A decade after playing its last game on the gridiron, East Tennessee State University is amid a relaunch of its intercollegiate football program. President Brian Noland made the initiative one of his chief priorities, gaining support from the Student Government Association and the Tennessee Board of Regents in the form of a new fee to fund football. The program also got a major boost when legendary University of Tennessee football coach signed on as a consultant to help start the team. The return of football brought with it an invitation for the Buccaneers to rejoin the Southern Conference, a move considered beneficial to all of ETSU's intercollegiate athletics teams.• Updated: ETSU accepts invitation to Southern Conference. East Tennessee State athletics will soon be back in more familiar company.
• ETSU on track to rejoin SoCon. East Tennessee State and the Southern Conference appear to be a step closer to getting back together.
• A-Sun considers football options. As new football programs sprout up all over the Atlantic Sun Conference, the league is trying to figure out a way to keep its football-playing members in the fold.
• Seahawks’ Kelly: Beatty good fit for Buc football. Seattle Seahawks director of player development Maurice “Mo” Kelly says former East Tennessee State receiver Chris Beatty would be a great grab for a school looking to jump-start its football program with an attractive coaching hire.
• ETSU Notes: Weight room will see change with football. The return of football will bring obvious changes to the East Tennessee State athletic department. There will also be some subtle differences in having football players on campus again.
• Noland vows ETSU will do football the right way Brian Noland says he wants East Tennessee State University to do football the right way. On Tuesday, the school’s president took a huge step in that direction.
• Legendary Vols coach Fulmer to help start new ETSU football team. Legendary former Vols coach Phillip Fulmer was tapped to help start a new Buccaneer football program Tuesday.
• Football time at ETSU: TBR approves fee to start new program. Are you ready for some Buccaneer football? After a near 10-year absence from the gridiron, ETSU administrators have the means to start a new football program now that a $125 per student athletic fee was approved at the quarterly meeting of the Tennessee Board of Regents Friday. TBR governs ETSU.
• ETSU scores necessary fee to start football program; students hope for success. Students Asiana Jones and Autumn Patterson hope East Tennessee State University’s future football team is successful now that they know they’ll be helping pay for it.
• Want football at ETSU? Here's how much it would cost. Playing intercollegiate football again at East Tennessee State University undoubtedly would be a costly proposition — one that at least some students have been wiling to open their wallets to help fund.
• Fulmer would be ETSU's first choice as football coach. If the folks at East Tennessee State University have their way, Phillip Fulmer would be the school’s new football coach.
• ETSU football: Where would the new stadium be built?A consultant will be hired to study the best place, hopefully on East Tennessee State University’s campus, to build a new football stadium, should a program be approved by the Tennessee Board of Regents, the school’s president said Friday.
• ETSU football cost estimated at just under $5 million per year by 2018-19. A high estimate for expenses for an East Tennessee State University football team would be just under $4.9 million per year by 2018-19, according to a school administrator who helped prepare documents about the cost.
• Next step for ETSU football: TBR fee approval. Now that the estimated numbers are in for the cost to operate a football program at East Tennessee State University, the necessary fee to start a team must be approved by the Tennessee Board of Regents for the school to move forward with any football plans.
• Noland tackles ETSU faculty's football concerns. Acknowledging he knew not everyone would be happy with the process, East Tennessee State University’s president said he did what he thought was best in pursuing a new football program when questioned about that process by faculty Monday.
• Update: ETSU Student Government votes yes on football. East Tennessee State University student senators Tuesday overwhelmingly supported starting a new football program in a historic vote that followed a passionate debate on the topic.
• Noland, new AD talk ETSU football. A decision on whether to start a new football program at East Tennessee State University or to focus on other sports could come within six weeks, the school president said Tuesday in a conference call with the school’s new athletic director.
• Fulmer says he'd be 'willing to help' ETSU. Although he still looks younger than he did during his final season coaching at Tennessee in 2008, youth twinkles in Phillip Fulmer’s eyes when he discusses a potential return to the sideline.
• Students weigh in on possibility of football returning to ETSU. It will cost money to start and maintain a new football program at East Tennessee State University, and at least some students are just fine with paying for it.
• ETSU could be playing football by 2016. If plans move forward as expected, East Tennessee State could have a football team back on the field — some field — for the 2016 season.
• ETSU president: School will look into starting new football team, other academic programs. A new football program could be started at East Tennessee State University and a new fine and performing arts center could be built in a few years, according to the school’s president.