Crusaders’ original plan to debut in 2020 delayed by COVID-19, but players excited to get on the field tomorrow at Taylor University
LIVONIA — It’s been first-and-long for Madonna University’s inaugural football team.
The Livonia-based Catholic college, a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) affiliate, has been poised to add football to its assortment of 22 athletic offerings since August 2018. Now, after several bumps in the road, the Crusaders are finally ready to take the field Saturday for the first game in the school’s 84-year history.
Madonna visits Taylor University in Upland, Ind., for a 1 p.m. kickoff. A link to view a live-stream of the contest is provided on Madonna’s athletic website, mucrusaders.com.
“I’m just looking for our guys to get out there and compete and have fun. That’s our goal,” interim head coach Herb Haygood said. “We have guys who have been on campus for more than two years now hoping to actually play a football game. We need to give those guys an opportunity to compete.”
Madonna officials established the program with the intent of practicing throughout 2019, red-shirting the athletes in order to preserve their athletic eligibility, while preparing for the first season in the fall of 2020.
But after the COVID-19 virus surfaced a year ago, all NAIA fall sports were pushed back, and then re-scheduled, until the spring of this year. After several revisions, Madonna was looking to open its campaign Feb. 13 at Missouri Baptist University in St. Louis.
“That was canceled because of the governor’s orders, not being able to have so many people at a time in one room or on the field,” Haygood said. “Plus, there was only so much you could do with so much snow on the field.”
The next two scheduled games, Feb. 27 at University of Saint Francis (Ind.) and a March 6 home game against Lawrence Tech, were declared “no contest” because of Madonna players coming in contact with positive COVID-19 cases.
“There was disappointment, definitely disappointment — not just among the players, but the coaches, our administration and our student body,” Haygood said. “A lot of people were working really hard to get this thing off the ground. At the same time, everyone understands.”
Since then, Madonna has increased its rapid testing from three times a week to every day.
“We’re going to get tested before we get on the bus and leave for Taylor,” Haygood said. “Every day, every practice, every game, every time we do a team activity, we’re going to test.”
The frequency of COVID-19 testing hasn’t been the only change, though. Last December, Haygood was named interim head coach after the original head coach, Brian Foos, left to take another job.
Haygood joined the Madonna staff in July 2019 as defensive coordinator, later switching to the other side of the ball as offensive coordinator, before stepping into his present role.
“I didn’t think I was going to be in this spot at Madonna at this time, but I did envision myself becoming a head coach,” said Haygood, whose coaching resume also includes stops at Eastern Michigan, Indiana University, Miami of Ohio, Saginaw Valley and Olivet College. A former player at Michigan State, Haygood also has experience in the NFL, NFL Europe, the Canadian Football League and the Arena Football League.
The best part about being a football coach is “being able to develop young men, and being able to be in a position to lead young men in the right direction,” he said.
Despite all the stops, pauses and restarts, there are 102 student-athletes on Madonna’s inaugural team. A few are alumni of Catholic High School League schools, including sophomore quarterback Luke Pfromm (Warren De La Salle), freshman wide receiver Klayton Cornell (Madison Heights Bishop Foley), freshman safety Aidan Olle (Riverview Gabriel Richard) and freshman cornerback Antwaun Powell (Detroit Loyola).
“We have a bunch of guys who are leaders; we’ve got a great group of kids who love each other,” Haygood said. “It’s been day-to-day changes, but the team itself is a really resilient team. They just go on to the next phase.”
Haygood expects the team’s size to swell to about 150 in future seasons, once the Crusaders are able to get some actual on-field experience.
“Our recruiting is not hard,” Haygood said. “We set out to find guys who love to compete in the classroom, on the field and love football. It’s really that simple. We have guys who want to be at Madonna. We want these guys to say Madonna football is the greatest time of their lives, next to getting married and having kids.”
Following Saturday’s game, Madonna plays two more road contests (at Siena Heights University in Adrian on March 20 and at Concordia University in Ann Arbor on March 27) before hosting Marian University (Ind.) in the home opener, at 12:30 p.m. on April 3 at Livonia Churchill High School.
