In August 2024, Roanoke College introduced a football team for the first time since 1942. Roanoke College is a Private four-year college located in Salem Virginia. Roanoke offers many sports but not a football program. This all changed this year. Roanoke College announced that they will be getting a football program. The college previously had a football program but the start of World War two forced the program to end. The school waited Eighty-two years for football to return. The wait is now over.
Roanoke wanted to add a legacy to the school that they could feel good about and to diversify the school they felt that the time was right, and student enthusiasm was high. So, they brought back football. “I think Roanoke college getting a football team is amazing.”, said Kyle Stancil (12). The news of football coming back to Roanoke college spread fast and soon every local news channel was reporting on it. With all the new excitement and publicity, the school raised one point three million dollars to support the return of football.
The team plays at Salem Stadium where Salem High School plays. The team started heavy recruiting to build up the roster with multiple kids coming from local high schools such as Patrick Henry, Blacksburg and William Byrd. The team has been practicing all summer in anticipation for the upcoming season. The head coach of the team is Bryan Stinespring. Stinespring has many years of coaching experience under his belt; he was a member of frank beamers staff at Virginia Tech. From 1993 to 2015, he also coached at James Maddison, University of Delaware and Virginia Military Institute.
Roanoke played their first game on September 8, at Salem stadium against Hampden-Sydney JV team. Since it’s the teams first year back, they are playing against JV teams just for the first year. The team pulled out a win in their opening game in front of eight thousand excited fans. So far in their first few games Roanoke is undefeated. “I think they are off to a great start for their first year.”, said Japhon English (12). The team has a home game this Saturday against Fork Union Military Academy.
