From Inside Higher Ed this morning, ” Northeastern Ends Football.” In many ways, Northeastern University is very different from EMU; but, as this quote suggests, they share a lot in common:
Joseph Aoun, president of the university, said in his statement that the decision involved setting priorities. “Northeastern has always been guided by the principle that we should focus on our opportunities for leadership,” he said. “This approach ultimately leads to difficult choices, but leadership requires that we make these choices. This decision allows us to focus on our existing athletic programs. At a time when higher education is critically important to rebuilding our knowledge-based economy, universities have an obligation to invest resources in areas of strength — whether they are competitive athletic programs or cutting-edge academics.”
The Boston Globe noted in an article that the football program has for years operated in outdated facilities, which didn’t help the team, which hasn’t had a winning season since 2004 and this year averaged fewer than 1,600 fans at home games.
You are getting your “Division I” terminology mixed up.
When Northeastern played football they were at the Division I-AA level (Now “Football Championship Subdivision” or “FCS”)
Eastern Michigan plays at the higher Division I-A level. (Now called “Football Bowl Series” or “FBS”.)
BTW – I once saw the University of Maine defeat Northeastern in football in a game played in Portland, ME. It was circa 1995. They played on a high school field.
My mistake.
Well, given the “smaller-time” nature of the division that Northeastern was in and the fact that it still made news, I guess that just goes to show you that it is not a regular event for a football program to shut down. So I’m guessing the emus are going to have to not win for a few more years and/or the economy is going to have to get a lot worse.