Robert Morris football plans return to NEC in 2024

Robert Morris football is leaving the Big South-OVC and returning to the Northeast Conference where it achieved its greatest success.

The school accepted an invitation from the NEC Council of Presidents to rejoin the conference as a football associate member. It will become eligible to secure the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA FCS Playoffs in 2024.

RMU football won six NEC championships after helping launch the conference in 1996. Led by Hall of Fame coach Joe Walton, the Colonials were 26-2 in the conference in their first five seasons. Robert Morris also earned three postseason berths, winning the ECAC Football Classic in 1996 and 1997 and representing the NEC in the FCS Playoffs in 2010.

In 24 years, RMU has three NEC Offensive Player of the Year winners and four NEC Defensive Player of the Year honorees. Walton was a four-time NEC Coach of the Year. Center Hank Fraley, who competed for the Colonials from 1996-99 and played 11 seasons in the NFL, was inducted into the NEC Hall of Fame’s 2010 inaugural class.

“We’re pleased to welcome Robert Morris back to the NEC football community,” NEC commissioner Noreen Morris said in a statement. “Their return not only strengthens our football profile, but also will reignite longtime rivalries and create new ones. Given RMU’s rich football tradition within the NEC, we anticipate more exciting moments to come.”

The NEC will have seven competing programs next season, including core members Central Connecticut, LIU, Saint Francis (Pa.), Stonehill and Wagner, plus associate members Duquesne and Robert Morris.

“We want to thank (Big South-OVC) Commissioners Sherika Montgomery and Beth DeBauche, and former Commissioner Kyle Kallander, for providing RMU football an opportunity for membership and their support over the previous three years,” RMU athletic director Chris King said in a statement. “The move to rejoin the NEC as an associate member in football restores longtime local rivalries with Duquesne and Saint Francis U as well as the NEC football playing members within our geographic footprint, which will have a positive impact on our scheduling and travel.

“For our long-term growth, the NEC is certainly the right move for our football program. We are excited about this next chapter and continuing the forward momentum of RMU football.”

RMU spent this season in the Big South-OVC Football Association and the previous three years as a Big South Conference associate football member.

“The RMU Football program would like to thank the Big South Conference and the Big South-OVC Football Association for the opportunity they gave us against outstanding competition,” seven-year RMU coach Bernard Clark said in a statement. “We certainly look forward to renewing old NEC rivalries and competing against familiar opponents as well as embracing the familiarity of the league.”

Clark was voted the 2019 NEC Co-Coach of the Year and also was a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award after leading RMU to a 6-1 NEC record and a second-place finish.