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Miami Gardens, FL — For the first time in 61 years, Florida Memorial University will have a football program in Miami Gardens, FL. The only historically black university in South Florida announced today during a press conference at Betty T. Ferguson Recreational Complex that the school plans on playing their first game in this new era of football for the school at the start of the 2020 season.
“It’s a new day,” said athletic director Ernest Jones. “It’s a great day for this community and a great day for Florida Memorial University.
The school has yet to announce a head coach for the program but plans to announce a leader at some point during the fall football season and plans on hiring an entire coaching staff in the Spring of 2020.
Here in Miami Gardens, FL where @FLMemorialUniv are set to officially announce the re-launch of their football program. @FootballHotbed pic.twitter.com/LnF9SnKqis
— Marcus Benjamin (@_BenjaminReport) June 4, 2019
“We want to get the best football coach out there,” said Jones. “We hope that we get some great local candidates. We hope to get the best football coach that has the vision and understanding of what it takes to start and build a football program from scratch.”
Florida Memorial plans to mainly recruit the tri-county area but is also looking to expand the recruiting area to as far as Tallahassee, FL. The Lions will be battling St. Thomas University and Keiser University for football prospects in the Sun Conference in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Commissioner of the Sun Conference Dustin Wilke also in attendance at today’s press conference and says the location of the school will raise the level of the conference to compete nationally. The Lions will be in the Sun Division and Jones admits that football will elevate recruitment for the school on all levels.
“The ultimate goal is to attract people in this community to come to the university,” said Jones. “We truly believe for every one athlete, they’ll bring three to five people with them to the university.”
Several Florida Memorial alumni and high school football coaches were in attendance for the press conference on Tuesday afternoon including Miami Carol City Head Coach Benedict Hyppolite and Miami Booker T. Washington Head Coach Tim “Ice” Harris. Coach Harris went through a similar re-launch of a program at Washington and knows what it takes to build a program from the ground up.
Just up the street from @HardRockStadium @MiamiDolphins legends Nat Moore and Larry Little were in attendance for the launch of football at @FLMemorialUniv @FootballHotbed pic.twitter.com/c9VNRB3pOi
— Marcus Benjamin (@_BenjaminReport) June 4, 2019
“As high school coaches we’ve been waiting for programs to step up and keep kids in Miami,” said Coach Harris. “This can become something that can be ours especially coming from the inner city programs.”
Coach Harris believes that the an HBCU can offer an experience that other schools may not provide.
“Even if they’re a Division I type of player and they have the opportunity to visit five schools, I will always encourage that at least one of those schools be at a HBCU. They may get an opportunity to see things that they would not see at a big traditional school.”
Dr. Jaffus Hardrick, president of Florida Memorial, started as the interim president in the Summer of 2018 and later was appointed as the 14th president of the university in the Spring of 2019. The Lions will play their home games at the Ferguson Recreational Complex which is walking distance from Hard Rock Stadium. The president is confident that the complex is an ideal home stadium for the team.
“This is a facility that has been remodeled,” said Dr. Hardrick. “They know the vision in which I want to elevate this university. This location just happened to become available so it was a no brainer for me.”
The university in partnership with the recreational center plans to build field houses, a scoreboard, expand parking and build bleachers to create college-level venue.
The common saying in Miami Gardens today was #ItsANewDay! @FLMemorialUniv officially announced the re-birth of football at the #HBCU. @FootballHotbed pic.twitter.com/aWesHrxQ3v
— Marcus Benjamin (@_BenjaminReport) June 4, 2019
Dr. Hardrick served as the Assistant Vice President of HR and Assistant Provost at Baylor University and Vice president for Student Access and Success at FIU previous to taking the job at Florida Memorial. Hardrick found that growing athletics is vital to building notoriety for a university.
“Athletics is always an attractor to an institution,” said Hardrick. “I’ve seen when I was at Baylor and Florida International University how we brought on football and other programs how it grew the enrollment and brought about diversification of revenue to the institution. It galvanizes the alumni and it brings in students.”
