Football making its revival at UNO

NEW ORLEANS – So many times “what if?” gets in the way of “why not?” – but never for Kevin Boisseau.

Despite size to the contrary, Boisseau never play high school football. He believed his future would be not on the gridiron, but as a GI.

Out of high school he signed up, eventually serving seven months in Iraq, and is still a member of the National Guard Reserve – responsibilities that always take priority.

Hurricane Katrina would exile Boisseau to Tennessee, where he would eventually enroll at the University of Memphis. A 6-foot-4, 370-pound man rarely stays inconspicuous, and the opportunity was presented to Boisseau to walk on to the Memphis program along with 60 other hopefuls.

“Why not?” he'd say.

“Two others made it: it was me and a defensive back. He ran a 4.50, and that’s pretty good,” Boisseau said.

But before he could even suit up for a game, Boisseau's reserve unit was called up. He was headed back to his hometown to assist on patrols with the NOPD. What little football career he had, in his mind, was through.

“There’s a time where you realize, with your dream, the real life, the real world, and the time to put it down and to go forward with your real life,” Boisseau said. “I kind of figured that was pretty much it.”

Boisseau stayed in New Orleans when his call-up ended and enrolled at UNO. Philosophy, not football, was his new pursuit.

But “what if?” once again became “why not?”

”UNO football teacher? I’m like, y’all got a football team?” Boisseau said.

A thriving football team, albeit at the club level, meaning no scholarships or funding from the university.

This isn’t the first time there’s been football at UNO. From 1965 to 1970 the Privateer club football team competed in 23 games against other club teams like Loyola, Nicholls State, even the Tulane JV club. But after the 1970 season, the program at the Lakefront went dormant.

Until it was revived last season by Andy Benoit, director of admissions at UNO and the Privateer's head coach.

“We were sweating it out about 30 to 45 minutes before the game, saying please God, let people show up at this ball game,” Benoit said.

They did, and they have. A two-game schedule in 2008 became an eight-game schedule in 2009. The team became so popular there was a student initiated vote to make this past Saturday's game at Tad Gormley.

Homecoming is a date historically reserved for basketball season on the lakefront.

The grass roots campaign has been noticed by the higher ups at UNO, and sponsored football from scratch has a blueprint, be it at a lower division like Southeastern Louisiana, who plays in the Southland Conference.

Or at the Division I level, like Sun Belt member South Alabama.

But Sun Belt commissioner Wright Waters warns that the cost of a major college football program usually outweighs the glamour.

“It’s the same advice we gave South Alabama, is if you make the move to 1-A football, you must have a compelling reason to do so,” Waters said.

And right now most compelling for UNO is adding back the six sports they need to reach the NCAA minimum of 15. The school has two years to reach that goal, and now must also find their third athletics director in the past six months after interim Athletics Director Mike Bujol, a football supporter, resigned Tuesday.

On Wednesday the school announced they are exploring the possibility of dropping Division I athletics completely and moving down to Division III. Such a move would gut the UNO Athletic’s Department, eliminating all scholarships.

But oddly enough, that could benefit the football program.

The football players themselves currently sell tickets, solicit advertisements and raise money for uniforms and referees. A Division III sponsored program would handle all of that. Students athletes would be just that – not salesmen.

But right now is good enough for Kevin Boisseau. Whether the future is club football or beyond at UNO, “what if?” is no longer a question for him.

Instead, it's “what may be?”

“When I look at it, I’ll be like, I helped establish that,” Boisseau said. “The reason there is a football team is because we all came together, and we made it happen.”