When University of Toledo student Dylan Brown was reading an article about the Ohio State University club football team in The Blade this past November, he had one immediate thought.
Why not us?
So he enlisted the help of Ohio State and Oakland University, where they had already established successful club teams, and researched the National Club Football Association website and started the process of bringing a club football team to Toledo.
Brown, who played football for four years at Anthony Wayne, finished his intramural football season this past fall and, upon seeing the OSU story in The Blade, knew establishing a club football team was something he wanted to pursue.
“My four years [at Anthony Wayne] is where my passion for football really picked up,” Brown said. “I've been playing it in college. I did flag football in the intramural league we have at school. That's kind of where the idea started to float around in my head because guys were talking about missing playing the real deal instead of flag football.”
Brown met with the Office of Student Involvement at UT and presented the idea. He then made a proposal to UT Recreational Services, which oversees club sports. After about a month (on Feb. 13), Brown learned that football was approved as an official club sport at the University of Toledo.
Brown, along with other members of his staff, raised enough money to become a member of the NCFA. On March 18, the NCFA officially announced Toledo as a new member team that will compete in the Mid-Atlantic West Conference for the 2020 season along with Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Miami (Ohio), and Wright State.
Practices that were supposed to start recently were canceled because of the shutdown of campus because of coronavirus concerns.
“It was kind of a way for us to get some practice and start getting to know each other, as well as a chance for the recruits to see what it was like and if they were interested in playing,” Brown said of the missed practices. “Obviously, once everything started with the pandemic and everything started shutting down, we weren't able to do that.”
Brown says the team has about 25 members between staff and players, and are always looking to expand.
“With everything that's happened recently, it hasn't changed that everyone is excited about having a club football team here,” Brown said. “It's a unique opportunity for all the kids that are coming out to play, because a lot of them are like me where they played in high school and now this is like your second chance.
“Only roughly one percent make it to playing D-I football in college. You have the other 99 percent that are D-II, D-III, or most of them don't end up playing football anymore in college. If you come to a big school like University of Toledo that is a D-I team, most of us aren't going to play for them. But you have a chance to play for us, and it's like a second chance for a lot of people like myself. That's kind of what motivates us.”
Brown says the team will rely on donations and sponsorships. He says potential sponsors, recruits, and anyone interested in learning more or contributing in some way can email Clubfootball@utoledo.org.
They are also looking for any football programs in the area that might have player or practice equipment they can donate such as pads, helmets, uniforms, etc.
“If you are a student at the University of Toledo and you played football before in high school or maybe it's been a while and you want to get back into it, we're a place to go,” Brown said. “You don't even have to play for the team.
“We have a couple of different roles on our staff where you can help support us. We need help with fund-raising, overseeing our games, announcers, chain gang. There are different ways for people to get involved in some way. Just being involved can lift people up.”
Brown is a business major and says it's been quite a thrill mixing his passion for football with the business side of starting the club football team from scratch.
“It would mean the world to me,” Brown said. “It's everything I enjoy doing in one place. Being the president, I get to oversee everything. Running a club team is almost like running your own business.
“I'm actually a business major. It implements that part of my life. I've always wanted to do something in sports and business after college, so it builds my resume as well as gives myself and others a chance to play the sport that we love. It's kind of the best of both worlds for me. So seeing it succeed would mean everything to me.”
For fund-raising opportunities for the Toledo club football team, visit the team’s Fundrazr page.
First Published March 21, 2020, 5:51 p.m.
