As an FCS independent, Chicago State doesn’t have to schedule a completely D-I slate. In fact, it’s quite common for first-year programs to play a mix of small college opponents along with D-I peers. I’m told the first-year Chicago State schedule will include FCS opponents as well as schools from other classifications.

For that first game? Look for an opponent with “inner city ties” to Chicago State. Perhaps, and I’m just speculating here, the University of Chicago?

Carroll told me Chicago State football intends to practice on campus. There’s plenty of room for a practice facility, and the department is building a field that can be used not just by the football program, but by the soccer teams, as well.

But there isn’t a stadium on campus — at least, not yet.

Nothing is completely finalized at the moment, but I’m told the most likely short-term solution is for Chicago State to play its home football games at SeatGeak Stadium, a professional soccer venue in Bridgeview, about 25 miles from campus. That’s not an ideal location, geographically, but the facility already has a working relationship with Chicago State, and it would provide more amenities and luxury seating options than any alternatives.

Chicago Public Schools is currently renovating one potential option, nearby Gately Stadium, so it won’t be available for Chicago State next year. In the near future, I’m told Chicago State could consider other options, from helping to remodel Gately to potentially building a stadium on campus. Multiple alternatives are on the table.

And hey, if the Bears do leave, well, Soldier Field will need a new football team, right?

Carroll also told me the school has been interviewing assistant coach candidates, and it plans to extend offers to coordinators and recruiting staff by next week. The school will also be aggressive in filling out the rest of the staff before the summer.

She acknowledged that it wouldn’t have been possible to have a team ready to go under such an expedited timeline in previous years. But in 2026, thanks to the transfer portal, she believes it is possible for the program to recruit enough players.

Even without the team formally organized, she told me that athletes — including some with D-I experience — have been on unofficial visits to campus and been in conversation with school officials. The program’s aspirational goal is to get more than 100 students on the roster, although Carroll understands it’s possible the 2026 campaign might start with numbers in the 80s.

Still, even with the transfer portal and a potentially wide net of potential players from JUCOs, Division II, D-III and high school, assembling a team of ~80 players in seven months is going to be hard. The school’s current plan is to have players enroll and take classes during the summer as well, giving them more time to bond and build chemistry with one another and their coaches.

Creating a football schedule on such comparatively short notice isn’t easy, but Carroll also told me that rapid change across all levels of college sports has opened up scheduling dates that might have been closed a few years ago. Between realignment in the Ohio Valley Conference, Coastal Athletic Association and Big South Conference, plus conference schedule changes in FBS and other major changes, Chicago State has found itself with some opportunities as it attempts to build the airplane while flying it.

That’s often the case in college sports when you work somewhere that doesn’t have a billion-dollar budget. It’s not new territory for Rome or any of the other leaders in and around the athletic department.

Chicago State has been talking about this for a long time. I went to campus way back in 2021 to talk to a different AD about those plans. The conversations around Chicago State football really began to heat up earlier this year. There were probably times when lots of folks around campus didn’t think this would actually happen.

But it’s happening now. Coaches will be hired. Equipment will be purchased. It’s real.

Carroll told me that all of that relief is just starting to kick in a little bit. “When I was getting up to the podium on Thursday, I had to choke back some tears,” she said. “I didn’t let any happen. But they were close!”

Could you blame her? There’s a hell of a lot of work to be done. But there’s also progress. Just last week, she told me that the department picked up a $300,000 anonymous booster donation to support the nascent program. And once more announcements drop that will make Chicago State football look even more concrete, she hopes more support will be coming from the community.

Let’s hope so. Because there isn’t a day to waste before Aug. 29.