First full day as a collector's item.11:07 am
Walk into the University Club. The last time I was here for a press conference, I believe, was in April 1994, when Hofstra announced it was joining the North Atlantic Conference and hiring Jay Wright as its men’s basketball coach. That was a joyous, festive day in which the room was filled by balloons, buffets, people, flashbulbs and applause.
The only similarity between then and now is Carl Reuter, a regular presence on the SportsChannel football broadcasts in the 1990s. He is the first person I see as I enter the room.
There are more University people dressed in suits and ties than reporters, no surprise considering the press conference was called on 90 minutes notice. Nobody is smiling and nobody is applauding, least of all Jack Hayes and Stuart Rabinowitz, who strike suitably somber poses at the front of the room.
Marilyn Monter, the chair of the Board of Trustees, makes opening remarks and Rabinowitz steps to the podium. “This was an incredibly difficult decision, a painful decision for me and for the Board of Trustees,” Rabinowitz says. “We are all aware of the long tradition of Hofstra football…there is no joy in this whatsoever. There’s a lot of pain in it. But nonetheless, we were all absolutely certain that this is the right decision for Hofstra.”
Rabinowitz says Hofstra is not cutting its budget as a result of the dissolution of the football team, that the money used to fund the program will be used for need-based academic scholarships. He says Hofstra is not in economic trouble, that the school just received an “A” credit rating from Standard and Poor’s and that hundreds of millions of dollars have been committed to new buildings and programs, including the medical school scheduled to open in 2011.
“That said no institution can afford to do everything, no matter what the return is,” Rabinowitz says. “And what we decided, in this situation, was under a normal cost-effective analysis, it didn’t make sense for a football program.”
Rabinowitz says playing at Division I-AA—where media attention is minimal and the ability to turn a profit almost non-existent—cannot yield Hofstra the benefits it expects from its athletic programs.
“Three of the last four years, Appalachian State was the champion,” Rabinowitz says. “Last year, Richmond was the champion, I don’t know if too many people will remember that because of the lack of national coverage. In a sense, this subdivision of football is like football purgatory. It’s like you need to spend a lot of money to be competitive, but there are none of the benefits that a robust athletic program produces.”
Rabinowitz says the University has not come anywhere close to making back the $4.5 million it spends annually on the football program. The football endowment, after 69 years, is around $400,000. Only 500 students attend games, a figure he says includes cheerleaders, dance team and pep band members. The season ticket base for football is 172. In basketball, he adds, it is 750.
“So people have voted on this, in terms of their financial support and their attendance for it,” Rabinowitz says.
In bringing his opening remarks to a close, Rabinowitz speaks of how the decision to drop football will allow the University to open its door to students who otherwise might not be able to attend Hofstra. “We are just sad every time I hear a good student say ‘I really want to go to Hofstra, it’s my first choice but I can’t afford it,” Rabinowitz says. “‘My parents can’t afford it’ or ‘I can’t afford it.’ Or students who are here and have done well who say ‘I can’t stay here and graduate.’
“We need Hofstra University to really keep good students.”
Rabinowitz steps away and Hayes walks to the podium. At 9 a.m., he says, he informed coach Dave Cohen of the decision, after which a meeting of the football players was quickly convened. About 60 team members showed up to hear the news.
“As you can imagine, it was an emotional conversation for them,” Hayes says. “Very difficult.”
As Northeastern is doing, Hofstra will honor the scholarship of any player who chooses to finish his degree and will assist anyone who wants to transfer. Hayes says the athletic department will also help coaches—many of whom were on the road recruiting when the decision was made—land jobs elsewhere.
Hayes finishes his comments and the floor is opened to questions. Reuter asks Hayes if Hofstra would have dropped football if the Flying Dutchmen made the playoffs and Northeastern hadn’t gotten rid of football 10 days earlier. Rabinowitz fields the question and says the decision was reached at the end of a two-year process.
“Had absolutely nothing to do with Northeastern,” Rabinowitz says. “We were well on the way, almost done, by the time [Northeastern] was done. So yes. We would still be standing here if [the Dutchmen made the playoffs].”
Rabinowitz is asked if the school considered dropping down to the non-scholarship football level and perhaps participating in the Pioneer Football League. He says he wants Hofstra to be in the Final Four in basketball—“George Mason should have been us”—as well as lacrosse and soccer and other sports.
“We want to play at the highest level in every single sport that we’re investing in,” he says, and adds that playing in the Pioneer—a geographically far-flung league with no natural rivals and no chance to win a national championship—wouldn’t have been fulfilling for the school.
“My first choice was to perhaps look into whether we could go Division I-A,” Rabinowitz says. “And a little bit of research proves that just wasn’t feasible. You have to guarantee 15,000 per game paid attendance. You have to expand the stadium. You’d have to increase our scholarships by about 15 percent. And most of all, you have to be in a I-A football conference, and no one was inviting us.
“So the decision was simple: If you can’t be at the highest level of a certain kind of athletic competition, then we shouldn’t be there at all. And that was our decision.”
Hayes is asked if Hofstra will next look to leave the CAA in all sports. He says the school is committed to “grow[ing] more competitive in the Colonial Athletic Association.”
Rabinowitz says there are no plans to eliminate any other sports at Hofstra. Shortly thereafter, he takes mild umbrage when asked about the boost in publicity Hofstra got from so many football alums appearing on national television in the NFL every Sunday and Monday.
“I am not criticizing anything that’s been emphasized in the past,” Rabinowitz says. “All I can say is we have come a very long way…I think we’re so proud of Marques and Wayne Chrebet and all those people and all they did for us. But when you hear those names, what I hear, whether it’s explicit or not explicit, is ‘Wow, isn’t that shocking. Little Hofstra, these players made the NFL.’ Well, we’re not little Hofstra anymore.”
Rabinowitz speaks of how he hopes Hofstra becomes the lacrosse capital of the Northeast, how he’ll discuss the decision to eliminate football with any unhappy football alum and how Hofstra will still have a Homecoming despite a lack of a football team. Finally, a public relations official calls for one more question, and Rabinowitz is asked if at any point in the two-year process he began to believe a day like today would be the outcome.
“We were examining so many options, so many different needs, and this decision was not certain until last night,” Rabinowitz said. “That’s another reason we didn’t tell anybody or leak. We didn’t know how it would come out. We truly did not know how it would come out. We looked at every single combination and every single alternative. So it was a very long process.
“You may disagree with some of it. But it is hard to say we didn’t spend the time on it.”
With that, Rabinowitz and Hayes exit the room. The reporters and guests begin filing out as well. Those walking out of the University Club pass by a table that has several men’s basketball posters.
***
1:24 pm
Mike Francesa is talking about Hofstra sports for the second straight day.
“Sad to see Hofstra drop football,” he says.
Hofstra remains one of the top stories on the 20/20 updates, with the words “Citing high costs, Hofstra to drop football after 69 years” appearing on the right hand side of the YES Network screen.
***
2:20 pm
A WCBS anchorman reads the weather forecast for Long Island. “And in Hempstead, where there will be no more Hofstra football…”
***
2:45 pm
Wayne Chrebet is interviewed on WCBS.
“I heard whispers when the new president came in a couple years back,” Chrebet says “There’s really nothing we could do about it and what they were thinking about. We never really thought they’d drop the program.”
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