With a final drive touchdown, fourth-quarter comebacks and a blocked field goal shining at the front of a slurry of highlights, the University of Rhode Island football team recently concluded its most successful season in program history.

In 2024, the Rams won the most games in a single season in the history of URI football (11), won their first share of the Coastal Athletic Association regular season title in program history and made the playoffs for the first time since 1985.

While their season ended on a 17-10 loss to Mercer University in the second round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, the magnitude of this season for Rhode Island cannot be understated.

Success was not always present at Meade Stadium and as little as a decade ago, there were conversations that football may not be in the cards for Rhode Island for much longer. However, a man coming in and taking over the program, Jim Fleming, was pivotal in turning the program into what it is today.

“I have so much fun working with Jim,” URI Athletic Director Thorr Bjorn said. “We’ve developed a really great relationship throughout the years and that’s starting with the downs. I think when you are together with someone during the difficult times you really can celebrate the highs.”

Those lows were apparent in the beginning, as the team went 14-43 from 2014-2018. However, an investment that has seen the program change course in the last six seasons.

Before the 2019 season, Meade Stadium was renovated to a multi-purpose turf field with lights to accommodate night games. The $4.1 million investment in the program allowed people to come to the conclusion that football was serious for Rhode Island.

“That was always the question, whether Rhode Island was going to play football or not?” Bjorn said. “We didn’t have the resources to put into the program. We funded it to be in the bottom of the league.”

However, after the mass financing of the stadium, any question about the future of Rhode Island football was null and void.

“When we were going out [and] raising the money for the turf and lights I was telling John Priore,‘This is the type of decision that’s going to solidify our football program,’” Bjorn said. “It takes the doubters out of play. You can’t ask the question anymore: is Rhode Island going to continue to have football? We just spent four million bucks – yeah, we’re keeping it.”

Since the renovation in 2019, the Rams have gone 35-27, ushering in a new state of success in Rhode Island. None of the seasons since 2019 have been quite like 2024 though.

The Rams trailed in the second half during six of their 11 wins this season, and had a knack for the dramatics.

“This year what has been amazing is how we have won games,” Bjorn said. “We haven’t dominated really anybody. It’s been consistently grinding, grinding, grinding it out.”

The biggest game that served as a testament to the resilience of the Rams this season came against the University at Albany on Senior Day on Nov. 16. At halftime, Rhode Island trailed the Great Danes 17-0. However, the Rams then went on to score 20 unanswered points before fifth-year defensive lineman Westley Neal Jr. blocked the game-tying field goal attempt to seal the win for the Rams.

“To see what we were able to do even at that point was just crazy,” Bjorn said. “But I think it’s just a microcosm of the year. It’s just one of those things where we have the talent and we have the heart and we have the leadership both on the field and in the coaching booths to stay in play all the time – it’s really cool.”

The question now moving forward surrounds the concept of ‘is playoff football a one and done occurrence in Kingston?’ A man who, like Bjorn, has witnessed the rise of this program over the past decade is hopeful that the groundwork will allow for continued success.

Shane Donaldson, who currently serves at URI as the associate athletic director, also was the primary media relations contact for Rhody football from when he was hired to the department in 2011 all the way up until the 2022 season. Donaldson still assists operations on gameday, overseeing the 2024 historic season firsthand.

“Jim [Fleming] has created a foundation,” Donaldson said. “It’s more exciting than I think you could realize and certainly being here day in and day out, it’s just something that is incredible to witness.”

While the season for Rhode Island is now over, the Rams will look to come back even better in 2025, fighting for ‘three more feet’ the whole way through.

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