This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/ProctorDoctor500 on 2024-06-27 22:54:27+00:00.
There are 363 teams in the NCAA Division 1, and a lot of them have programs but a good chunk of them don’t. A lot of those colleges used to have a program but don’t anymore. I will try to briefly explain to my best ability, why these colleges with Football history no longer have a team. (Spoiler Alert: It’s due to money). Going alphabetically:
American University Eagles: American University is a private university in Washington, DC. In 1937, the University hired a man named Gus Welch to run their Athletics program. At the time AU had so few people they could barely field an 11-man roster which is something he struggled with, even trying to play a Female Student at Kicker, but the refs vetoed it. Welch resigned due to the lack of warm bodies for the team. Welch’s assistant, Stafford H Cassel, took over after his resignation, and the program was canned due to the lack of students and World War 2. American’s current primary conference is the Patriot League.
Boston University Terriers: Located in, you guessed it, Boston, Boston University is one of the various prestigious universities that dot New England. Running from 1884 to 1997, the Boston U Terriers weren’t too good, with an all time record of 323-390-34. When it was terminated, the program ran at a deficit of nearly 3 million dollars per year. Boston U at present is a Hockey Dynasty with 5 Men’s National Championships and 17 Conference Championships, including one recently in 2023. Boston U’s current primary conference is the Patriot League
Bradley Braves: Bradley is a private university in Peoria, Illinois. Bradley began its Football program the same year it was founded in 1897 and played every single year (sans the World War 2 years) until 1970. The program was discontinued when their Head Coach, Billy Stone retired. Billy Stone in a sense, was Bradley Football, having entered professional sports out of Bradley as a player. The program has an all-time record of 308-240-32. Bradley is currently in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Cal State Fullerton Titans: One of the various public universities in California, it has the largest student body of any school in the California State University System which contains schools like Fresno State, San Jose State and schools coming up like Long Beach State. The program only lasted for 22 years from 1970 to 1992. In their final season as an Independent, they set the NCAA record for fumbles in a season and fumbles lost in a season, at 72 and 41 respectively, a record that still stands today. Cal State Fullerton’s primary conference is the Big West
Cal State Northridge Matadors: When they were in Division II they won 34 championships, the most all time, in all other sports but football. The Football team itself was middling never getting more than 8 wins per season and it never did anything of note in Division II or Division I. Like the Cal State Fullerton Titans, the program was shuttered due to budgetary reasons. Spoiler alert: A lot of these programs were shuttered due to budgetary reasons. Unlike Cal State Fullerton, the program lasted longer, from 1962 to 2001.
Canisius Golden Griffins: Canisius is a Jesuit affiliated university in Buffalo, New York. The team had two stretches of NCAA Football play, first from 1919 to 1949 (with the standard WW2 pause) and from 1973 to 2002. I couldn’t find any info for why they had a pause in play between 1949 and 1973. They were a D3 program for 20 years in that second stretch. Eventually the program was shuttered, along with 7 other Athletics programs by the University. This was to free up more money to be competitive in the sports they still had. Their primary conference is the MAAC (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)
Charleston Cougars: The College of Charleston was founded all the way back in 1770, they are one of the oldest colleges in the country. They first fielded a program back in 1897 and ended it back in 1923, when it was disbanded because no one cared about Football. Their current primary conference is the CAA. Not a lot to say here, couldn’t find any stats on this old program, when you type in “Charleston Football” into Google, you get the D2 University of Charleston Golden Eagles located in Charleston, Virginia. I guess like the program, no one cared enough to record the stats
Creighton Bluejays: The schools of the Big East don’t play Football. The exceptions to this are UConn, Villanova, Butler and Georgetown. Creighton is a private, catholic university (like most Big East Schools) located in Omaha, Nebraska. Notable for their success in Baseball and Basketball, Creighton also fielded “the best Football team of all time” and you never heard of it before because Creighton students made the whole thing up. In 1983, Football was big in Nebraska due to the success of Tom Osborne and Nebraska, which led to a facetious schedule being posted. The bored and idealess Creighton Student Newspaper decided to run with a joke, publishing a fake news report about the Football team that just kept getting more and more powerful with every passing report. Creighton has a really good page about it and I implore you to read it, as it’s a funny story. The last actual Creighton Football team was fielded in 1942 due to World War 2, and the program wouldn’t return after it.
Denver Pioneers: Denver is located in, you guessed it, Denver, Colorado. Denver is a Hockey Power, with 85 active NHL players having come out of Denver. Denver’s overall athletics program is really good, consistently reaching the top of the rankings for programs without football. DU’s Football team was founded in 1885 and played their first game against Colorado College which is believed to be the first Football game played West of the Mississippi River. Denver made some bowls, and was even ranked #18 in 1954, but the program didn’t last and was discontinued in 1961 due to budgetary reasons.
DePaul Blue Demons: Finishing 0-20 in Big East play this past basketball season, DePaul is a private, catholic university located in Chicago, Illinois. Not a lot of information is out there about the old DePaul Football program, including why they no longer exist. Based on the fact it was discontinued in 1939, I’d guess budgetary reasons. They used to play games at Wrigley Field and Soldier Field and that’s about all I could find in my brief research on the Blue Demons gridiron efforts.
Detroit Mercy Titans: Speaking of bad basketball teams from this past season, Detroit Mercy is located in, shocker, Detroit, Michigan. Their current primary conference is the Horizon League. The defunct Football team actually has a National Title under their belt in 1928 after an undefeated season. The program was shuttered in 1964 due to budgetary concerns. Their all-time record is 308–204–24, good for a .594 win percentage.
Drexel Dragons: Drexel’s football program first went away in 1909, due to lack of a proper playing field. Drexel is a private university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Football Team first played Football in 1898 and went undefeated against high school and academy teams. They went undefeated, 8-0, again in 1955. From 1927 to 1941 this guy named Walter Henry Halas coached the team, he had a brother named George Halas, maybe you’ve heard of him? As a school founded by a banker would, they cut Football in 1971 to redistribute the funds among their other programs. Their current primary conference is the CAA.
Evansville Purple Aces: The feel good story from this season of D1 College Baseball, Evansville is a private university in Evansville, Indiana, and they play in the Missouri Valley Conference. Evansville’s defunct Football program is well known for being 2-0 in the Refrigerator Bowl. They first played in 1898, known early on as the 49ers. They fell to D3 in 1975 before coming back up for Pioneer League play. The program was eventually shuttered in 1997 due to financial concerns and concerns with the Pioneer League, after 99 years with an all-time record of 268–381–26. In 2007, the possibility of playing Football again came up, but was shot down in 2012.
Fairfield Stags: Fairfield is a private, catholic university in Fairfield, Connecticut. Their current conference is the MAAC. The Football program didn’t last long, being started in 1996 and shuttering in 2002. They compiled an all time record of 44-28. Fairfield was the third MAAC team to discontinue their program in a three month span, likely due to budgetary reasons. Noting too notable here aside from the fact that NFL terrorist Ben McAdoo was an assistant coach there in their final season.
George Washington Revolutionaries: George Washington is one of the 6 federally charted universities in the country. Back when the school was called “Columbian University”, they founded their football program in 1904 and played some games against Episcopal High School and Gallaudet. In the 30s and 40s, GWU could hang with the best of them, like Iowa and Oklahoma. After an 8-1 season in 1956, the program fell into irrelevance and their last Football game was a loss to Villanova on Thanksgiving. The program was shuttered due to poor attendance and Maryland and Virginia being better and nationally renown. GWU’s current athletic teams play in the Atlantic 10
Gonzaga Bulldogs: The ascendant basketball …
Content cut off. Read original on old.reddit.com/…/division_1_colleges_that_dont_ha…