Well...UMass-Lowell is the latest program to drop football as well. It was
announced yesterday.

Scott Kaplan

Mike Abegg wrote:

> It's funny how much of Garrett's message would be just as true if you
> replaced all instances of "Michigan Tech" with "Boston University" (and, I
> suppose, "Division II" with "Division I").  BU dropped football, what,
> about 6-7 years ago as part of re-evaluating the role of scholarship
> athletics, and decided it just did't make sense to keep running a D I-AA
> football program.
>
> Yes, there's always Title IX to blame, but the bottom line is football
> costs a lot of money, as well as consuming a large number of male athlete
> "slots" which are hard to balance on the women's side.  Even if Title IX
> weren't a factor, I think the financial considerations suggest dropping
> football is often a good decision.  I'm actually a little surprised that
> more schools haven't done it over the last few years.
>
> Mike Abegg
> [log in to unmask]
>
> ----------Garrett Lanzy wrote
> Tony,
>
> The Michigan Tech Alumni e-mail list has (not surprisingly) had quite a
> bit of discussion about this topic.  Basically, the decision came down to
> dropping football because of the comparatively large expense vs. the
> other varsity sports.  (Hockey at Tech probably has a larger budget,
> but generates net revenue.... whereas I doubt the football team ever
> got close to "breaking even".)  If football hadn't been cut, it would have
> meant cutting at least 3 or 4 other teams... and then the university would
> not have fielded the minimum number of teams to remain eligible to
> compete in NCAA Division II.
>
> The vast majority of Tech alumni seem to support the decision.  Although
> the football team has had some success in recent years, Tech has never
> (in my opinion) had a strong "football tradition" among the student body
> and the local community.  Hockey, of course, is a different story -- and
> hopefully, the university can now find a coach to replace Sertich who will
> continue the upward momentum.
>
> [All of the above is strictly my own interpretation and/or opinion.]
>
> Garrett Lanzy (Michigan Tech '84)