 ETSU continued playing intercollegiate athletics in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) until 1972, when it moved to Division II in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).The football team remained the most popular squad on campus, and while not as dominant as they had been during the "Golden Fifties", they often competed for Lone Star Conference (LSC) championships during the 1960s and 1970s.Durwood Merrill, who played for the football team while it still competed in the NAIA, recalls that the Lions were regularly ranked in the top ten in the country and claims that they "could have beaten some of the Southwest Conference teams".