WAUKESHA, Wis. – The Carroll University football team last played a regular-season game back on November 16, 2019. Since then, Head Coach
Mike Budziszewski has become the newest leader of the team and has worked to establish a new competitive culture within the program. Budziszewski's first official regular-season game as head coach will come on September 11, at Benedictine. "Our players and staff have worked very hard over the last year to prepare for this opportunity" says Budziszewski. "I cannot wait to see all of their hard work come to fruition with a hard-fought battle on Saturday night."
The Carroll football program has seen a huge influx of new faces in and new leaders in the two-year span since the last regular-season game. The 2020 and 2021 recruiting classes have brought in waves of talent and competitiveness. The four captains of the program (Sr. QB
Michael Johnson, Sr. LB
Justin Kontny, So. DL
Nick Mantas, and Sr. OL
Mike Cole) are ready to step up to the challenge of working with younger teammates, "It's always an amazing experience when our family gets bigger, the bigger the family the better" says captain
Justin Kontny. "Working with a young group of guys has helped me by understanding the playbook thoroughly so I can answer any questions the young guys have so we can elevate our play on the field together."
The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic halted what would have been Budziszewski's first on-field season, but that didn't stop the program from putting in work "It was very important for us to continue the hard work that we started last semester" says captain
Mike Cole. "We had a number of guys who stayed around campus and worked out together and that helped keep each other accountable."
The Pioneers have four home games on the docket out of the 10 games scheduled, including hosting the 2019 National Champion North Central, and the 2019 CCIW Champions Wheaton (Ill.). The Pioneers no matter what will be up for the challenge "Since day one when coach got here, we have spent a lot of time focusing on embracing the competition" Says, captain
Nick Mantas. "We will focus on competing and playing our brand of football every play going up against one of those powerhouse programs."
On November 13, on the road against Elmhurst, the Pioneer football program will record its 1,000
th career game played. The Pioneers are one of at least three schools in the CCIW that have hit or will hit the 1,000
th game mark in the 2021 season. Budziszewski, the program's 30
th head coach, is proud to be a part of Pioneer history "The history and tradition of the Pioneer football program is very humbling," says Budziszewski "Many great players and coaches have paved the way for this team to compete at the highest level of DIII football, and we are honored to carry the torch into the 1,000
th game in school history."
No matter what this season spells for Carroll, the team's message will never change: Forget about me, I love you (F.A.M.I.L.Y) "The FAMILY mentality has been very important, especially in the circumstances we have been in since this coaching staff arrived" says captain
Michael Johnson. "There have been many instances where we have to be unselfish to make this work and keep this train moving."
The Pioneers' first game back at Schneider Stadium is scheduled for September 18
th at 1 PM against Illinois Wesleyan. All Pio home games will have live stats and live video available from gopios.com/football on game days.