UWF Football, Blue Wahoos Stadium Becomes Championship Fit

The celebration was unfolding on the field as former University of West Florida president Judy Bense stood from the stands, her face aglow, filming the scene on her cell phone.
Behind her, Pensacola Blue Wahoos owner Quint Studer was taking pictures of Bense taking video.
It was one of many poignant moments that ensued after the UWF football team, which Bense had pushed to start four years ago, had won the NCAA Division II national football championship in a 48-40 victory Dec. 21 against Minnesota State at McKinney ISD Stadium in McKinney, Texas.
Four years after a once impossible dream turned reality with the Argos inaugural season, UWF was basking in a national football championship broadcast worldwide on an ESPN platform. Never in college football history at any level has something like this occurred.
"One of the things which has been a big part of my life these last 37 years is that I enjoy seeing other people's success," Studer said. "I actually spent much of the time watching Judy enjoy herself than I did watching the game.
"She is such a class act. She was just so happy for the team, those players and coaches and the university. It was very cool to see."
The friendship between Studer, along with wife Rishy, and Bense goes back more than a decade, before Bense served as UWF president from 2008-2016.
They are visionaries, who cared deeply for Pensacola and wanted the city to realize its full potential. They were part of transformational events that have made a major impact on Pensacola's growth and its bright future. They also absorbed plenty of criticism, naysayers, and challenges to see it happen.
"I thought it was pretty coincidental that if you had two things most commonly asked among people when they were happening…. one was to build a stadium downtown. And the second one was to start football at UWF," said Quint Studer, remembering that period.
"There were a lot of people who thought both of those ideas were crazy," he said. "And now, probably two of the most successful things in this community in decades are two things people thought were absolutely crazy.
"So, next time somebody has a crazy idea, we should all pay attention."
The connection between UWF football and the Blue Wahoos was forged on Sept. 18, 2013 when UWF and the Community Maritime Park Associates board reached agreement for the Argos to play home games at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
This followed the Blue Wahoos second season as Southern League members and Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds.
The Studers wanted UWF to play at the stadium. The leasing arrangement, however, had to be worked out with the City of Pensacola, which owned the facility.
"I think it was one of those things where (UWF) always had in the back of their mind as an option," Quint Studer said. "When we built the stadium, we built it in a way that football could be played in it."
That decision, that ability for UWF to launch its football program in a bayfront stadium with so much parking, tailgating opportunities, mass video board, sound system and concourse areas, is credited for helping drive the Argos rapid, historic success.
In each of the Argos' four seasons, the stadium has been converted to football after the Blue Wahoos baseball season ends. Goal posts are installed. A portable set of bleachers is put in the outfield area as a visitors section. The pitcher's mound and infield are sodded to cover the entire surface with grass.
UWF uses the stadium's Hancock-Whitney Bank Club as the president's box during home football games. It's the private area for donors and guests of the university.
The players utilize the Blue Wahoos home clubhouse as a dressing room and meeting area during games.
"We will always be tremendously grateful for being able to play in Wahoos Stadium," said UWF coach Pete Shinnick, speaking on the topic earlier this year. "When players from the opposing team are coming out with their cell phones taking pictures and video of them on that field, in that setting, you know it's special."
Without Blue Wahoos Stadium as an option, UWF in 2016 would have needed to work out an agreement with a local high school for stadium use, or tried to arrange a makeshift stadium setting with portable bleachers, press box area at its practice area, the Pen-Air Field on campus.
Bense was committed to starting football in 2016, no matter how or where the Argos would play. Having Blue Wahoos Stadium has made a major impact. The Argos home field this season was named No. 4 best among all NCAA Division II football stadiums.
The Argos finished unbeaten at home in 2019, which enabled them to qualify for the NCAA D-2 playoffs as a team with an 8-2 overall record. As a road team the entire way, UWF beat four unbeaten teams - ranked No. 1 through No. 4 in national polls - en route to winning the national title.
"When they recruit players, they bring them to the stadium," Studer said. "They have them at the Hancock Club. They show them videos on the big scoreboard. Things like that matter.
"I think it has really helped Pete (Shinnick) with recruiting. I think it brings a different type of first-class setting. "Also, you add the fact they could utilize Wahoos staff for five games. It is really hard to hire staff and prep up to get everything going for five games a year, which they would have needed to do if not playing at the stadium."
The stadium availability coincided with a massive fundraising campaign led by Gordon Sprague, a retired business man living in Gulf Breeze, who became chairman of the UWF Football Founders.
Sprague's efforts in getting donors helped cover a bulk of the startup costs with football. It helped get the program going and sustaining itself.
Now, UWF has its own band which plays outside the stadium during games as well as in the stands during the game.
"Once in a while, you have an idea that exceeds expectations," said Studer, whose newest book, "The Busy Leader's Handbook" was among the top five on the Wall Street Journal Best Seller's list. "Most just meet expectations and there are a few (ideas) that are just losers.
"As I said to Judy, this one (UWF football) is beyond anyone's wildest imagination. She deserves a tremendous amount of credit and she also deserves a tremendous amount of credit for hiring (Shinnick).
"People forget the criticism Judy went through, including from her own faculty. People thought that money could be spent somewhere else, people thought she was crazy."
Bense, a 1967 graduate of Florida State University, saw what football meant to FSU in that era, back when the university was making its transition from a predominately teacher's school.
She wanted UWF to have football to enhance the campus life and fulfill the university quest for a rallying event.
"(Bense) didn't start football to win national championships, but she did it, because she thought the students at UWF needed a total college experience.
"I think for getting adults and alumni revved up, it's done wonders."