Overall, the team averaged only 4, fans per game. This despite the fact that the program has produced a bunch of NFL players, including four currently playing in the league, headlined by New Orleans starting wide receiver Marques Colston. In addition, football is an extremely expensive sport to operate at the college level. Rabinowitz and Hofstra's board of trustees probably did the right thing for the school in the long term.
But they did a wrong thing to the 84 student-athletes who were ambushed with that news that morning. The football players on scholarship were told they can keep their scholarships if they remain at the school. And if players transfer, they won't have to sit out a year, which players normally must do under NCAA rules. That's nice and all. But what about Williams, who chose Hofstra over several other similar schools primarily because of the opportunity to play football there?
What about the guys like him? At the least, Hofstra's players should have learned their fate sooner than Dec. Better yet, maybe they could have been given one more season? It will spend that money in other areas of the university. I do understand the human side of it, but the reality is a lot of those people would make a move right away.
But what about the kids who wouldn't? Or couldn't? One more season would have given them a chance to savor one of the most memorable and meaningful experiences of their lives. One more season would have let them run off the field after the final game of the year and know it was the final game. The past two weeks, since the hammer came down, Hofstra's football players have been scrambling.
Many already have received interest from other schools -- some even have accepted offers to transfer. But then there are the players like Williams -- players who weren't highly recruited and don't have a lot of other options.
On top of writing term papers and studying for finals, Williams has been sending out his highlight video everywhere, calling coaches all over the country and scouring team rosters on the Internet, trying to find any potential opening where he could conceivably be a candidate. But no solid offers have come his way as of yet.
Williams has two years of athletic eligibility remaining. If another school does give him an opportunity, he'll face a very difficult decision.
He's made some great friends at Hofstra outside of the football team. And he had his course of study worked out -- he's a political science major with a history minor. But he has heard that a significant chunk of his credits may not be accepted at some other schools he might transfer to.
You can reach him at kieran. Skip to main content Skip to navigation. Darcy: Foul play at Hofstra. Hofstra Pride. Jon Camera from the class of also spoke. So we see that this fight Is far from over. We may never get all the answers either, but this is another story that we will "Dig Deeper" Into.
All three could still have promising careers at the next level. But they won't be known for having played In Hempstead, but rather for having transferred somewhere else. I also feel for Coach Dave Cohen.
There are a few quality men in this business, but few could be thought of as your second or only Father. Dave Cohen Is that man. If I had ever gotten to play college football, I'd have wanted my coach to be like Cohen.
Enjoy our content? Join our newsletter to get the latest in sports news delivered straight to your inbox! Your sports. Sadly, neither Cohen nor any of the players he coached this season at Hofstra will get that chance.
Last year marked the bottom of a steady decline in attendance, with an average of just 3, coming to cheer on the Pride. That was a drop from averages of 4, per game one year prior, 5, in , and 5, in And, since I personally trust no exclusive group when power and money are involved, I have my own conspiracy theory, that perhaps the CAA might have worked out a backdoor deal with both Hofstra and Northeastern University, which dropped its year-old football program just ten days earlier, on November 23rd.
Consider the circumstances: Northeastern just completed its sixth consecutive losing season; the Huskies and Pride again ranked as the bottom two in CAA attendance for the third time in as many years, ever since the CAA took over the Atlantic 10 operation in ; the CAA has its league offices based in Virginia; and, southern schools Old Dominion and Georgia State each, CAA basketball schools will be joining the conference over the next two years.
Northeastern, you can fund your other programs, and Hofstra, you can build your med school and fund whatever else you like, while we keep CAA Football primarily down south. I realize that could all be extremely far-fetched. Terence Thomas, of College Sporting News, who covers the entire CAA football conference very closely, was a guest on The FRO Show hours after the official word came down about the canceling of Hofstra football, and he seemed to back me up on my Oliver Stone-like thoughts about the CAA and its willingness to sp easily lose its biggest market in New York.
Ultimately, Rabinowitz cited the high cost and low interest as primary reasons for the sudden and abrupt canceling of Hofstra football.
And, it could hardly be something that Hofstra athletic director Jack Hayes argued for vehemently. And certainly, there was a severe lack of any earnest attempt to put out an effective marketing effort in order to increase attendance and fan interest enough to save Hofstra football. As Thomas pointed out, that type of pledge from Hofstra to its football program existed marginally at best.
You had JMU up at Hofstra, which should have been a sold out game. I mean, I admit the weather was poor that day and there may have been other things going on in New York, and New York is a hard sell, but then you have to be that much more aggressive to get people to come out to your games.
Instead, Rabinowitz and the Hofstra administration basically sat idly by and watched a more than seven-decade-old program quietly die behind a secretive two-year study. I owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to the university, my coaches and my former teammates and I am sure that they share in my disappointment.
Bill Chachkes, the managing partner of F. I had heard at least rumblings… Hofstra was more of a surprise because although there were issues in terms of drawing crowds, the product seemed to be solidified. The kinds of kids they were getting, the level of play seemed to be on the upswing. That seems to be almost disconnected from their other issues. Rabinowitz and some of the spineless board members who voted in step with what the president wanted regarding Hofstra football claimed that the football program had to go because of its cost relative to the financial return brought in by the program.
Low interest in football? Really… No disrespect to the great student athletes and coaches who play or coach the following sports and I sincerely hope that none of them are the next to go at Hofstra , but who exactly is stepping over themselves to buy tickets to see Hofstra baseball, tennis, golf, cross country, or field hockey?
In fact most Football Bowl Subdivision programs, and even most college athletic programs in general, lose money. So, why do they continue to exist? We got a couple of guys in the pros. Hofstra got to be a well-known school. Perhaps the biggest reason though, why that position was egregiously insincere was that many of the same Hofstra board members who voted Hofstra football out based on financial reasons, previously irresponsibly voted to approve expensive football facilities upgrades before the football program was truly ready for them.
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