The Lions will roar once again; FMU football back after more than 60 years
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (BVM) — The last time Florida Memorial University had a football team, they were known as the Florida Normal Industrial Institute. This was in the year 1958. It’s been over six decades since the Lions last strapped up their helmets, and that dry spell will come to an end this fall.
Under the reign of new head coach Tim “Ice” Harris, the Lions will begin the resurrection of their football program. Harris comes in with a storied high school coaching career, being in the business for over 22 seasons. His most successful tenure came at Miami Booker T. Washington. In his 11 years there, Harris won three state championships as well as a national title.
The Lions will look to Harris for his leadership early on, as they will play one of the toughest schedules of the year for any NAIA team. In their first opportunity to compete in over six decades, their schedule will feature five top 25 teams in the nation.
In their season opener, the Lions will play host to Reinhardt University out of Georgia, preseason ranked No. 13 in the nation, winning 34 out of their last 37 games. They will follow that game up with a road trip to Kentucky where they will face off with Lindsey Wilson College, preseason ranked No. 4 in the country. FMU athletic director Ernest T. Jones was optimistic and excited about this chance to compete with the best.
“We’re looking at it as we’re going to go out there and upset five top 25 ranked teams in year one,” Jones said. “Be excited to be a Lion, be excited to be a part of the rebirth, be excited to be a part of the new day.”
With the program’s renewal, they’ll have a chance to form their new identity. A fresh start, a tough schedule and a successful head coach will make for a lot of enthusiasm surrounding the team and the direction they’ll be heading in. Coach Harris says he is excited to be the one overseeing the rebirth.
He originally became interested in the position when attending the press conference announcing the resurrection of the program. Harris says that during the press conference, he noticed that what he values as a coach aligned hand-in-hand with what FMU expected in their new leader.
“As a leader and an educator, someone who teaches young people,” Harris said. “That’s what triggered me to go for the job.”
Not only did Harris believe that he fit FMU’s desired mold from a values standpoint, but he has had experience with the birth of a football program before. His former school, Miami Booker T. Washington, didn’t become a high school until 1999 and didn’t have a football team until 2003. Harris led them to become the elite team that they are today.
“I found myself looking at this picture saying that this can be another one of those moments in my life that we can start a program from the ground up,” Harris said. “We can put in all the work to make it number one.”
Now with the position officially secured, Harris’ first task at hand was to construct a coaching staff. His goal was to hire as many South Florida high school coaches as he could, to give them an opportunity to show they can coach at the collegiate level. Harris says that there are so many coaches that are good at what they do in the area, but they don’t get the opportunity to even interview for some of the elite coaching jobs. Harris hopes that proving themselves at FMU first will change that in the future. Between
himself and the rest of the staff that he put together, they have combined to win more than 40 state championships.
“We all know how to win, develop, teach young people and we love what we are doing,” Harris said. “We are going to bring that energy to Florida Memorial.”
With the right staff in place to cultivate a winning culture, the next step was to begin the recruiting process. For a school that hasn’t had a team since the 1950s, convincing players to come and play for you may be a challenge. However, Harris says that they had a plan put in place and are thrilled with the athletes they brought to the university.
“We were looking for kids with a chip on their shoulders. A lot of kids think they can play at the next level but might be getting overlooked because they are undersized, not fast enough, but are still some of the best players on their teams,” Harris said. “We wanted to give them the opportunity they were searching for.”
With the program’s rebuild filling out nicely, the only thing left to do is take the field. But, due to COVID-19, those plans have been put on hold. Harris says that the team is still meeting via Zoom, a video chat platform. They have been doing individual meetings as well as team meetings to go over Xs and Os, making sure they are prepared when they are allowed to get on the gridiron.
Regardless of when they get to assemble for regularly scheduled practices, Harris knows what to expect from his team. He said that fans can be ready for fast-paced, aggressive football and good attitudes.
“People should expect to see a team that is blessed to be where they are at; humble and with great sportsmanship,” Harris said. “We’ll have a lot of energy.”
