Chicago State football will have a lot of HBCU and UNC flavor on its inaugural football coaching staff.
The newest Division I FCS football program has just added two former UNC and NFL players to its staff. Head coach Bobby Rome, a former UNC player and HBCU coach, has announced his first two hires. Bobby Blizzard will be his offensive coordinator while Kentwan Balmer will serve as his assistant head coach and defensive line coach.
Chicago State isn’t an HBCU — but it is a Predominantly Black Institution. And it’s starting its football program with three coaches that have spent time in the HBCU ranks.
The UNC connection
Rome is a 39-year-old Norfolk, VA native who played his college ball at UNC from 2006 through 2009. The running back was teammates with Balmer, a native of Ahoskie, NC who starred as a defensive tackle for UNC. Blizzard played ahead of both men at UNC where he caught passes from his high school teammate Ronald Curry after starting his career at the University of Kentucky.
Both Balmer and Blizzard went on to NFL careers.
Blizzard bounced around from NFL practice squads to NFL Europa in the 2000s before starting his career as a high school coach. Blizzard got his first stint of college coaching at Hampton University in 2018 before spending time as a position coach in the pro ranks. He eventually returned to college football as a running backs coach at Norfolk State under Dawson Odums before moving to Hampton in 2023 where he coached receivers.
Balmer was a first round pick in the 2008 by the San Francisco 49ers and spent time with several other franchises before walking away from the game as a player. He has spent time at several HBCU programs as well as Samford before joining Hampton in 2021.
Other HBCU assistants added
Now both men will follow Rome to start a brand new program at Chicago State. Rome has also added former Fayetteville State receiver coach James Hudgins III as recruiting coordinator and quarterback coach while former Hampton assistant Le’Marcus Gibson was named defensive coordinator.
Rome got started as an HBCU coach early, first at Virginia University of Lynchburg before a short stint at Central State and a successful one at Florida Memorial.