When Bobby Rome II stood to greet Chicago State leaders Tuesday morning at Gwendolyn Brooks Library on the South Side, he declared the community and area are “starving for a Division I football program.”
Chicago State is counting on Rome to take that program from an idea to reality in about 16 months.
Chicago State athletic director Dr. Monique Carroll introduced Rome as the university’s first football coach during a news conference on campus, the next step in an idea she sprouted more than two years ago to enhance the student and community experience through football.
The Cougars, members of the Northeast Conference, plan to play their first Football Championship Subdivision season in 2026.
Rome, a former North Carolina fullback, coached the previous three seasons at NAIA Florida Memorial, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in Miami Gardens, Fla. The school didn’t renew his contract in January.
He went 15-15-1 at Florida Memorial, including 6-3-1 in 2024. The Lions averaged 425 yards and 38 points per game in 2024, among the top 25 in the NAIA.
Rome previously coached at HBCUs Central State and Virginia-Lynchburg and also started a football team at Far Eastern Federal University in Russia in 2013.
Chicago State, with the help of Renaissance Search and Consulting, hired Rome from a pool of more than 230 applicants after multiple Zoom and in-person interviews with candidates, Carroll said.
“One of the things I said to the search committee was we’re looking for someone who is a leader,” Carroll said. “We’re looking for someone who understands where we are in the project — that we are still finalizing our fundraising campaign — and can get excited about that. Not all good coaches are excited about fundraising. He rose to the top with that (along with) just being a good person and having the football pedigree and knowledge to back it up.
“He started programs in Russia. He’s familiar with, when you walk in and you have a field of grass, how do you turn that into something really successful? He’s done that multiple times.”
One of Rome’s duties as the new face of Chicago State football is to help raise money for the donor-funded program.
Carroll said the athletic department is looking to raise $4 million in its first phase to launch the program, then will funnel revenue from game guarantees, ticket sales and sponsorships back into the team after it begins play. Rome’s coaching staff will be filled out as Chicago State gets deeper into its fundraising campaign.
He said he’s comfortable in that fundraising role.
“I’m going to be an ambassador for Chicago State,” Rome said. “I’m going to go out there and ask for gifts. I’m going to see who wants to be a stakeholder for our institution, and we’re going to create ideas, create opportunities for people to be a part of.
“This is a legacy thing. … We’re talking about pulling 100 young men out of your community. Who doesn’t want to help support that? Who doesn’t want to be a part of that? I know I do.”
Rome said his recruiting will begin on the South Side with a goal “to get people to want to stay here in the city of Chicago.” From there, he will look in state and then nationally.
The Norfolk, Va., native doesn’t have ties to Chicago, but he noted he didn’t have ties to South Florida either before building his recruiting classes at Florida Memorial. His plan is to get out to Chicago high schools soon.
“Jumping on the internet, sending out a quick email, that’s not going to work here,” he said. “You’re going to have to get out of your office, drive up to the school, meet these head coaches where they’re at and ask them for their student-athlete. And be that mentor that that high school football coach was and sell that to the student-athlete.”
Rome stressed he is looking to bring in hard-working players comfortable with “getting up early in the morning, with being disciplined, with being yelled at.” He said even though the team won’t begin games until 2026, he would like to get players on campus as soon as possible to get them into strength training and an offseason program.
Carroll believes the new landscape of college sports also could benefit Chicago State as it builds the program.
“With the transfer portal, what you see in other sports — and it can happen in football as well — you can turn over a whole entire team with new people and be competitive right away,” she said. “It’s not the days any longer where you have to wait two or three years to be competitive. That plays to our advantage being a new program. … We can infuse experience in the program right away.”
Before launching the coaching search, Carroll said Chicago State hired outside consulting firms to gather data about whether a football program would be feasible at the university, which fields 16 NCAA Division I sports teams.
With Rome officially beginning in his new role April 15, there’s plenty of work to do, including figuring out where to play home games. Carroll said they have talked about Chicago Public Schools venues such as Gately and Eckersall stadiums, though she said Gately would require some renovations. Chicago State also has spoken with SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview.
The athletic department wants to pick a venue that will align with fan needs. Rome said he believes in playing where “it makes sense for the community.”
“We want something that’s going to be sustainable and that’s going to last,” he said. “That’s going to take time and proper planning. That’s going to take us coming together as a community, as administrators.”
