Shocking News: Hofstra Drops Football!
This is a very, very surprising development, one that may have a big effect on Columbia recruiting and the rest of the Ivies.
As someone who lives five minutes from the Hofstra campus, I am stunned.
**UPDATE**
I think the obvious immediate beneficiary for all of this will be Stony Brook University, a similar school on Long Island which recently went to scholarship football and is located 45 minutes from Hofstra. Stony Brook should see some more fan and media interest next season and perhaps a load of transfers.
Speaking of transfers, I've combed through the Hofstra roster and there appear to be several Ivy-eligible players including some national honor society members. I don't want to break any NCAA rules regarding recruiting, so you can go through the roster yourself if you like.
Usually, it is highly illegal for schools to approach potential transfer players at other schools. But I believe when their football programs are killed that rule does not apply.
So here's hoping the OFFICIAL COACHES AND REPRESENTATIVES of Columbia University football, (don't get any ideas if you're just a fan or an alum, please), will do what they can to legally and fairly grab an impact player or two from Hofstra.
Hofstra Football Program To End
BY LUKE FUNK
MYFOXNY.COM - Hofstra University is going to end its football program.
The school is citing high costs and low interest from the college community.
University president Stuart Rabinowitz says "the choice was painful but clear."
The program has turned out several NFL players, most notably 10-year New York Jet Wayne Chrebet and current New Orleans Saint Marques Colston.
The Pride ended the 2009 season with a 5-6 record. Head coach Dave Cohen has lead the team for four years.
Hofstra played at the Division I-AA level, a lower division from big football programs that compete in BCS bowl games.
The school is a member of the Colonial Athletic Association, which is more known as a basketball dominated conference.
Last week, another CAA school, Northeastern University in Boston dropped football after 74 years.
posted by Jake @ 11:28:00 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
We should take an immediate look at potential transfers.
Is Stony Brook next? Are our coaches checking out possible transfer candidates? PS, Bucknell took Corneel into OT last night.
Given its proximity to the Hofstra campus, Columbia is obviously the most logical place for any smart student athlete on the Hofstra football team to look to transfer.
No, Stony Brook is hardly "next." In fact, they recently moved to offering scholarships for football, as Hofstra has long done.
I also suspect there's a bit more to the situation at Hofstra. After all, they drew almost 4300 fans to a 15,000 seat stadium per home game. Those kinds of numbers are hard to achieve for most any Ivy school lately save at homecoming games.
The Hofstra administration specifically cited the cost of the football program as $4.5 million. Which makes me wonder if they then simply decided that football-generated giving, both by football supporters and by former players, would never generate enough comparable revenue. Thus they lopped off a program which they felt didn't generate enough "brand loyalty" in terms of financial support to the university in general. It's a moot point now at both Northeastern and Hofstra, but to accept (from notoriously forked-tongued college administrators at that!) that football had simply become "too expensive" is perhaps to put too much faith in official pronouncements than may be warranted.
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