UMass helmet

(Daniel Malone | MassLive.com)

Much about the University of Massachusetts football program's situation has changed over the past four-plus years of Football Bowl Subdivision existence.

Both the Minutemen's original FBS coach and their original FBS conference are out of the picture. The original athletic director charged with guiding the program through its transition is gone. A select number of games have been played back on campus at McGuirk Stadium.

One thing that hasn't changed? Questions about the program's future at the FBS level. And though the original three-year authorization for the UMass Faculty Senate's Ad Hoc Committee on FBS Football has run its course, the question is still being broached at senate meetings.

On Thursday, the Faculty Senate will meet in Herter Hall on campus for its second-to-last session of the spring semester. Included on the revised agenda for the meeting is a motion to "urge Chancellor Subbaswamy, President Meehan, and the Board of Trustees of the University to end Division I football (Football Bowl Subdivision) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and either move to a different division or discontinue NCAA football altogether."

Here's a look at the compete wording of the agenda item, which includes many of the same arguments previously cited by the Ad Hoc Committee on rising costs, diminishing returns and the long-term threat of brain-related trauma:

For those who have followed the ongoing Faculty Senate discussions about the future of FBS football at UMass, none of this should come as much of a surprise.

So far, calls for the discontinuation of the program haven't resulted in much. But with the team's independent future more clouded than ever, it's not unreasonable to think this kind of talk will continue to be heard.

It'll be interesting to see if anything new is brought to the table at Thursday's meeting. In the meantime, here's a look back at past coverage of Faculty Senate hearings on UMass football:

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