A Winning Perspective

A new era in University of Rhode Island football began on January 13,2000, when Tim Stowers was named head coach. Stowers, who spent six seasons as head coach at Georgia Southern, won a Division I-AA national championship in 1990.

A Winning Perspective

By Shane Donaldson '99Photos By Nora Lewis

Stowers' record as a head coach is 51-23 (.689), including a 6-2 record in four post-season appearances. Stowers' players have also had success in the class-room, as 93 percent of his seniors at Georgia Southern received their degrees.

Recently Coach Stowers answered the following questions for QUAD ANGLES.

What are your first impressions of the University?

The University of Rhode Island really has a lot of potential. Students are starting to find out what a good thing they have here in Kingston. You can get a good education and build friendships that will last forever. You can build contacts for when you get out into the real world. This place helps you find a job and become a good influence on society.

You won a national championship in your first year as head coach at Georgia Southern, and you also won three titles as an assistant. Is URI's program one that you can get to that level?

This is the type of program I have always wanted. It's a program that has not won a lot in the last few years, so there is a chance to put my own stamp on it and build the program from the ground up.

What have you seen in your short time here that excites you about the team?

We have a good attitude. I told the team right away that we are going to have a good, contagious, positive attitude. That attitude is going to spread from me throughout the rest of the coaching staff and right through to the players. You can win a couple of extra games just by having a good attitude about the system, about your teammates, about your coaches, and about where you go to school. You have a totally different perspective on things when you have a positive, infectious attitude about things.

The past few years, to come out here on a Saturday and see so many empty seats has been disappointing. How do you spark fan interest in a program that has struggled?

The main thing we have to do is to send a message to the fans, the students, and former players that once you're on the team, you are always a part of the team. We can't achieve our goals as a team without everybody's help. We've got to take the Abraham Lincoln approach of leadership and get out and mingle among the troops. We have to let people know that we care about them, and we want them to care about us, our football team, and our University.

Do you love the game of football itself, or is it solely the college game you like?

I really like the college game. I don't really watch a lot of pro football. I've had a lot of players go on to play in the NFL, but I really like the level of Division I-AA football. I think this is the highest form of true amateurism. You have to play the game for the sheer fun of playing and for the camaraderie of your teammates. That's something that separates this level from the Division I-A teams. Division I-A teams have all the frills.

We as a football team have to overcome adversity off the field, even the way you travel in I-AA football provides adversity. If a Division I-A team has to go 400 miles for a game, they just get on a plane. We may not have the budget to go on a plane; we might have to go on a bus. There are a lot of things you have to overcome at the I-AA and Division II levels. But that doesn't mean we don't have just as well run a program as the Division I-A teams do.

Does the off-the-field adversity you talked about make it more fun?

It does, because you have to work harder. It makes the players more close-knit as a team, which is very important at this level. The friendships and memories they establish here will live with them the rest of their lives.

Prior to taking the job, what did you know about the University of Rhode Island and its program?

This is the state university, so that is a big, big positive. We've been playing football here for 101 years. Think of all the lives that have been affected by football here over the course of 101 years. There are a lot of people who have fond memories of playing and watching football at Meade Stadium over the years. That tradition is really something special, and it's something we should be able to build on.

What is the offensive approach you plan to take with Rhode Island?

We will run the spread offense. We're going to try running an offense with four wide receivers and one tailback, or three tailbacks and two wide receivers. We're going to spread the field, whether it be with more of a running formation or a passing situation. We've laid the groundwork for the offense, but we're a little bit like the characters in Smokey and the Bandit. We've got a long way to go, and a short time to get there.

By it's nature, that type of offense would seem to be one that gets fans excited.

With this offense, you have a chance to move the ball, even against superior personnel. When I was with Georgia Southern, we once had Auburn 17-3 at halftime, and we had no business being on the field with them. I think we have good personnel here at Rhode Island, but this offense gives you a chance to move the ball even if you are facing a team with better personnel.

If you were speaking to all the URI alumni, students, players, and fans, what would be your main message to them?

I'd say that you're going to see a football team that plays hard and plays with a different passion for the game of football than has been seen around here for the past couple of years. We are going to put a football team on the field that everyone will be proud to have represent their school and their alma mater.

A former Good 5¢ Cigar sports writer, Shane Donaldson '99 is a reporter for the New England Patriots Football Weekly and for the team's Web site at Patriots.com.

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