The Chicago State Cougars will play their first season of football as a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Independent, it was announced Wednesday.
A couple of nuggets from the @CallDT interview with NEC commish Norren Morris.
– Stonehill is on track to be a full D1 member July 1, shortening its transition by a year.
-Chicago State football will start in 2026 an independent schedule in year one and then will play an NEC…— Nelson Castillo (@NelCastNY) May 14, 2025
Chicago State joined the Northeast Conference (NEC) effective on July 1, 2024. The Cougars will play their first season of Division I football in 2026 before transitioning to a full NEC schedule beginning with the 2027 season.
Last month, Chicago State University announced the hiring of Bobby Rome II as its first-ever head football coach. Rome was previously the head coach at Florida Memorial University since 2022 and led the team to back-to-back Sun Conference Championship game appearances in 2023 and 2024.
“The future starts now, and we are ready to get going,” said Coach Rome in April. “Chicago is getting a D1 College Football team, and we couldn’t be more excited for it to be on the South Side.”
Although the Cougars are set to begin play in 2026, it’s not currently known where they will play their home football games. Gately Stadium, located just one mile from campus, is one option.
“I would prefer to play at Gately (Stadium),” CSU Director of Athletics Dr. Monique Carroll told FOX 32 last month. “We have our eyes set at Gately, but we know there’s some things we need to work through to get that to happen.”
Barring no additional changes, the NEC will have nine football-playing members beginning with the 2027 season: Central Connecticut, Chicago State, Duquesne, Long Island, Mercyhurst, New Haven, Robert Morris, Stonehill, and Wagner.
Given the state of Da Bears, I expect the Coogs to be the undisputed Monsters of the Midway by the ‘28 season, ‘29 at the latest.
Isn’t Chicago State having major financial issues? I don’t think spending big money on an FCS football program makes a whole lot of sense.
Gerry, I had seen a lot of the rumors on here about this move and I would have to agree with you, it doesn’t make much sense. I don’t see any great football roots really to expect success here. You can’t say that Northwestern or Illinois have been anything. On top of that, they are going into the weakest conference in the FCS, which isn’t going to draw a lot of talent. This looks about as well preplanned as a Trump tariff.
This move, similar to SAC St, appears to be the school’s “Hail Mary” attempt to claw out of their financial issues.
WAC might end up being sorry that they kicked Chicago State out, now that the WAC itself is on life support.
This is shocking to hear. I thought CSU was having financial issues?
I’m pumped for Chi St.! I love the NEC for them. I really think they can be very competitive in the coming years and I really think they are going to help their financial issues with have a football program. Gotta bring back the old vintage logo for the helmet at some point!
Please give Football to Chicago State.
It’s a great move. Sometimes, in order to grow, you have to expand. Look at newspapers. They lay off staff and expect to stay afloat. To attain and keep readers, you have to give them more, not less.
Chicago State is trying here. Let’s add football to make the school more attractive. It may or may not work, we know that. It’s also a HBCU and while HBCUs are very, very important, might it be time to open things away and make it a school for all races? Of course, any student can apply and attend Chicago State, but I have to think that the schools could be a great option for kids who attend high school in the city of Chicago and the suburbs.
Let’s see if FCS football works, before throwing dirt on the grave.
Coming soon:
Chicago State vs TCU.
A lot of these new NEC opponents seem to be scheduling at Power 5 schools, I wouldn’t be surprised if Chicago State follows suit.