Wayne State University Athletics

Road Warriors Return Trip 2011

Football 8/13/2020 10:00:00 AM Jeff Weiss, Senior Associate Director of Athletics/Media Relations

Back on the Highway ... Road Warriors Return Trip 2011

DETROIT -- With the recent announcement by the GLIAC Council of Presidents that all fall sports, including football, will be suspended for the fall term, the Wayne State University Department of Athletics has announced a retrospective look on one of its most historic seasons as a way to engage fans, students and alumni. That program is called "Back on the Highway ... Road Warriors Return Trip to 2011."

It will be a one-hour weekly radio show that runs each Saturday and mirrors the 16 weeks of the 2011 football season. It will include play-by-play announcer Sean Baligian, who also broadcasted that championship run, and will be supplemented by those who were so instrumental in its culmination, including head coach Paul Winters, student-athletes who were part of the run, and those closest to the program.

The theme Road Warriors was coined in reference to the NCAA Championship run in which Wayne State played on all five games on the road and became the first NCAA Division II school to play 16 games in a season.

The program will provide a behind the scenes look at the challenges, the unexpected and the personal anecdotes that are so instrumental in telling their stories.

"This year will be the first time in the 103-year history of football at Wayne State we will not have a 'live' season of football," stated Director of Athletics Rob Fournier. "But we didn't want our fans to go without the excitement that they have grown accustomed to on Saturdays each autumn. So we decided to bring back a season that is remembered as one of the most exciting ever. The "Back on the Highway" program will be a tribute to the Road Warriors of 2011. Each week there will be a retrospective on the 2011 season that culminated in the national championship game. This gives all of us a chance to re-live some great memories, but this time with a unique perspective from the participants and those so instrumental to that season. We will also include our fans and supporters who were so consequential as we became the last team into the tournament that year … and the last one out.

"With Sean (Baligian) at the mic - he can make a game sound like it is being played right in front of you - along with selected highlights and anecdotes. The insight of Coach Winters, and those who made that season so memorable, will give us a bridge until we can all get back to football at the corner of Trumbull and Tartar Drive."

Every Saturday for an hour from 1 p.m. until 2 p.m. on WDTK Radio (101.5 FM and 1400 AM The Patriot), join Sean Baligian and Paul Winters for a recap of that week's game from the 2011 season. The 2011 season opener vs. Urbana will be featured on Saturday, September 5.

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