If you are a fan of college football, there is nothing quite like the excitement of game days every fall season. And although we are accustomed to seeing the large-school Division I games on TV, that same game day excitement has been happening in Aurora in recent years.
Aurora University’s Spartans have had very successful seasons in recent years at the NCAA Division III level. The team is led by its very well-known coach, Don Beebe, who played in several Super Bowls, and coached state champs at Aurora Christian High School. AU advanced far into the post-season national tournament last season.
But the seeds of a very successful football program were planted 38 years ago when Aurora University decided to add football back to its athletic program.
Old yearbooks tell the story of AU football under Coaches LaVerne Gilkey, Percy Snell and others beginning in 1899. But for many reasons, the sport was dropped from the school’s athletic program after the 1952 season.
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In 1985, the decision was made to begin interscholastic football competition again. And to launch a completely new program, nothing was more important than to find the right person to establish and to lead that program.
Aurora University found that person in Coach Jim Scott, who had been a very successful high school coach in northern Illinois.
Scott was an all-state player at Dwight High School, and played the sport at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He was a successful head coach at Marseilles High School for four years, and followed that with much success leading the program at Sterling High School from 1969-85. Sterling advanced to the IHSA state playoffs several times under his leadership.
“We heard AU was starting a program,” Scott said. “I was ready for a change in my career. I applied for the position, and was hired in the summer of 1985.”
Aurora University could not have chosen a better leader than Coach Scott. In addition to his football knowledge, Scott possessed many leadership skills. He was a good communicator with the ability to inspire others, and was very positive and able to build trust. He had a strong vision as he built a program from the ground up.
The university decided to give the new coach a year to put the program together before beginning to play a schedule of games.
“All I had was a football helmet and an office. We bought the helmet to show to recruits,” Scott said. “We didn’t yet have a field, a locker room, a weight room or anything.”
He visited high schools, and went with the athletic director to look at facilities and equipment. After the high school football season of 1985, he “hit the road” to different areas of the state.
“I didn’t just concentrate on recruiting here in the western suburbs, and I would bring kids here to visit,” Scott said. “The recruiting was very tough, and we could offer them nothing. We were Division III and could not offer athletic scholarships. Our main recruiting pitch was ‘you can play right away.’ It was that simple.”
The Aurora University Spartans began play in 1986, and had 70 players in their first class, 60 of whom were recruits. Others were already students at the school, or were transfers.
“We were competitive that first year, but were a long way from being a good football team,” Scott said. “But we were playing all freshmen for the most part. Each year we got better, and by the fourth year, our record was 8-1. We built a good schedule, but had to work to find a good conference in which to play.”
Coach Scott led the 1992 Spartans to the first NCAA Division III playoff bid of any football program in Chicagoland. The school joined the Illini-Badger Conference in 1998, and was champion of that conference in 1998, 1999 and 2000. The team was co-champion in 2004, Scott’s 19th and final season as head coach. He finished with an overall record of 102-69-3, and was inducted into the AU Hall of Fame in 2013.
Scott also taught math during his entire time at the school, becoming an associate professor about halfway through his tenure. He continued in that role for 10 more years after retiring as coach.
I asked Scott about any difficulty he may have had with the major decision he made when coming to Aurora University.
“I didn’t know if the program was going to make it or not, or if I was going to make it or not,” he said. “My wife encouraged me, so I had her full support. That’s very important. We knew we could do it.”
And as the “Father of AU Football” (my own moniker for Coach Scott) I asked his thoughts as he looked back over the last 38 years.
“For us it worked out very well. We had independence, and didn’t have people looking over our shoulders,” he said. “I wanted to run our own program, and to stay within the philosophy of the school.
“We were always concerned about our student athletes — made sure they went to class and graduated. We wanted them to leave the school with a good taste in their mouth and for the most part, I think they did.
“I was happy that we came to Aurora University.”
Tom Strong is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.