The University of Dubuque Spartans are coming off a very successful era led by Stan Zweifel from 2009 to 2023 and his 85-56 record included 2 NCAA DIII Playoff appearances in 2011 and 2015. This was arguably the best period of Dubuque Football since the Spartans first started playing football over 100 years ago in 1909.
After Coach Zweifel’s retirement the Spartans posted a 5-5 overall record in head coach Ryan Maiuri’s first season in 2024, finishing fourth in the league at 5-3.
The preseason ARC coaches poll predicts a fourth-place conference finish in 2025. The Spartans do return Six starters return on each side of the ball, highlighted by Alex Rashid, Blake Heffron, and Joey Rhomberg (Mt. Vernon, Iowa) as returning all-conference competitors.
The University of Dubuque shows it is commitment to football with 127 players on the roster. They have 12 former Iowa High School players on the 2025 roster. Being located on the border the Spartans have 57 players from Illinois and Wisconsin. *Please note the Spartans have not updated their 2025 final roster yet, so the above numbers may change.
If you have been to a game at Chalmers field you will see the commitment to their football program with an excellent stadium and strong facilities.
One of the challenges for 2025 is a very tough non-conference schedule to start the year. The Spartans have in my opinion two of the toughest non-conference games any of the ARC teams playing this fall.
The Spartans open the season against the UW-Stout Blue Devils on the road in week one who were 6-4 in 2024. The roughly 4 hour trip to Menomonie from Dubuque will be a real challenge. The Blue Devils play in arguably the toughest D3 Conference in the country, and beat UW- Whitewater last year and were an eyelash from winning the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) in 2024. I’ve been at Blue Devil field and the fans are right on top of you, and they will be ready and have a big crowd. Oh, and UW -Stout returns possibly one of the top QB’s in the country in Adam Moen.
The WIAC has been a powerhouse for 30 plus years with UW – Whitewater (#24) and UW – LaCrosse (#11) both winning the National title – Whitewater had won it many times. Other UW Schools like Oshkosh have recently played in the title game. UW – River Falls (#19) is ranked this year. Stout received votes and would roughly be #29 if the poll went that high. They have #5 teams ranked in the top #30. No other conference is close. Dubuque then plays UW-Platteville at home in Week #2. The team from Platteville (is ranked #15 Nationally) is just 21 miles up the road on Highway 151 and has been a perennial playoff team for many years. They will be showing up with a strong football team…and plenty of fans.
The second season for Ryan Maiuri’s team once again starts with the above two very tough games. The away games at Central and at Waverly (#2 and #1 ARC preseason) will be very tough contests as will going on the road to Simpson (#5) and the home contest against Coe (#3). So, SGI sets to floor 4 wins and the ceiling at 6 wins. I know that is a tight window but playing basically 5 teams in the NCAA DIII top 35 preseason poll (the 2 UW schools, and Coe, Central and Wartburg) and a road game at Simpson makes it tough to think 2025 will be a 7 plus win year.
The Spartans are excited for the challenge and have built a top 4 ARC program that positions them for contention each and every season. It is year two of the Coach Maiuri era and often in year two you can see a program jump, so I am sure the Spartans are motivated to prove the prognosticators like the ARC preseason poll and SGI wrong.
“We’re thrilled to kick off another exciting football season and compete in the American Rivers Conference!” wrote Maiuri. “Our two challenging non-conference matchups will test us early and help prepare us for conference play. The tremendous growth our team has shown throughout the off-season has us energized and ready to take the field. We can’t wait to see what this season brings!”
As always, we appreciate your support and comments.
