Students want gridiron brought to campus.
The one sport Castleton State College doesn’t offer might be the one students want most.In more than a half century of offering athletics, Castleton has never fielded a football team. And while there hasn’t been much discussion among the athletic officials about starting a football program now, students say they’d love to see it happen.
“I definitely miss playing football,” said sophomore Bill Rose. “It would be cool if our school had a team. I guarantee we’d get enough kids to join the team.”
So if he’s right and there are enough students for the team, why doesn’t Castleton add the sport to their athletics program?
Castleton’s Athletic Director Deanna Tyson said creating a football team won’t be an easy task because of certain obstacles in the way – primarily green ones.
“It would cost the school a lot of money to support a football program,” Tyson said. “We also would need to get a bigger facility; that’s probably the deciding factor in Castleton gaining a football team.”
While the cost of supporting a team can be expensive, it is accepted that
football can have a positive effect on a school and its community.
“The biggest reason for us to eventually get a football team would be to create an important spirit on campus,” said Greg Stone, Dean of Students. “Football has a tendency to bring a community together, and that’s something we would like to do.”
Castleton sports teams, with the exception of hockey and skiing, compete in
the North Atlantic Conference (NAC). Four out of the 13 schools competing in the
NAC have a football team, with Becker College being the most recent school to add
it to its athletics program.
“Having a football program here would increase the amount of students enrolled,” Tyson said. “I know that the NAC has been pushing for us and their other schools to add a football team.