| 1 | House Resolution |
| 2 | A resolution honoring and congratulating the Jacksonville |
| 3 | University Dolphins football team on winning their first |
| 4 | Pioneer Football League championship and participating in |
| 5 | the program's first postseason bowl game. |
| 6 |
|
| 7 | WHEREAS, Jacksonville University started its |
| 8 | intercollegiate football program in 1998 and in its first 10 |
| 9 | years of competition the nonscholarship team only enjoyed one |
| 10 | winning season, and |
| 11 | WHEREAS, under the institutional leadership of university |
| 12 | President Dr. Kerry Romesburg and Athletics Director Alan |
| 13 | Verlander, former University of Florida quarterback Kerwin Bell |
| 14 | took over the reins as head coach of the Dolphin program in 2007 |
| 15 | and suffered through a 3-8 season before leading the Dolphins to |
| 16 | their most successful season ever in 2008, finishing with a |
| 17 | regular season record of 9-3 overall and 7-1 in the Pioneer |
| 18 | Football League, and |
| 19 | WHEREAS, on the final day of the 2008 regular season, |
| 20 | Jacksonville University hosted the University of Dayton, the |
| 21 | conference's defending champion, and with an amazing second half |
| 22 | rally defeated the Flyers by a score of 19-14 before the largest |
| 23 | crowd in school history to win the Pioneer Football League |
| 24 | championship, and |
| 25 | WHEREAS, the Dolphins were led by some outstanding |
| 26 | individual performances in 2008, with four players earning First |
| 27 | Team All Conference honors, including Pioneer Football League |
| 28 | Offensive Freshman of the Year Josh McGregor, four players |
| 29 | earning places on the Second Team, seven players earning All- |
| 30 | Conference honorable mention, and Coach Kerwin Bell being named |
| 31 | Pioneer Football League Coach of the Year, and |
| 32 | WHEREAS, the 2008 conference championship earned the |
| 33 | Dolphins their first postseason bowl game, a matchup with the |
| 34 | State University of New York at Albany, the champions of the |
| 35 | Northeast Conference, in the Gridiron Classic in Albany, New |
| 36 | York, on December 6, 2008, and |
| 37 | WHEREAS, the team's outstanding season brought tremendous |
| 38 | excitement and pride to the Jacksonville University campus and |
| 39 | the entire city of Jacksonville and further exemplified the |
| 40 | dramatic improvement in all of the university's athletic |
| 41 | programs, from rowing and soccer to track and field and |
| 42 | volleyball, NOW, THEREFORE, |
| 43 |
|
| 44 | Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of |
| 45 | Florida: |
| 46 |
|
| 47 | That the Florida House of Representatives hereby honors and |
| 48 | congratulates the Jacksonville University Dolphins football team |
| 49 | for winning their first ever Pioneer Football League |
| 50 | championship and participating in the program's first postseason |
| 51 | bowl game, the Gridiron Classic, and extends its best wishes to |
| 52 | the Dolphins football team and to the entire Jacksonville |
| 53 | University community for continued athletic and academic success |
| 54 | in the years to come. |