Twelve Colleges to Add Football Programs in 2013

Twelve colleges will add football programs in 2013, including a record nine entering the NCAA.

Since 2008, a total of 45 NCAA and NAIA schools have added football teams and 11 additional schools plan to add football programs by 2016.

"No other sport contributes more to the vibrancy of a college campus than football, and the trend of adding programs continues full force," says National Football Foundation president and chief executive officer STEVE HATCHELL. "University and college presidents clearly see the value of having programs on their campuses, and we applaud them for understanding the role football can play in the educational experience of all their students."

Since 1978, when the NCAA changed its method for tracking attendance figures, the total number of NCAA football programs has grown by 160 schools (4.7 per year).

"We're trying to grow this school and make it more of a regional school with greater numbers, and we have seen studies that show football will help us grow our overall enrollment," says Houston Baptist athletics director STEVE MONIACI, whose university will play a seven-game developmental schedule this fall and join the Southland Conference in 2014. "We are also a young institution right around 50 years old, and we really need to have more opportunities to engage our alumni base. Football is uniquely suited to do that. It's one of the few things you can count on to bring your alumni back to campus."

A list of colleges that plan to initiate football programs by 2016:

NCAA College Sports ...

• Twelve Colleges to Add Football Programs in 2013
• Penn State to Play UCF in Ireland
• Big Ten Football Implements Parity-Based Approach
• Ex-Floride State Offensive Lineman Gets Wrong Championship Ring
• Gators QB Jeff Driskel focused on football despite pro baseball contract
• Everett Golson Returns to Fighting Irish
• Louisville Guard Kevin Ware Expected Back in October
• Suspect Behind Howard's Rock Vandalism Arrested, Charged
• Southern Cal and Notre Dame Extend Football Series
• Oregon gets slap on wrist for recruitment violations
• Penn State Gives football coach Bill O'Brien $935K salary increase
• UCLA Recruits 8th-grade Texas QB Lindell Stone
• Clemson's Iconic Howard's Rock Vandalized
• NCAA Lifts Postseason Ban on UConn Men's Basketball Team
• Johns Hopkins and Maryland to Join Big Ten Men's Lacrosse
• Rutgers Postpones AD Julie Hermann's On-Campus Meetings
• Art Shell, Frank Cignetti Named to College Football Hall of Fame
• Nick Saban Says 9-game SEC Conference Schedule Should Boost Fan Interest

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"Twelve Colleges to Add Football Programs in 2013"