A Sea Of Red

This potentially opens up a huge can of worms that theoretically could impact our future.

CBS Detroit wrote:Terry Foster: Eastern Michigan Analyzing Football Program After Athletic Department Lost $52 Million Over The Last Two Years
April 20, 2016 11:57 AM

By Terry Foster
@TerryFoster971

Eastern Michigan University is doing a thorough self-examination that could change the landscape of the school’s athletic and academic programs.

Should it keep football? Should the football program drop to Division II? Should the school continue to subsidize athletes by siphoning moneyfrom academics? HBO dropped a bomb on the school Tuesday night during a Real Sports program that said the athletic department lost $52 million the last two years and ranks last in Division I football attendance.

But EMU Regent Jim Stapleton said some of the measures the school is considering were in the works before the Wednesday firebomb came out.

Click Here for Full Story

Why did you create a new thread instead of putting in the realignment mega thread? Just curious.

Good question. But here's my rationale. It may or may not impact realignment. They could drop football or go Pioneer League FCS and remain in MAC for other sports.

Any exit from MAC football likely would result in the league bouncing them from other sports. But it would be presumptuous to base any discussion strictly on that speculation.

That whole realignment thread is filled with people being presumptuous

Agree 100%. But once again, this doesn't necessarily assume there will be realignment.

Eastern Michigan has been the poster child for being a school that has no business being in FBS along with Louisiana-Monroe.

For the old timers, isn't Eastern Michigan the first DI-A that LU beat on a touchdown pass caught by Eric Green, way back when Coach Sam was still with us?

You would be correct Cider

Yes it was, in 1989.

Didn't a former HC at LU used to be their OC?

CCU may replace EM as school with worst attendance.

They didn't research very well when coming up with this. Can't be D1 in football and be D2 or D3 in everything else. Only schools allowed to do that are the ones that were grandfathered in decades ago. If they don't want to compete in D1 then every sport has to drop down.

You are correct. The MAC would likely boot them if they dropped down to FCS for football. So any move down would likely be a huge drop across the board. Of course, the MAC could take mercy on them and allow them to go PFL in football and keep them in the fold. That's considered a long shot.

Would EMU have a chance with the MVC, OVC, or the NEC as a football only? If they did, the MAC could change their minds and keep UMASS as a football only and keep an even number in all sports. Is this a possibility, or is there more to the expulsion of UMASS than we know?