MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. - Robert Morris University announced today that its football program has accepted an invitation from the NEC Council of Presidents to rejoin the conference as a football associate member in 2024.
 
The Colonials will be immediately eligible to secure the league's automatic bid to the NCAA FCS Playoffs.
 
"We're pleased to welcome Robert Morris back to the NEC football community," said NEC Commissioner Noreen Morris. "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."
 
NEC football sponsorship will include seven competing programs next season, as core members Central Connecticut, LIU, Saint Francis U, Stonehill and Wagner will be joined by associate members Duquesne and Robert Morris.
 
RMU helped launch NEC football in 1996 and claimed six conference championships. While under the leadership of Hall of Fame Coach Joe Walton, the Colonials boasted a 26-2 conference record in their first five seasons in the NEC.
 
During its initial run in the NEC, RMU had three postseason berths winning the ECAC Football Classic in 1996 and 1997 as well as representing the NEC in the FCS Playoffs in 2010.
 
In its 24 years as an NEC football member, RMU has three NEC Offensive Player of the Year winners, four NEC Defensive Player of the Year honorees and Walton was a four-time NEC Coach of the Year. Hank Fraley, a center who competed for the Colonials from 1996-99, enjoyed an 11-year NFL career and was inducted into the NEC Hall of Fame as part of its 2010 inaugural class.
 
"We want to thank 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," said RMU Vice President and Director of Athletics Chris King. 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." 
 
"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," said head coach Bernard Clark. "We certainly look forward to renewing old NEC rivalries and competing against familiar opponents as well as embracing the familiarity of the league."
 
Clark, who will enter his seventh season at the Colonials' helm, was voted the 2019 NEC Co-Coach of the Year and was also a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award after leading RMU to a 6-1 NEC record and a second-place finish.
 
RMU spent the 2023 season in the Big South-OVC Football Association and the previous three years (2020-22) as a Big South Conference associate football member.
 
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