Following an extensive review process, Northeastern University has elected to discontinue its intercollegiate football program. The decision is consistent with the university’s strategic approach to prioritize programs and invest in signature strengths.

“Our goal for athletics is to achieve sustainable excellence in all areas,” said 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. In an open letter to the Northeastern community, Roby continued, “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.”

Roby added that Northeastern students will continue to participate in 18 different intercollegiate sports, more than 40 club sports, and hundreds of intramural teams. Recent successes include post-season play in basketball and hockey, and championships in women’s volleyball and soccer. The university opened this year’s basketball and hockey seasons in the newly renovated Matthews Arena to record crowds.

Since early 2007, a broad cross-section of the university—including trustees, faculty, students, alumni, donors, and senior administrators—thoroughly investigated the options and opportunities associated with achieving and sustaining excellence in all athletic programs. Ultimately it was determined that elevating and sustaining a competitive Division 1 football program would require additional multimillion dollar investments on an ongoing basis. A broad consensus developed behind discontinuing football and focusing future resources on programs—both academic and non-academic—where the university can achieve and sustain leadership.

The varsity football team played its last game of the season this weekend; players and coaches were told that the program will be discontinued before any public announcement was made. The timing of the decision was chosen to give players and coaches the greatest amount of flexibility to make future plans, either at Northeastern or other universities. Players who complete their degrees at Northeastern will maintain their athletic scholarships through graduation.

“Successful athletic programs play a powerful role in the life of the university,” said Philomena Mantella, senior vice president for enrollment management and student affairs, who oversees athletics. “They bring us together behind the common pursuit of excellence, and contribute to our sense of community. Our student athletes learn valuable lessons outside the classroom—about perseverance, teamwork and personal achievement. We continue to focus on excellence in athletics as an integral component to enhancing the student experience.”

In recent years, including during the current economic downturn, Northeastern has accelerated its momentum by making strategic investments in areas of strength.

“Northeastern has always been guided by the principle that we should focus on our opportunities for leadership,” said President Joseph Aoun. “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,” Aoun added, “universities have an obligation to invest resources in areas of strength—whether they are competitive athletic programs or cutting-edge academics.”

IRVINE, Calif. — UC Irvine Intercollegiate Athletics, faced with cost-cutting measures due to the state economic crisis, is discontinuing several of its sports programs, effective Aug. 1.

The five affected sports are men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s rowing, and sailing.

These moves reduce the number of intercollegiate sports sponsored at UCI to 18 (nine men’s and nine women’s), which ranks in the upper half of the Big West Conference. With additional reductions to be made in the department’s operating expenses, the total budget impact will be up to $1 million.

“These were extremely difficult decisions that unfortunately had to be made due to the financial crisis that is affecting our state and the UC system,” UCI Athletic Director Mike Izzi said. “I was hoping to avoid discontinuing any of our sports programs, but the Intercollegiate Athletics Department is not immune to the cuts that are occurring in the state and on our campus.

“The impact this has on these coaches and student-athletes is something that none of us wishes to see, but reality is that this type of move is unavoidable with the financial challenges that we face,” he added.

UCI will honor all scholarships as agreed to for the 2009-10 academic year for the student-athletes in these sports wishing to continue their studies at the University. The Athletics Department staff will provide assistance with the transfer process for student-athletes wishing to continue their competitive careers at other universities.

About UC Irvine Intercollegiate Athletics: UC Irvine has won 26 national championships and 65 conference titles. UCI had 10 teams ranked in the nation’s top 50 in 2008-09, including men’s volleyball, which won its second NCAA championship in the past three years. UCI has finished in the top five of the NCAA I-AAA Directors’ Cup (94 non-football schools) each of the past three years. In 2008-09, UCI had 15 All-Americans, 73 all-conference honorees and 68 selections to academic all-conference teams. The university honored 184 Big West Scholar-Athletes, bringing UCI’s total to 3,266 since 1983.

Alabama A&M Director of Athletics, Betty Austin, had a nice surprise waiting for her and the Bulldogs at the annual Bulldog Club breakfast, held last week on the A&M campus. The breakfast itself was a gathering of true maroon and white supporters and the coaches and staff from the athletics department, and the fellowship would have been enough as a great way to start the day. However, the members of the Bulldog Club then presented Austin with a donation to the department of $40,000 that club members had raised in support of Alabama A&M Athletics.

“Needless to say, this is a huge boost for our department,” Austin said. “These are tough times for everyone, and for the Bulldog Club to show this level of support to our student-athletes really shows you how committed they are to helping us succeed, and it shows that their hearts are truly with the spirit of Alabama A&M University.”

The gift will be used to help offset costs, but most importantly, will provide scholarship opportunities for Bulldog student-athletes and future recruits that will help grow the Athletics department as we head into the 2009-10 season.

From CBSSports.com wire reports

SHREVEPORT, La. — The Board of Trustees for Centenary College has voted to move the college’s athletic program from Division I to Division III.

Tuesday’s vote to leave the Summit League comes as the school works to stabilize its finances.

Ed Crawford, the board’s acting chairman, says the move is a small part of a larger plan to achieve financial and academic stability.

Centenary will continue to participate in Division I for the next two years in the Summit League while it pursues a new conference affiliation in Division III.

The prospect of Division III membership has been hovering at Centenary for several years, but the economic downturn sped it up. The school’s endowment is down 20 percent and it is seeking $1.5 million in budget cuts.

Tabby Soignier of the (Monroe, La.) News Star files this report on the budget challenges the University of Louisiana-Monroe athletic department faces due to the current economic recession.

ULM athletic director Bobby Staub appreciates operating a budget much like his coaches enjoy their players – lean with little to no waste to get in the way.

When Staub took the position five years ago, he understood the limitations of a mid-major university when it came to finances.

It did not take long after for he and his administration to begin to feel the effects of the economic challenges that started to unravel.

Five years later as the nation floats amid the hardest hits of the recession, it seems that the mid-major universities have found an advantage over other athletic programs.

Read the full story.

Michelle Gardner of the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reports on the creative steps athletic directors of schools within the California State University system are taking to reduce travel costs.

Cal State San Bernardino athletic director Kevin Hatcher has a dilemma.

His volleyball team planned on traveling to Hawaii in August for four matches to begin the season. However, the uncertain economy and impending state budget cuts have Cal State, and all other institutions, taking a second look at the expenditures throughout their athletic departments.

The Coyotes got a good deal with the host school paying for ground transportation, lodging and one meal a day. Thus, Cal State was responsible for air fare and remaining meals.

In an effort to ease the strain on the school’s athletic budget, the volleyball team is raising funds to offset the costs.

That isn’t the problem.

Read the whole story.

USF’s athletic department has trimmed its budget for the 2009-10 school year by 0.8 percent, with $32.3 million projected to be spent on the school’s 17 teams and support staff.

USF released its new budget Tuesday, and the biggest cuts are in team travel, which is due for an 8 percent cut, and in administrative expenses, with a 19 percent drop in costs related to “supplies/dues/copy/equipment.

Read the full story.

Brent Zwerneman of the Houston Chronicle reports on Texas A&M’s decision to remove 17 positions from the school’s athletic department.

COLLEGE STATION — The Texas A&M athletic department slashed 17 jobs on Thursday in a budget-crunching move.

“The cuts came across the entire spectrum of the department,” Aggies athletic director Bill Byrne said. “This difficult decision came after an exhaustive review of the entire program, and with great reluctance.”

Billy Pickard, set to enter his 45th season with A&M football, declined comment night after a department source said that Pickard had been told to retire as part of the measure. Pickard, 75, the department’s facilities director, had served legendary football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant as a student trainer in the mid-1950s at A&M.

Dave South, longtime “Voice of the Aggies,” also told friends and associates in an email that he’ll focus on his broadcasting duties. South is registered on the A&M Web site as the associate athletic director for sponsorship and broadcasting.

Read the rest.

RENO, Nev. — Due to state budget cuts, the University of Nevada will reduce its funding for scholarships and operational costs for the Wolf Pack skiing team this year and will not fund the program after 2009-10, Director of Athletics Cary Groth announced Tuesday.

Nevada will continue to fund tuition waivers for skiing student-athletes and personnel costs for the coaching staff for the 2009-10 season, but operational costs will be covered by donors or other sources of funding.

“We are all facing challenging economic times, and we have tried to make cuts that will have a minimal impact on the student-athlete experience. We didn’t want to cut student-athletes’ opportunities in sports, but we have had very tough choices to make and will not be able to fund the program after the 2009-10 season,” Groth said.

“I have met with our ski staff and boosters, and we are discussing multiple alternatives of continuing our ski tradition. Possibilities include being funded by donors or becoming a club sport.”

The University of Nevada sustained a 15 percent reduction in state funding totaling $33 million for each of the next two years. In addition to the cuts in the funding for skiing, the athletics department has made general reductions in scholarships, reduced all of its sport and operational budgets, trimmed support services like printing and mailing and made personnel cuts such as freezing and eliminating open positions.

Due to a 20% decrease in fundraising, the University of Central Florida is forced to make budget cuts within the schools athletic department. Here is a report filed by Iliana Limón of the Orlando Sentinel.

The UCF Athletics Association’s fundraising has dropped 20 percent from last year, prompting the school to make significant budget cuts.

UCF also is anticipating a 4 percent decline in total football revenue, which includes money generated by season and single-game ticket sales. UCF collected $5.9 million in football revenue during the 2008 season and is bracing to lose $236,000 of that revenue during the 2009 campaign.

Last year, football revenue accounted for about one-third of UCF’s total athletics revenue.

UCF is one of many schools throughout the country forced to re-evaluate all athletics expenses during the current economic downturn. The athletics staff will present a much leaner 2009-10 athletics budget to the UCFAA board of directors next week for its approval.

Read the rest.