We spoke tonight with Hofstra wide receivers coach and former star wide receiver Kahmal Roy, who is the only member of the staff to have played football at Hofstra. Here are his thoughts on today’s announcement:
Like most people involved, I was just shocked about it, you know? It was news to us. I actually just came out of a school for recruiting and I got a phone call letting us know what was going on. So I was pretty shocked about it and it hit me pretty hard.
On if he thought this was a possibility:
I can only speak for myself, how I felt about the state of affairs of the program. That was not a thought that came into my head—ever. It was more of just trying to figure out ways to get this program back to the prominent status that it once had and figure out how to get these kids to win. And that was, from my point of view, the only concern that I had, was to make sure that we kind of returned Hofstra back to the state that it was in around the time that I played and a bit before that, where we were a regular playoff team and competing well and won conference championships and things of that nature.
I just feel terrible for our players. A couple players called me crying and I was kind of at a loss, because being an alumni and all that, I was kind of dealing with it all myself on a different level. It’s tough on the kids and it’s tough on those guys. Some of those guys can hide their feelings and some are open books about how they feel. So it was just tough.
On the range of emotions he is feeling:
It’s still just kind of—I just feel strongly about the situation on a lot of different levels. That’s all I can really say about it. My main focus right now is just to make sure those kids are being put in the right situation. This is tough for them now. So we’ve got to make sure we finish our jobs as coaches, to make sure that we mentor them and put them in the right situation to be successful. That’s my main focus and the main focus of the staff right now, to make sure that something good comes out of it for the kids. They’re the most important thing. Coaching is overrated. The players are what make the program and we’ve got to make sure that they’re put in a good situation.
On if his thoughts today ever drifted back to his playing days:
I think about that everyday man [laughs]. That’s something that I always wanted those kids to experience. And I’ve always talked to certain kids about it to just even for a small second, [to] just visualize those types of feelings that we experienced when we played and try to reach for that goal. It’s something that, when you experience that, you want other people that you’re involved with to experience it, too, because it’s a great feeling. So I always think about that. All the time. Every time I’m sitting down to game plan for a team or doing the drills or just watching those kids run around in practice or in a game, I always get that feeling of being out there and doing it like we did.
On trying to get back from Florida during the day:
They told us to come back. I was in the process of trying to get my flight changed. World’s crazy monetarily--$400 for a flight, $100 change fee and then the price of the flight was crazy. Still in my hotel room now. I’ve been on the phone with the airline I used to fly.
Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.
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