Former FCS Teams

Which Programs Previously Played in the FCS?

There is no surprise that the allure of major college football has caused some teams to try their hand at the FBS level. In some cases, teams have dropped football altogether or dropped to the FCS level. Idaho left the FBS for the FCS after the Sun Belt declined to keep them as a conference member. Dropping to the FCS is a very rare occurrence, but one that made sense for Idaho as they were part of the Big Sky in every other sport but football before the move and was also a Big Sky football member from 1965 through 1995. More recently, Jacksonville announced an immediate shutdown of its football program after the 2019 season.

Below are the teams that used to play in the FCS, but have since moved on to the FBS or shut down their football program. Teams that no longer have a football program are marked with an asterisk. Only two teams on the following list, West Texas A&M and Savannah State participate at a lower division. West Texas A&M participates in the Lone Star Conference while Savannah State returned to the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Both the LSC and SIAC are at the Division II level.

The below list was cultivated from the NCAA’s FCS records handbook and some school records along with secondary sources such as Wikipedia and Sports-Reference. The years may not match the NCAA due to the inclusion of transition years in our records.

Akron is NOT listed in the NCAA Handbook, but the Zips’ own records (page 173) show otherwise from 1980 to 1986. In addition, the NCAA Handbook also had MAC teams listed as FCS teams in 1982 for “reclassification” due to not meeting NCAA requirements. These schools are NOT included in this list as they were in name only or a temporary reclassification.

* School no longer has a football program

** School participates at the Division II level in football

*** Not officially former FCS members per the NCAA because they never completed the full transition to FCS status. Texas-San Antonio originally planned to join the FCS before opting to go to the FBS as soon as possible with an offer from the then-FBS Western Athletic Conference (the WAC is now an FCS conference).

**** Winston-Salem State was never officially a member of the FCS despite starting and nearly finishing the transition process to the MEAC. They decided in the fourth year of the transition to remain at the Division II level.

TeamFirst Year in FCSLast Year in FCS
Akron19801986
Alabama-Birmingham (UAB)19931995
Appalachian State19822013
Arkansas State19821991
Boise State19781995
Boston University*19781997
Buffalo19931998
Cal State Northridge*19932001
Canisius*19932002
Central Florida19901995
Charlotte20132014
Coastal Carolina20032016
Connecticut19781999
Evansville*19931997
Fairfield*19962002
Florida Atlantic20012004
Florida International20032004
Georgia Southern19822013
Georgia State20102012
Hofstra*19912009
Iona*19932008
Jacksonville*19982019
Jacksonville State19932022
James Madison19802021
Kennesaw State20152023
La Salle*19972007
Louisiana-Monroe19821993
Liberty19882017
Louisiana Tech19821988
Marshall19821996
Massachusetts19782011
Middle Tennessee19781998
Morris Brown*20002002
Nevada19781991
North Texas19831994
Northeastern*19782009
Old Dominion20092012
Saint John’s (NY)*19932002
Saint Mary’s (CA)*19932003
Saint Peter’s*19932006
Sam Houston State19842022
Savannah State**20002018
Siena*19932003
South Alabama20102011
South Florida19972000
Texas-Arlington*19821985
Texas-San Antonio***20112011
Texas State19842011
Troy19912001
West Texas A&M**19821985
Western Kentucky19782007
Winston-Salem State****20062009

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