YPSILANTI -- Athletics spending at Eastern Michigan has long been a controversial topic at the university, with debate often centered around the football team.

With EMU cutting its softball, wrestling, women's tennis and men's swimming and diving programs on Tuesday in a move to save the department about $2.4 million, football was once again a primary topic of discussion.

Should EMU have looked to cut football, which has had poor attendance and one winning season since 1995, instead?

Director of Athletics Scott Wetherbee had a blunt response.

"Football is not being cut," Wetherbee said in a news conference inside the Convocation Center. "No. 1, because I had a directive from our board of regents and the president, and we all agree we want to stay in the Mid-American Conference and we want to be a FBS Division I football team.

"It wasn't even an option to look at that."

Division I FBS requires schools to sponsor a minimum of 16 sports, and the MAC requires member universities to sponsor football, men's basketball, women's basketball and volleyball.

Eliminating any of those sports would force EMU, which previously led the MAC with 21 sports before Tuesday's cuts, to leave the conference or drop to Division II. Wetherbee said the university has no interest in either of those options.

"The MAC gives us close to $2 million (for participation)," he said. "It is a drivable conference. If we drop, our NCAA money we get, the MAC money we get, you are talking millions of dollars by dropping that. It would actually hurt us by doing that, and what conference are we going to go to?

"If you are going to drop down to Division II, is that the reputation we want? We compare ourselves to a Western Michigan, a Central Michigan, a Toledo and Bowling Green. Do we want to all of a sudden compare ourselves to Oakland (Division I), Saginaw Valley or Grand Valley? Those are obviously questions the president and the board said no, we don't."

Faculty and students have called for EMU to drop to Division II football or cut the program all together in the past. Howard Bunsis, accounting professor and treasurer of the EMU-AAUP, suggested to the board in April 2016 that the university consider making the shift.

According to 2015 NCAA financial disclosure forms, EMU subsidized 80 percent of its athletics budget, or around $27 million of the $33.9 million it spent in 2014-15 -- the highest percentage of any school in the MAC.

That same year, the football program received the largest amount of institutional funds at $3.88 million. The next highest were men's basketball ($1.5 million) and women's basketball ($1.4 million).

The football program also had the highest expenses in coaches' salaries, team travel, recruiting and equipment. It also had the highest scholarship equivalency with 78.03.

Contrarily, the program also generated the most revenue, mainly through guarantees and tickets sales.

Wetherbee said numbers on the NCAA reports can sometimes be misleading.

"I think they (people, including faculty and students) feel like football spends all the money and they are a huge strain on us," he said. "If we eliminate football, we will eliminate a lot more sports.

"When I look at our expenses, I have $4.1 million in coaches' salaries and operational expenses this year (for football)," he continued, although financial data is not yet available. "I had $2.8 million in scholarships, so $6.9 million is what the football program cost."

Wetherbee said the athletic department generated more than $5 million for the football program this year, not including donations.

"They are not a black hole," he said of the football team. "They are helping us. They help our basketball program, they help our rowing program. They help all the others. Our university can benefit from this. I have been trying to preach on the fact that let's look at the real numbers. Let's not look off some NCAA form that was sent out. That's not real. What I stare at every day is real."

Wetherbee also noted if the university cut football, it would lose tuition dollars from the estimated 30 walk-ons on the roster.

Considering EMU eliminated 42 open positions and laid off an additional 17 people on March 8 because its student credit hour projections for the 2017-18 school year are down, Wetherbee said those walk-ons are vital for tuition revenue.

EMU President James Smith said the university is facing a budget deficit between $4.5 million to $5.5 million for the 2018 fiscal year.

"(If football is cut) then we are eliminating 85 scholarships, plus the other 30-35 walk-ons. We are eliminating more student credit hours on this campus than I did just now. (Then) you don't have a marching band that pays to go to school here. You don't have cheerleaders and dancers out there.

"There is more to it than just lop off the football program because a coach makes a lot of money. There is certainly a lot more to it."