It’s been a year since the return of the Carleton Ravens football team was announced, and those involved with bringing the team back are doing their best to ensure that the hype doesn’t die down in advance of the Ravens’ opening season in 2013.
“We need to be making sure that every month we’re in the news and that people are talking about us,” Ravens head coach Steve Sumarah said.
Old Crows president Kevin McKerrow, Carleton president Roseann Runte and Carleton’s director of athletics and recreation Jennifer Brenning made the announcement last July that football was returning to Carleton. Since then, the pieces of the team have slowly fallen into place.
Thomas Timlin was named manager of football operations in September, the first major hiring for the team, and after a nationwide search for a head coach in December, Sumarah was appointed head coach at the start of the new year.
More recently, it seems the Ravens have already started to renew their long-standing rivalry with the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees. Both the Gee-Gees’ former head coach, J.P. Asselin, and their former offensive co-ordinator, Chris Coulson, joined the Ravens as the offensive co-ordinator and offensive line coach, respectively.
Sumarah said he expects a few more coaching positions to be announced within the next couple of months.
“We’re still looking for a defensive co-ordinator, a special teams co-ordinator and another couple position jobs,” he said.
But the team’s biggest focus right now?
“Recruiting, recruiting, recruiting,” Sumarah said.
Dechaun Beals and Jesse Mills, former high school teammates from Halifax, have already committed to play for the Ravens, and Sumarah said he expects to make more recruiting announcements once the high school football season begins.
Sumarah has already been scouring the country for talent, and he said the Carleton story has been met with excitement across the country.
“I think the biggest thing that I guess is a little surprising is that people are really excited that Carleton is back,” Sumarah said. “Obviously the local Ottawa community is excited about that but even across the country, once people hear the story that we’re trying to tell, I think people are really interested to know that.”
Carleton’s reputation has also come into play, Sumarah added.
“There’s good athletics and good academics and I think it’s made our job a lot easier that’s for sure,” he said.
But there’s still another year to go until the reborn Ravens finally take the field at Keith Harris Stadium, and Sumarah said he’s doing his best to make sure people don’t forget about the team in the meantime.
“Either we’ll have some recruiting announcements or some coaching announcements or an event plan that hopefully will continue to keep the interest going,” he said. “Soon we’ll be launching our season ticket campaign for the next year, and all of these kinds of things keep you front and centre.”
“When you are front and centre it sure makes things a lot easier,” Sumarah added.
