Our Story

Welcome to the home for the Buc Football and Friends Foundation. A group that has been established to support the reinstatement of college football at our beloved university and alma mater.

East Tennessee State fielded intercollegiate football for over 80 years through the Depression, through times of War, and through times of social change.

In 2003, East Tennessee State University, playing scholarship football at the NCAA Division I-AA in the historic Southern Conference, became the victim of a fatal swoop from the university administration citing the elimination of the program as a "strategic business decision" due to the financial situation of the state, obligations for Title IX, and the need to better fund the program to remain competitive among its peers as the reasons for terminating the program.

As students, alumni, and friends of East Tennessee State, we are here to say that the idea of ETSU without the sport of football is not acceptable. The idea of our beloved alma mater losing it's membership status for all sports with one of the oldest and most respected conferences in the nation is not acceptable. ETSU has fielded athletic programs that have consistently been recognized and respected nationally and internationally and we feel that the legacy of thousands of Buccaneer athletes, coaches, trainers, cheerleaders, marching band members, and the loyal fans who have supported the programs, win or lose, is now diminished.

• We will strive to have football at ETSU again with a permanent fundraising and advising strategy to ensure the success of the program;
  
  
• We will work with alumni of other intercollegiate sports and programs (including the Marching Band & Cheerleaders) to ensure that the voices are heard;
  
  
• We will help to provide scholarships to deserving young men and women to earn their college education via their athletic and musical talent;
  
  
• We will work tirelessly to address the facility issues by directly promoting the development of a regional outdoor stadium and adjacent amenities that will serve not only the needs of college football, but the regional recreational and sports ventures; and
  
  
• We will have a college football team that the region and alumni can hold in high regard not just because of wins on the field BUT because of the involvement in the community, the graduation of players, and the legacy of the graduates who laid the foundation for Buccaneer Football.