Northeastern's football discontinued, possible CAA reorganization

Citing insufficient funds to support and maintain the growth of the team, Northeastern University has announced that they will discontinue the football program. The school has had a football program for 74 years. Northeastern made the announcement on its Web site Monday following the conclusion of the team’s season. The team finished with a 3-8 record, its sixth consecutive losing season.

“Our goal for athletics is to achieve sustainable excellence in all areas,” Northeastern Athletic Director Peter Roby, who made the initial recommendation, which received the strong support of the university administration, the president, and the Board of Trustees, said in a statement. “We do not define success merely through wins and losses. Instead, we recognize that success comes from creating a positive student-athlete experience.

The primary motivation for this decision was based on the significant obstacles to providing this experience for our football players.”

The school has said it will honor scholarships earned by players who still have eligibility remaining through graduation.

The Huskies play in the Colonial Athletic Association’s North Division. However, with the team’s removal, the CAA now has an uneven number of teams (11) in the conference. Six schools remain in the South Division, while the North is only left with five. This has prompted rumors that the CAA, of which Towson is a member, may be realigned. The conference will gain another member when Old Dominion will begin play with the league in 2011, according to CAA Commissioner Tom Yeager.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” Yeager said in an interview with caasports.com. “We’re working with Northeastern to try and accommodate the student-athletes that are involved.

There will be no impediments on transfers should any of the young men elect to continue on at another CAA school. It raises some alignment questions and scheduling questions for 2011 and 2012.”

Yeager made sure to point out the 2012 date because that is when another school, Georgia State, is slated to join the conference and will give the CAA an uneven number of teams, 13, yet again.

“We have some challenges ahead,” Yeager said. “The first thing is obviously getting the 2010 schedule in place. Right now, we have eight institutions that just lost a conference game. It will be complex, but it’s doable.”
      

 

Be the first to comment on this article!

Add comment


I am not posting spam. I understand posting spam or other comments that are unrelated to this article will cause my comment to be flagged for deletion and possibly cause my IP address to be permanently banned from this server.

Enter the characters in the image above:

log out