TOWSON, Md. – The Towson University football program has the distinction of competing at all three levels of the NCAA (DIII, DII and DI) and is the only institution to have made the postseason at each. However, the transition to Division I featured growing pains, which included a passionate forum at the University Union 30 years ago, that helped save the sport from being dropped.

From 1983-86, the Tigers went 34-11-2 and earned three DII playoff berths. Many Tiger football fans consider the 1983 team to be the best in school history. It posted a 10-1 regular season record and finished the season ranked fourth in the nation. The defense pitched four shutouts, caused seven turnovers in a 13-4 win at Division I-AA Delaware and allowed just 64 points before losing to eventual national champion North Dakota State in playoffs.

"The expectation was a shutout," said Jay Wasserman, who was a redshirt defensive back in '83. "Gary Rubeling led the nation in interceptions. Watching Greg Rogers cover Gary Clark (James Madison) and John Taylor (Delaware State), two guys who went on to have phenomenal NFL careers, is something I will never forget. No disrespect to any other team in Towson football history, but I look back at that one and defensively there is hasn't been a team that could touch those guys."

During Towson's eight years as a Division II program, 17 players earned All-American honors and the Tigers went three years without losing to a DII opponent. Phil Albert's teams had a 16-12 record against I-AA teams and posted an overall record of 60-26-2 (.698).
 
Four years later, Wasserman was a senior when Towson moved up.

"In our minds, we were already there because we were playing a lot of those teams like Delaware, James Madison, Maine, New Haven and were very competitive," added Wasserman. "In our eyes, nothing was really changing. Although the record (4-6) did not show it, we set a good foundation for the years to come. We had lost a large class from the '86 team, so a lot of young players got experience that season."

One of those players was quarterback Chris Goetz.

After being redshirted in 1986, Goetz unexpectedly was thrown into the starting job when Chris Reiprish decided late in the summer not to return to school. Goetz played well in his debut, passing for 320 yards but the Tigers lost to Northeastern 39-22 and then dropped a 10-7 decision to Indiana of Pennsylvania.

One week later, Towson knocked off fourth ranked Maine 17-14 on the road and then defeated eventual MEAC champion Howard at Minnegan Stadium, 30-14, ending the Bison's 10-game winning streak.

The Tigers offense featured record setting wide receiver Dale Chipps and tailback David Meggett. A transfer from Morgan State, where he played defensive back, Meggett scored a then school record 16 touchdowns and led the nation in all-purpose yards, averaging 199 per game.

Goetz finished the season by throwing for more than 2,000 yards behind a veteran offensive line. Senior captains Dave Pattock and Scott McCluskey were the starting tackles, while eventual four-year starters John Gaburick, Chuck Konka and Steve Kinsey, handled the center and guard positions.

"It was a strong offensive line," Goetz remembered. "All dynamic leaders as well. When we played Howard, things got chippy. After a sack, they were doing a little extracurricular activity in the pile. I got up and had a bloody eye. The next play Kinsey and Gaburick took care of things. Having an experienced offensive line is the most important aspect of a football team at any level. I had that the first two years."

In that victory over Howard, Goetz completed 25 of 38 passes for 319 yards and two touchdowns.

"I think what we lacked was the depth and that is important when you play at a higher level," said Gaburick, the starting center from 1985-88, who was inducted into the Towson Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006. "But we were competitive and well coached. It was a really good time to play football."

"When we got to the I-AA level the depth was noticeable," said Jay Robinson, who spent 22 years as an assistant coach at his alma mater. "We had 25 guys who could compete at that level but our opponents had 55. When you started adding schools like Northeastern and Youngstown State, it was tough. I remember going to Youngstown and we had never seen a football team that physically impressive. They were big up front and had athletes in the back. We didn't have players like Tony Vinson or Dan Crowley at that time who could help put us over the top."

In 1988, Towson started the season by winning three of the first four games then traveled to Youngstown, then coached by Jim Tressel. The Tigers nearly pulled off the upset but lost a heart breaker, 41-39.

"We should have beaten them," said Goetz, who ended his career as Towson's all-time leading passer with 7,882 yards. "Coach Albert always said you would always remember the bad times more than the good ones. I threw an interception with 16 seconds left when we had an opportunity to kick a game winning field goal. Now the play by the linebacker was amazing. He tip-toed the line to catch a ball I was trying to throw out of bounds."

The Tigers finished the season 5-5 with four of the losses coming by six points or less. Meggett was named the Walter Payton Award for the most outstanding player in I-AA. In a dominating 34-6 Homecoming victory over James Madison junior nose guard Rodney Smith recorded 11 tackles, had four sacks and recovered two fumbles.

As a senior in 1989, Smith led the Tigers with 121 tackles and 14 sacks. Honored as the team's Most Valuable Player, he was named second team All-America.

"We played with a lot of heart," Smith said. "We didn't have the best athletes, but once we got on that gridiron and we strapped it up, we became Tigers. We were not heavily recruited, but we played hard and wanted to be successful. We earned everything."
The Baltimore native, who graduated from Poly High School, finished his career with 276 tackles and had 30.5 sacks, the second-highest mark in school history when he graduated.  The 6 foot, 244 pounder then enjoyed a seven-year career as a player in the Arena Football League.

"Dave Meggett was an incredible talent," said Robinson. "But I have never been around a better football player than Rodney Smith."

"Rodney Smith was the best defensive lineman I ever faced," added Kinsey, who started at left guard from 1986-89. "I hated practicing against him, but he upped my game. If you need a comparison, I faced CFL and World League player Robert Presbury when he played at Delaware State. Rodney was better. If he was 6-foot-4, he would have been in the NFL."

In 1989 and 1990, Towson tried to compete with far fewer scholarships than DI allowed and won just four of 21 games.

"It was frustrating. We had a lot of injuries those two years and got really young," said defensive back Gary Hatcher, a co-captain on the 1990 team. "There were close games and there were blowouts. It seemed like there was no in-between. I wish we had won more games but there is nothing I appreciate more than the opportunity to play football at Towson and get my accounting degree. Like in economics, you got cycles that go up and down. I just got caught in the down cycle."

During the 1990 season, Towson football faced a bigger challenge than trying to beat James Madison or Northeastern. There was critical decision looming about the future of the program. In late October, Towson's Intercollegiate Athletic Committee (IAC), which comprised of five faculty members and four students, voted, 8-1, to suspend football after the season because of an expected $250,000 budget deficit. 

Senior linebacker Doug Vereen led a petition drive called "Save Towson Football" that collected nearly 3,000 student signatures. On November 1, just days after beating Howard, an open forum held by the IAC drew an estimated 700 people to the University Union where 50 speakers, including then redshirt sophomore Rob Ambrose, released frustrations against the administration's handling of the situation.

"As a young man, it was blindsiding, especially for someone like me who has been around football his entire life," said Ambrose, now in his 12^th season as the Tigers head coach. "It is amazing to me that this was even considered. When I talked that day, I was not just speaking for the players, or myself but I was speaking for the game. I can only imagine what would have happened if football was dropped and how long it would have taken to get it back."

"I think it was a pivotal moment in Towson history that is largely forgotten," added Gaburick. "The problem was the timing. They just decided that football was going to be chopped because of a budgetary problem and it surprised a lot of people. There were some impassioned speeches in the Union. Coach Albert called on the alumni and working with the players and parents, we all came together and were able to save the program. Without it, the Tony Vinson era and the fantastic teams from 2011-2013 might not have happened."

Three years later, with 27 seniors on the team and three future Hall of Famers (Mike Arbutina, Brian McCarty and Mark Orlando) who redshirted in 1990, the 1993 Tigers finished the season 8-2 and broke or tied 46 school records.

"The teams after I left really pulled together," said Hatcher. "They started using the school song after every win. They all gravitated to that fight song. I did not even know we had a fight song. Everyone could connect to that synergy."
 
"One of the things I learned from the guys who played before me was what it meant to be a Tiger," said Smith. "They instilled in me what it meant. You do not give up. You always fight. You give it everything you got and you do it as a team."