Framingham State fires football coach

Citing a goal to restore its football program to a competitive level, Framingham State College has not renewed the contract of head coach Mark Sullivan, who totaled four victories in five seasons at the helm of the Division 3 program.

The Rams finished 1-8 this season in the New England Football Conference, losing Saturday's finale to Coast Guard, 42-21.

"No one worked harder than Mark Sullivan, he put his heart and soul into the program," said Framingham State athletic director Tom Kelley. "This wasn't an easy decision for him or us. But we felt as an institution that the program wasn't moving as quickly ahead as we would like. It was time to go in a different direction."

Kelley said the college will make a new hire "very quickly, within a week. We can't fall any further behind in recruiting. We need to return to our roots and attract student-athletes from the MetroWest area."

FSC has not posted a winning season since 1986 (6-4).