Sports
MBU Football Program Formally Unveiled
Team will begin play as a competitive varsity sport in 2014.
Missouri Baptist University officials Tuesday unveiled for the public what Patch first reported Monday night: plans to launch a football program, a club team in the fall of 2013 and a competitive NAIA varsity squad in 2014.
Read: Missouri Baptist University Getting Into College Football
Jason Burianek was introduced as the program's first Head Coach in what will be the former McKendree University assistant's first opportunity to lead a team. Mock-ups of the team's uniforms were also on display.
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In the announcement, the school said it planned to recruit more than 100 student-athletes over the next year and a half for the sport, in addition to more students who will participate in the school's cheer program and a marching band.
Still undetermined is which conference the football team will compete in. MBU Athletic Director Dr. Tom Smith is also President of the NAIA's American Midwest Conference. That conference doesn't support football, but Smith said it would remain the school's home for other sports.
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