(Cross-posted from The Free Speech Zone)
Hofstra University, which has fielded a football team for the past 69 years, is dropping the sport.
The school said it cut the program because of costs and fading interest and will use the $4.5 million spent annually on the team on scholarships and other priorities.
The board of trustees voted unanimously Wednesday night to shut the program, which had been in existence since the Long Island school’s founding in 1937. The coaching staff was told Thursday morning, sources told ESPN.com.
Hofstra, which has competed in the NCAA’s Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-AA) since 1991, is the second member of the Colonial Athletic Association to drop its football program in the past 10 days. Northeastern University, in Boston, announced Nov. 23 it was dropping its program after 74 seasons.
“The cost of the football program, now and in the future, far exceeds the return possible,” Hofstra president Stuart Rabinowitz said Thursday. He added that despite Hofstra having sent several players to the NFL, the program does not attract enough national attention.
“Given that, along with the low level of interest, financial support and attendance among our students, our alumni and the community, the choice was painful, but clear.”
Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris, who played at Hofstra from 1994-97, called the move a “sad state of affairs.”
“It was weird because it kind of happened out of nowhere,” he said.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/…
No, sadly, it didn’t just “happen out of nowhere” and we’re all holding our fucking breaths that the money is gonna be used on academics. In fact, why do we need more money for academics? What the fuck are you spending our tuition on?!?!
