URI pushing new football conference

Five Yankee Conference members and a sixth school are considering forming a new Division I-AA football league that would not offer football scholarships, Rhode Island President Robert Carothers said Thursday.

Carothers said he and the presidents of Boston University, Northeastern, Maine, New Hampshire and Hofstra – an independent – have discussed forming a new conference that would keep their current I-AA status but save money by cutting scholarships.

“The idea is to try to create a conference in New England that would be somewhat parallel to the Ivy League and the Patriot League,” Carothers said, adding he would hope to see play begin in 1997.

The Ivy and Patriot leagues are I-AA in football, but offer football players only the same financial aid as other students.

A spokesman for the football-only Yankee Conference said the possibility of dropping scholarships or schools leaving the league didn’t come up at a meeting of league athletic directors.

“As far as I know we just had our meetings last weekend and … there was no such talk. … We all reiterated a commitment to keeping scholarships at the I-AA maximum (of 63),” Pat McCarthy said.

“I know Rhode Island’s concerned about the budget crunch, but as far as the extent (of Carothers’ comments), that’s a surprise.”

The Patriot and Ivy leagues are considered weaker than the Yankee Conference, which sent three teams – Boston University, New Hampshire and James Madison – to the 1994 I-AA playoffs. Those teams and another conference member, William & Mary, finished among the top 25 I-AA teams in the final poll.

New Hampshire athletic director Gib Chapman said his school has no plans to change leagues.

“I know the URI president has been contacting various (college) presidents to talk about no-cost or low-cost football, but UNH is not interested in entering a different league than the Yankee Conference,” he said.

URI faces an $8 million budget shortfall next fiscal year and Carothers has proposed cutting 100 jobs and 25 percent of academic programs to balance the books.

The URI football program, one of 21 varsity sports at the school, lost $1.4 million last year. The team, which spent $1.1 million on scholarships in 1994-95, has not been competitive since the mid-1980s and draws small home crowds.

BU Athletic Director Gary Strickler said he has not heard about the possibility of a new league, but said schools have talked about working together to reduce football costs. BU spends approximately $2 million per year on football, he said.

Jack Grinold, the associate athletic director at Northeastern, also said his athletic department has not been contacted about a new conference.

“We are a recent member of the Yankee Conference and we’re committed to it,” said Grinold, whose Huskies joined the league in 1993.

Matt Bourque, sports information director at Maine, acknowledged the Black Bears may be interested in a new league.

“We have corresponded at the presidential level. … Last I knew a meeting between the presidents had not been set, but we were looking into that,” he said.

Maine recently announced plans to pump an additional $700,000 into women’s sports as part of a push toward gender equity.