University of Northern Iowa Athletics
A Tradition Born Through Time: UNI Football
8/21/2015 10:29:00 AM | Football
To an outsider, UNI football may be considered "the little brother" of the state, but to Panther fans, UNI football is the UNI-Dome. The tradition. The heart of the Cedar Valley and the heart of the state of Iowa.
To an outsider, the multi-colored seats in the Dome are confusing. To Panther fans, it isn't even questioned. To Panther fans, every single one of those multi-colored seats are the best seats in the house.
To an outsider, UNI football is the team that almost beats Iowa. To Panther fans, UNI football is the team to be feared because Panthers sweat, fight and bleed for every yard, every tackle, and every touchdown.
So what does UNI football mean to the guys on the field, the coaches, and the administrators? The teams that have been a part of one or more of those 196 wins in the UNI-Dome. The players that have helped UNI earn 16 Missouri Valley Football Conference championships, the most by any school in the league. What does it mean?
This fall marks the 40th year in the UNI-Dome, where conference championships have been won, playoffs played and senior goodbyes said by all on Stan Sheriff Field. With the groundbreaking of the facility taking place on July 26, 1974, UNI football would change forever.
"The biggest change that UNI football made was back in the 1970s when Stan went out and raised money for the UNI-Dome," associate head coach Bill Salmon said. "Without the UNI-Dome, we would probably be a Division II football school."
Salmon enters his 29th season as a part of the UNI football coaching staff this fall. He has been at UNI for all 21 of the Panthers' home Division I playoff games, including one in 2007 that truly showed him how "UNIque" of a place UNI calls home.
"We had Big Sky officials come in for Delaware in 2007 for the quarterfinal game," Salmon said. "They were telling me on the sideline that it was the loudest place they had ever been. They had never heard anything like it. That is kind of special to me.
"This is why kids come to play here, this is why coaches are able to recruit the players that we are able to recruit. This whole place is UNI football. UNI football is big, and that is because of the UNI-Dome."
Fans and coaches alike can agree that the UNI-Dome has continued to grow and promote the product that is UNI football, but the program got its start long before ground was broken on this memorable facility.
The first recorded season of football was in 1895 when then the Iowa State Normal School opened its three-game season with a win over Coe College. Every year of football after that, not only did the schedule continue to grow, but so did the wins.
Stan Sheriff, UNI's former head coach that still holds the most wins in school history (129), took the reins of the program in 1960, going 9-1. Sheriff was at the helm through the 1982 season, setting the stage for the Panther teams of the future.
Enter Darrell Mudra, Terry Allen and Mark Farley, bringing in the next wave of tradition, the next wave of fans and the new wave of championships for UNI.
UNI football is the teams, the players, the UNI-Dome, but it is also the administration that has been a part of the process of building a Division I program through the years. So, enter John "Jersey" Jermier, former UNI athletics administrator that has a hand in UNI football for 43 years.
"I know when I was hired here we were like the pine tree standing between a couple of big oaks," Jermier said. "But to be able to take these teams on the way we have has been really exciting. It means a lot to me to see that we have developed this program to where we can play and compete. We can stand toe-to-toe with them."
Jermier started at UNI as an assistant coach for the football team before taking on an administrative role in 1972. He was able to be in the Cedar Valley when the UNI-Dome was built, before heading to Kansas State for a two-year stint as their Athletic Director.
He found his way home in 1980 when he became UNI's Associate Director of Athletics, retiring in 1997. His honors include being inducted into Coe College's Hall of Fame in 1981, and into Wayne State's in 1990. He was named Coach of the Year several times in football and baseball, both at Postville High School and at Wayne State, was named an Honorary UNI Panther Letterman and inducted into the UNI Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001.
"There are a lot of memories here," Jermier said. "Some of those big games that we have had and some of those big crowds we have had have been special to me."
There are so many different ways to describe UNI football by so many different people. Trying to give it a definition seems pointless. UNI football is tough, it is tradition, it is the UNI-Dome. It is what the fans believe UNI football to be.
"I think we do a good job of developing kids," Salmon said. "I think that Mark, Terry and Darrell all did a good job of developing kids because they come here with a chip on their shoulder. We play very few true freshmen. But when you see them get to be redshirt freshmen, sophomores, this school means something to them. Playing in this place, is UNI football."
To an outsider, the multi-colored seats in the Dome are confusing. To Panther fans, it isn't even questioned. To Panther fans, every single one of those multi-colored seats are the best seats in the house.
To an outsider, UNI football is the team that almost beats Iowa. To Panther fans, UNI football is the team to be feared because Panthers sweat, fight and bleed for every yard, every tackle, and every touchdown.
So what does UNI football mean to the guys on the field, the coaches, and the administrators? The teams that have been a part of one or more of those 196 wins in the UNI-Dome. The players that have helped UNI earn 16 Missouri Valley Football Conference championships, the most by any school in the league. What does it mean?
This fall marks the 40th year in the UNI-Dome, where conference championships have been won, playoffs played and senior goodbyes said by all on Stan Sheriff Field. With the groundbreaking of the facility taking place on July 26, 1974, UNI football would change forever.
"The biggest change that UNI football made was back in the 1970s when Stan went out and raised money for the UNI-Dome," associate head coach Bill Salmon said. "Without the UNI-Dome, we would probably be a Division II football school."
Salmon enters his 29th season as a part of the UNI football coaching staff this fall. He has been at UNI for all 21 of the Panthers' home Division I playoff games, including one in 2007 that truly showed him how "UNIque" of a place UNI calls home.
"We had Big Sky officials come in for Delaware in 2007 for the quarterfinal game," Salmon said. "They were telling me on the sideline that it was the loudest place they had ever been. They had never heard anything like it. That is kind of special to me.
"This is why kids come to play here, this is why coaches are able to recruit the players that we are able to recruit. This whole place is UNI football. UNI football is big, and that is because of the UNI-Dome."
Fans and coaches alike can agree that the UNI-Dome has continued to grow and promote the product that is UNI football, but the program got its start long before ground was broken on this memorable facility.
The first recorded season of football was in 1895 when then the Iowa State Normal School opened its three-game season with a win over Coe College. Every year of football after that, not only did the schedule continue to grow, but so did the wins.
Stan Sheriff, UNI's former head coach that still holds the most wins in school history (129), took the reins of the program in 1960, going 9-1. Sheriff was at the helm through the 1982 season, setting the stage for the Panther teams of the future.
Enter Darrell Mudra, Terry Allen and Mark Farley, bringing in the next wave of tradition, the next wave of fans and the new wave of championships for UNI.
UNI football is the teams, the players, the UNI-Dome, but it is also the administration that has been a part of the process of building a Division I program through the years. So, enter John "Jersey" Jermier, former UNI athletics administrator that has a hand in UNI football for 43 years.
"I know when I was hired here we were like the pine tree standing between a couple of big oaks," Jermier said. "But to be able to take these teams on the way we have has been really exciting. It means a lot to me to see that we have developed this program to where we can play and compete. We can stand toe-to-toe with them."
Jermier started at UNI as an assistant coach for the football team before taking on an administrative role in 1972. He was able to be in the Cedar Valley when the UNI-Dome was built, before heading to Kansas State for a two-year stint as their Athletic Director.
He found his way home in 1980 when he became UNI's Associate Director of Athletics, retiring in 1997. His honors include being inducted into Coe College's Hall of Fame in 1981, and into Wayne State's in 1990. He was named Coach of the Year several times in football and baseball, both at Postville High School and at Wayne State, was named an Honorary UNI Panther Letterman and inducted into the UNI Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001.
"There are a lot of memories here," Jermier said. "Some of those big games that we have had and some of those big crowds we have had have been special to me."
There are so many different ways to describe UNI football by so many different people. Trying to give it a definition seems pointless. UNI football is tough, it is tradition, it is the UNI-Dome. It is what the fans believe UNI football to be.
"I think we do a good job of developing kids," Salmon said. "I think that Mark, Terry and Darrell all did a good job of developing kids because they come here with a chip on their shoulder. We play very few true freshmen. But when you see them get to be redshirt freshmen, sophomores, this school means something to them. Playing in this place, is UNI football."
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