June 27, 2007

BOSTON - The Board of Trustees Committee on Athletics today approved the creation of a special taskforce to review the intercollegiate football program at UMass Amherst and to consider whether the program should seek to compete at the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division 1-A) level.

³We intend to assemble a taskforce that will include representatives from all of the relevant constituencies and will conduct an open, inclusive and comprehensive review of this issue. The Division 1-A question has been out there for many years, and we would like to provide a conclusive answer. We enter this process with open minds and with no predefined outcome in mind,² Trustee Matthew E. Carlin, chairman of the athletics panel, said.

Trustee Kenneth A. MacAfee, DMD, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and a former professional football player, was named to chair the taskforce, which will seek to present a preliminary report by this Fall.

The football competition-level question was last examined in 2003 and a consultant¹s report prepared at the time recommended that the Amherst football program remain at what was then the Division 1-AA (now Football Championship Subdivision) level but suggested that the University might ³Š revisit the question in a three- to five-year time frame.²

³We believe that sufficient time has passed for us to take another and perhaps definitive look at this issue. We want to hear from all parties and then make the very best recommendation and decision for the University of Massachusetts,² Carlin said.