CHICAGO (WLS) — Chicago State University has hired its first football coach in the school’s history.
It’s one of the first steps to making CSU football a reality.
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On Tuesday, university leaders said Bobby Rome II is the new head football coach of Chicago State University.
He’s enthusiastic about leading the Cougars.
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This is the first time a football program was built from the ground up in Illinois in more than 100 years.
CSU President Z Scott and Director of Athletics Monique Carroll were also at a press conference announcing the move Tuesday morning.
Rome knew how to get the audience going.
He said he’s ready for the challenge of starting a football program.
“We’re not here to be a flash in the pan. We want something sustainable, and is gonna last. That’s gonna take time and proper planning,” Rome said.
They had helmets and uniforms to show off Tuesday, but no players yet to wear them.
The small South Side campus has been around more than 150 years.
The school has been planning on adding football for several years, raising several million dollars to get the program started.
And while they have many other sports at the school, they say football brings something extra to a campus.
“What football does is uncanny in the world of sports. That’s the atmosphere we’re looking to bring to the South Side, to the city of Chicago,” Carroll said.
Chicago State is a small school, with fewer than 3,000 students, but they have big plans to take the field in the fall of 2026 with a full Division I Football Championship Subdivision, or FCS, program.
Their new coach played at the University of North Carolina and in the NFL for several teams before starting his coaching career. He most recently coached at Florida Memorial University, but says he’s anxious to come to Chicago and begin recruiting players.
“We start here on the South Side. Then, we spread across Chicago, then across Illinois. Then, we go national,” Rome said.
While hiring a football coach gives Chicago State a face for the program, they still have a lot of work to do, including figuring out where they’re going to play their home games.
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