BIDDEFORD, Maine — Small-college football has long been a staple of the fall sports scene in Maine.
Within three years, the smacking of shoulder pads and the cadence of the quarterback’s signals will be heard in southern Maine on Saturday afternoons.
The University of New England announced on Thursday that it plans to add football as a varsity sport, with competition expected to begin as early as 2017.
University of New England President Danielle N. Ripich, Ph.D., said adding football and elevating the women’s rugby team to varsity status is part of the school’s plan to balance its student gender demographic and increase diversity.
“As a result of our master planning, these options have emerged as important programs for student recruitment and retention,” Ripich said in a news release. “These sports will add on-campus experiences for our athletic training students and may provide healthy sports training for our exercise science and physical therapy students.”
Adding football is expected to increase the University of New England’s male enrollment by 75-100 male students on a campus where the undergraduate student population is about 65 percent female.
Husson University in Bangor had 115 players on its roster this fall.
The University of New England becomes the first Maine college to add football since Husson resurrected its program in 2003 after a 60-year hiatus. The Nor’easters will compete at the NCAA Division III level, where athletic aid is not permitted.
The University of New England announcement came only two days after Division I Alabama-Birmingham revealed it is eliminating its program.
The University of New England will bring to seven the number of college football programs in the state. The others are Division I University of Maine, which offers athletic scholarships, and Division III teams Maine Maritime Academy of Castine, Colby College of Waterville, Bates College of Lewiston and Bowdoin College of Brunswick.
According to a 2013 story by Evin Demirel of SBNation.com, 41 U.S. colleges started football programs from 2008-13. That included 12 newcomers in 2013 and 11 more that were scheduled to begin competition in 2014.
The University of New England did not reveal its startup costs for football, which will include significant expenditures for equipment and uniforms in addition to coaching salaries.
In 2001, the University of Southern Maine in Gorham scrapped a proposal to start a football program because it was not able to come up with the $2.1 million needed to build a multipurpose field and get the program up and running.
It has not been determined whether the University of New England will join one of the New England-based Division III conferences or begin play as an independent, which is what Husson did initially. In other sports, the Nor’easters are members of the Commonwealth Coast Conference, which does not sponsor either football or rugby.
The University of New England will be actively seeking league affiliation for its football team. Colby, Bates and Bowdoin compete in the New England Small College Athletic Conference, Husson is member of the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference and MMA plays in the New England Football Conference.
The University of New England football team will play at The Big Blue Turf, an artificial surface facility scheduled to undergo upgrades that will include additional bleacher seating, construction of nearby locker rooms, laundry facilities and equipment storage space.
The University of New England’s rugby team, which has operated as a club sport, will play on a grass field that was recently constructed and will be ready for use next fall. The school also has plans to build an outdoor track and field facility and recreational tennis courts.