The University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML) football program will be eliminated before the 2003-04 due to recent budget cuts announced by Governor Mitt Romney.

The football team competes in Division II of the NCAA. Dana Skinner, UML’s athletic director, says that cuts were going to be made and unfortunately the ax fell on the football program.

“Eliminating the football program was the only choice we could make without totally dismantling a large number of other sports programs,” Skinner was quoted as saying in a recent Boston Globe article.

UML does not offer scholarships to its football players. The athletic director says that the university will now concentrate on helping those football players that want to transfer do so.

The River Hawks have faced some tough times in recent years. Last season, the team went 3-8, and the year before it had an even worse record of 1-9. The fate of head coach Wally Dembrowski is as of yet undetermined. It is possible that he will assume some other role within the UML athletic department.