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The Stetson football program competes at the D1 FCS level. The team hasn’t had much success over the last handful of seasons.
Since 2021, the Hatters have posted an overall record of 13-30. That includes a 2-9 output last year which ended on a nine-game losing skid.
As a result, the school made a change at the helm. Mike Jasper was introduced as head coach in December following a recent stint in the NFL. He brought along a new staff that’s hoping to change the outlook of the program.
The first step will be upgrading talent. With the transfer window now open, the staff has hit the ground running. Wide receivers coach Matt Clark did his best to attract potential prospects to campus with a recruiting pitch this week.
The assistant laid out Stetson football’s stance towards player payment. It’s one that many in the new era of NIL won’t be drawn to.
To all my transfers, we are NON-SCHOLARSHIP FCS! I have no football money for you.
-@CoachMClark on X
Stetson football has no football money.
The Hatters compete in the Pioneer Football League, a conference made up of 11 teams spanning the entire country. Member locations range from the state of Florida to Minnesota to California. Ten of those 11 schools are private, with Stetson being one of them.
There’s an interesting caveat to conference affiliation. None of the football programs offer athletic scholarships. That was clear in Clark’s message. Stetson does have an NIL collective, but the team is at an obvious disadvantage in terms of compensation.
In today’s landscape, money is often the biggest motivator in school choice. The transfer portal has only made things more chaotic.
We’ve seen outrageous asks from top players, negotiations gone wrong, and infinite tampering along the way. There are positive stories in the world of NIL, but they often feel few and far between.
Stetson doesn’t have to deal with that, though it certainly hampers their ability to recruit the best of the best. What Clark does believe the Hatters can offer to prospective recruits is a championship opportunity. He wants to be the start of something new.
Stetson’s football team doesn’t have a history of success in the Pioneer Football League. They’ve never won a conference championship. After lengthy hiatus, the school announced the return of the program in 2010. They’re not even 15 years into the reboot.
The new staff is looking to achieve a number of firsts with the school. It will have to do so without the luxury of a football bankroll. Matt Clark was honest and up front with his message to transfers. He’s not looking to waste anyone’s time on the recruiting trail.