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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/lordeandtaylor on 2026-02-11 13:05:40+00:00.

Two schools have started a football team at the FCS level in recent years- UTRGV was fairly successful in their first year, while Chicago State will be starting their football team next year (doubts about the feasibility of that aside, that’s the plan). Further, there are several examples of teams the last 25 years who began a program at the FCS level then quickly moved up to the FBS. Off the top of my head, Old Dominion, South Alabama, UTSA, and Kennesaw State are examples of current FBS schools that were non-football at the turn of the century. What schools could join them in adding a football team in the next ten years?

Off the top of my head, the only non-football schools that are members of an FBS conference are Grand Canyon in the Mountain West, Wichita State in the American, and soon to be Gonzaga in the PAC-12 (but that’s just off the top of my head so let me know if I’m missing any). So if a school were to start a new football team, it would be highly likely they’d do so at the FCS level. Here is a list of non-football schools that are currently members of FCS conferences:

Northeastern, Hofstra, Drexel, UNC Wilmington, and Charleston in the CAA (I know that CAA Football is technically a different legal entity, but I would think CAA schools would have first rights to join it).

Maryland Eastern Shore and Coppin State in the MEAC

Belmont, Bradley, Evansville, UIC, Omaha, Kansas City, and Oral Roberts in the MVFC (MVC and Summit League members would have first rights to join the MVFC so I’m including them).

LeMoyne and Fairleigh Dickinson in the NEC (Fairleigh Dickinson’s Florham campus plays Division III football)

Radford, High Point, UNC Asheville, USC Upstate, and Winthrop in the Big South

SIUE and Southern Indiana in the Ohio Valley

Boston University, Loyola MD, and American in the Patriot League

UNC Greensboro in the SoCon

Texas A&M- Corpus Christi and New Orleans in the Southland

UT Arlington and Little Rock in the UAC

Of course, a school that wanted to add a football program could always join an FCS conference, so responses wouldn’t have to be limited to these schools.

I’m going to go with UT Arlington for my pick. They haven’t had a football team since the 80s, but students have voted recently that they’d be willing to fund increased athletic fees to fund a football team. The UAC is probably desperate for more football teams, and UTRGV has proven it’s possible for a UT campus to successfully start a football team.

What other schools might have both the resources and the desire to start a football team at the FCS level?