Birmingham-Southern restarts football after 68-year absence

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Birmingham-Southern football coach Joey Jones isn't sure what to expect from his players in the team's first season, but he knows this much: They're playing for fun.

The private, liberal arts school is returning to the gridiron this fall for the first time since 1939, when players still wore leather helmets. These Panthers, however, won't have scholarships.

School leaders added football after deciding last year to ditch NCAA Division I athletics in favor of non-scholarship Division III sports.

The change meant the temporary shutdown of Southern's basketball and baseball programs as scholarship athletes left. Some even marched across the hilltop campus to protest the decision.

But freshman enrollment is up 55 percent this year largely because of football players, and alumni giving is on the rise, too. Enrollment stands at 1,319 students -- an increase of almost 10 percent from last year.

Working both in his small office in the recreation building and in the locker room at nearby Legion Field, Jones is going down the unending list of things a coach must do to get a program off the ground.

He met high school coaches and recruited 125 players. Check.

He helped design a new football stadium and athletic complex. Check.

Now, if he can just finish installing his spread offense, perfect the four-man defensive front and get stickers on helmets in time for the first game against Mississippi College on Sept. 6.

"I'd say 99 percent of the players here just love it," Jones said. "They're paying to play."

Count Tony Myers in that group. A former high school quarterback from suburban Birmingham, he gave up a football scholarship at The Citadel to move closer to home and will be a wide receiver on Jones' first team.

Myers knows startup programs can struggle, but he's not expecting to lose every game.

"I think we're going to surprise a lot of people," he said.