Hofstra Football gets the Ax

To some it was out of nowhere, others may have seen this coming from miles away. In a move to clear up financial space for academic projects and need-based financial aid, Hofstra University put the ax to its 72-year-old football program Thursday December 3.

"This has been a two-year process, and has nothing to do with the win-loss record," said Hofstra president Stuart Rabinowitz.

The Pride went 5-6 in its final season, including a 52-38 victory against CAA foe UMass at James Shuart Stadium. That game on November 21 would be the Pride's last.

Hofstra followed the lead of Northeastern University, a fellow CAA institution that cut its team after 74 years of competition.

Hofstra will now have $2.8 million in annual scholarship dollars that will be available for students via grants and academic awards.

Personally, it was a move I suggested the school make years ago. Without a track & field team, I figured cutting a team that year-in and year-out operated in debt would free up some money to go into the budgets of other teams. I thought it would allocate more money for sports such as wrestling, lacrosse and softball, teams that are already ranked nationally. I figured if the sport that cost the most money was cut, other teams could have a greater opportunity to flourish with more scholarship dollars. Rabinowitz is talking about academics and all that stuff, which this move will benefit, but anyone who thinks the other intercollegiate athletics at Hofstra won't get more money from this in the long run is blind.

Just you wait. I realize it won't happen overnight, but Hofstra men's and women's lacrosse, soccer, softball and wrestling will benefit from this. They're gonna get better.

I used to talk about it extensively with my former coach, who agreed with me but insisted that Hofstra would never consider cutting its football program, citing the boosters and donors that pumped money into a fledgling program. After revenue was accounted for, Hofstra University expended a net of $4.5 million dollars in the 2008-09 season. In its entirety, Hofstra football has an endowment of $400 thousand. Do that math. That's a big gap.

While Hofstra has produced NFL stars such as Wayne Chrebet, Marques Colston, and Willie Colon, it will no longer be able to do so. President Rabinowitz referred to the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) as like "football pergatory," citing how not too many people remember that Appalachian State and Richmond recently won the FCS playoff. He's right. The FCS is great. It's good, legitimate college football. Hell, it even has a PLAYOFF. But it doesn't pay what it pays to go to the Rose Bowl or even the Meineke Car Care Bowl. Schools want payouts and at the end of the day Hofstra football simply wasn't paying out.

In the FCS you have to be competitive or put butts in the seats and unfortunately Hofstra did neither. My roommate from Hofstra said that a lot of people around campus were upset but then added, "Where were those people during the games?" In a stadium that can hold north of 10,000, Hofstra averaged a measely 400 students at its games and that's including the cheerleaders, pep band and dance team. Free students tickets to a school that has a student enrollment of roughly 12,500 and only a handful show up? That's not gonna get it done.

It's certainly upsetting for the players and coaches. Should they stay at Hofstra, their scholarships will be honored in their entirety. Head coach Dave Cohen's contract will be paid through next year unless he finds another coaching job elsewhere. Players who decide to transfer will be allowed to play immediately. It's as fair as it can be in a big mess of unfairness. But that's the way collegiate athletics work. Schools, regardless of what anyone says, are businesses. Sure they want to teach kids and let them play sports, but money is a big driving factor in everything that goes on behind closed doors.

I looked at it optimistically as benefiting Hofstra as a whole. A buddy of mine who goes to Penn State didn't see how I could be happy about this. "That's because you go to Penn State," I said.

It's different at smaller schools where football isn't a religion. Student and booster interest interlaced with hefty bowl game payouts makes for a different football landscape. May it rest in peace because Hofstra football will be missed, but I'm not crying over it.