengals Quarterback Ken Anderson who has been assisting us from a technical point of view” (“Richard J. Herdlein letter to Thomas More Faculty, Staff and Students,” October 26, 1989, TMU Archives). A later memorandum, also from Dr. Herdlein, announced a “Press Conference to introduce the new football coach on November 21, 1989” (“Beginning of Football Program” file, TMU Archives).

Soon after, the Kentucky Post on November 21, 1989, printed a story entitled “Thomas More Names Coach” in which Vic Clark was announced as Thomas More College’s first football coach. Clark, a 41-year-old Missouri native, had been the offensive coordinator for Morehead State University in the most recent years, preceded by positions as the offensive line coach at national Division II powerhouse University of Montana, and a guest coach in the Canadian Football League with the Edmonton Eskimos and the Ottawa Roughriders. The article concluded that there had been “50 applicants for the head coaching job” (Kentucky Post, November 21, 1989, p. 1K).

The seriousness of this move for the Northern Kentucky area could be seen in a related article, intended to motivate Northern Kentucky University (NKU) on May 14, 1989, in the Cincinnati Enquirer, by well-respected sports columnist Dan Weber. The title was “NKU Should Bear Burden if It Wants Football Team.” He opened with the apparent intention of stirring up a controversy by saying that there was “no way the burning sports issue in the summer should possibly be college football. But there’s plenty of wind swirling around Northern Kentucky these days.” Weber challenged NKU, stating “you’ve got to spend money to make money. There are no bargains in football helmets. Or football programs… NKU could learn a lesson over at Thomas More.” He reminded his readers that all of Kentucky’s regional state colleges had football teams except NKU. In his words, “maybe NKU needs to work more than any other school to build those varied kinds of bridges to the community so that it’s more than a suburban office park with classrooms” (Cincinnati Enquirer, May 14, 1988, p. D8). Once Dr. James Votruba became president of Northern Kentucky University, however, it became clear that his plans did not include adding football to the institution’s intercollegiate sports offerings. The emphasis would be on strengthening the sports they already had and, when possible in the future, to become a competitor at the NCAA Division I level.

Cover of the program for the first TMU football team (TMU Archives)

Of course, NKU did not start a football program, choosing instead to focus on other sports — today it is a respected Division I athletic institution.

Thomas More went on to become a highly successful Division III football program with a recent commitment — after an interim three years in NAIA — to move up to Division II in all sports in the coming years. In addition to its Catholic and strong academic, liberal arts identity, Thomas More gained further recognition in the Northern Kentucky community with the adoption of football. Soon, the Northern Kentucky regions’ first four-year college would begin a progressive new era in its academic history as well, adding an accelerated adult education program.

Dr. Raymond G. Hebert is a Professor of History and Executive Director of the William T. Robinson III Institute for Religious Liberty at Thomas More University. He has just completed his 46th year at Thomas More and, with that background, will now serve as the General Editor of the official history of Thomas More College/University from 1971-2021. With a projected title of RETROSPECT AND VISTA II, it will serve as the sequel to Sr. Irmina Saelinger’s RETROSPECT AND VISTA, the history of the first 50 years of Thomas More College (formerly Villa Madonna College). He can be contacted at hebertr@thomasmore.edu.

We want to learn more about the history of your business, church, school, or organization in our region (Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, and along the Ohio River). If you would like to share your rich history with others, please contact the editor of “Our Rich History,” Paul A. Tenkotte, at tenkottep@nku.edu. Paul A. Tenkotte, PhD is Professor of History and Gender Studies at Northern Kentucky University (NKU) and the author of many books and articles.

Celebration on the occasion of the final victory in the undefeated season of 1991 (TMU Archives)


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