Northeastern is considering legal action after head football coach Don Brown resigned his post in mid-February to take the same job at the University of Massachusetts. The move came, NU officials say, even though Brown had recently received a contract extension and a raise, and the university had denied UMass permission to try to recruit him.

Brown, who took his seven assistants with him, replaces UMass head coach Mark Whipple, who left to join the Pittsburgh Steelers. Brown had worked with Whipple at Brown University, then at UMass as his defensive coordinator from 1998 to 1999.

At Northeastern, Brown boosted a previously sluggish Husky squad to an eleventh-place national ranking in 2002, the best in school history. That year, the team won the Atlantic 10 and earned a playoff berth with a 10-3 record. The team’s record last season was 8-4.

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