10 defunct college football teams that should be reborn

Regardless of the hovering value of doing enterprise within the faculty soccer world, increasingly more groups wish to be part of the highest tier of the game.

Up to now 5 years, no fewer than eight faculties (James Madison, Jacksonville State, Sam Houston, Kennesaw State, Delaware, Missouri State, North Dakota State and Sacramento State) have moved as much as the Soccer Bowl Subdivision. That raises the full membership within the sport’s highest classification to a whopping 138 groups.

What’s a couple of extra?

With that in thoughts, we propose 10 defunct faculty soccer applications that ought to be revived beneath.

In 1997, Boston College’s soccer program, taking part in in Division I-AA (now often called the Soccer Championship Subdivision), got here to a controversial, ugly finish. After college officers introduced this system can be shuttered on the finish of the season, gamers wore plain white jerseys throughout their subsequent recreation in protest.

“Many of the gamers wore white socks, used adhesive tape to cowl the small B.U. brand close to their left hip, and restricted the scarlet to their helmets,” the New York Times reported.

The subsequent week, following the final residence recreation in program historical past — a 33-8 win over Massachusetts — campus police pepper-sprayed fans who had congregated near a set of goal posts.

The Terriers had performed intercollegiate soccer for greater than a century on the time of the group’s dissolution, boasting 5 Yankee Convention championships within the Nineteen Eighties and ’90s.

Denver’s soccer group existed from 1885 to 1960 earlier than then-chancellor Chester Alter and the varsity’s trustees eradicated it as a consequence of prohibitive prices.

“It’s not possible to proceed a single intercollegiate athletic exercise which produces an annual deficit of about $100,000,” Alter said at the time, per the Associated Press.

Offended DU college students burned Alter in effigy on the varsity’s soccer subject after the trustees’ determination grew to become ultimate.

Denver U. is greatest recognized for males’s hockey, the place it is gained a document 11 nationwide titles, together with three in the past five seasons as a member of the Nationwide Collegiate Hockey Convention.

Colorado is residence to solely three main faculty soccer groups (Colorado, Colorado State and Air Power). How about including a fourth within the state’s largest metropolis?

A Southern Convention member from 1941 to 1966, George Washington boasts Pro Football Hall of Famer Tuffy Leemans (we won’t go a day with out his identify arising in conversations), one in every of two gamers in NFL historical past with at the least 3,000 speeding yards, 2,000 passing yards and 4 interceptions. 

With a rich alumni base that features Washington Nationals proprietor Mark Lerner, Peloton co-founder Tom Cortese and a number of other lawmakers throughout the political spectrum, GW has sufficient individuals to hunt help in reconstructing the soccer group from the bottom up.

And years from now, when convention realignment has left the ACC with Air Power and Hawai’i as its solely members, the Colonials can deliver the league again to its roots alongside the Jap seaboard.

Gonzaga, a males’s basketball powerhouse for many years, has been absent from the soccer subject since 1941. The college’s most well-known NFLer, Professional Soccer Corridor of Famer and former Green Bay Packers operating again Tony Canadeo, was simply the third player in NFL history to hurry for 1,000 yards in a single season (1949).

Already a Pac-12 member, Gonzaga may have immediate entry to the FBS degree. Who is aware of? Someday, Gonzaga could also be the very best faculty program and not using a nationwide title in two sports activities.

Tremendous Bowl-winning coaches Pete Carroll and Tom Flores performed for Pacific, which dropped its storied football program following the 1995 season after seven years within the Huge West.

Regardless of being the springboard to a number of former NFL professionals, together with 9 Professional Bowlers, two All-Execs and the 1960 draft’s No. 2 general decide, operating again Dick Bass, this system fell on onerous instances starting within the late Seventies. Over Pacific’s ultimate 18 seasons earlier than the group disbanded (1978-95), it posted only one successful document, going 6-5 in 1994.

With a complete enrollment of simply 4,396 at its Stockton campus, it might be one of many smaller FBS faculties, however the College of Tulsa, which competes within the American Convention, is even smaller with 4,154 total students. So, it is doable. And with its spectacular array of former NFL stars, it might be nice to revive that pipeline within the twenty first century.

That is for all these wanting faculty soccer to get again to its roots. Let’s deliver Sewanee again to the Southeastern Convention. So what if it only has 1,590 students?

After taking part in as an impartial from 1902-21, The College of the South joined the mega 21-team Southern Convention forward of the 1922 season, and 12 years later, it spun off with 12 others to kind the SEC.

There, the Tigers had been Vanderbilt earlier than the Commodores grew to become the convention’s laughingstock, going 13-46-1 general and never successful a single SEC recreation in seven seasons (0-36).

Nowadays, Sewanee competes in Division III as a member of the Southern Athletic Affiliation.

In January 2026, Indiana became the first top-level college football program to win 16 video games for the reason that College of Chicago, which did so when the Wright brothers were building kites, not planes. 

Previously within the Huge Ten (when it was referred to as the Western Convention), the Maroons had been a juggernaut on the flip of the twentieth century, successful 79.5 % of their video games with 9 10-win seasons from 1895-1909.

The Maroons’ Jay Berwanger gained the primary Heisman Trophy in 1935, however the faculty halted play in 1940. Chicago revived its soccer program in 1969 and joined the NCAA’s Division III 4 years later. They continue to be Division III members of the Midwest Convention in the present day.

Tampa Spartans

The Spartans had a brief but productive stint in major college football, successful 10 video games and the Tangerine Bowl underneath future Ohio State coach Earle Bruce in 1972. The next offseason, the Houston Oilers chosen Tampa defensive lineman John Matuszak with the No. 1 general decide within the 1973 NFL Draft.

This system lasted just one yr extra earlier than college officers canceled the group forward of the 1975 season, citing monetary pressure.

Within the years since, Tampa has change into the highest D-II baseball program. This previous season, the Spartans won their record 11th national title whereas turning into the primary D-II group to win three consecutive championships.

Like Denver in hockey, if Tampa may bottle that success right into a soccer revival, it might be one of many hottest tickets on the town. Be careful, USF.

Located within the Dallas-Fort Price Metroplex, UT Arlington’s lack of a soccer program may be shocking for a state that may’t get sufficient pigskin. One can think about a number of conferences can be keen so as to add that giant media market to its assortment.

UTA is the fifth-largest college within the Lone Star State and already sponsors 16 D-I sports activities, all as a WAC member. In spring 2027, the college will change into the primary within the state to offer D-I women’s flag football. 

“Soccer is king in Texas; everyone knows that,” college president Jennifer Cowley mentioned when asserting flag soccer in Could 2025. Subsequent, it is time to deliver again Mavericks deal with soccer for the primary time in over 40 years.

Wichita State is the American Convention’s solely member and not using a soccer program. The Shockers joined the convention in 2017 however have not fielded a soccer group since 1986. Extra just lately, it is change into higher recognized for males’s basketball, receiving seven consecutive NCAA Event bids from 2012-18.

However again within the day, the Shockers gained 5 Missouri Valley Convention titles, and helped launch the teaching profession of NFL legend Invoice Parcells.

Yardbarker editor Thomas Neumann contributed to this text.