What a shame

[stuball888]

I was channel surfing when I came upon this on the YES network Delaware was playing Pitt is football. Yes that Pitt that Dan Marino and Tony Dorsett went to. Boy do I miss football at Hofstra.

[The Shadow]

To Stuball888, See my discussion on the Pioneer League on the Presidential Debates Thread. I cannot believe there is no football program at HU for ten years now! What a waste of a beautiful fall Saturday afternoon!

[HUSID74]

To Stuball888, See my discussion on the Pioneer League on the Presidential Debates Thread. I cannot believe there is no football program at HU for about ten years now! What a waste of a beautiful fall Saturday afternoon!

Totally agree! This University is not the same without a football program...cutting it took a piece of my heart!

Having said that, what can we do to get some momentum going for a program revival when the current president ultimately leaves or retires.

[HofstraPride1]

To Stuball888, See my discussion on the Pioneer League on the Presidential Debates Thread. I cannot believe there is no football program at HU for about ten years now! What a waste of a beautiful fall Saturday afternoon!

Totally agree! This University is not the same without a football program...cutting it took a piece of my heart!

Having said that, what can we do to get some momentum going for a program revival when the current president ultimately leaves or retires.

Any insight on when he may retire? He doesn't seem to be slowing down at all despite his age.

[The Shadow]

To HUSID74, stuball888, and all the other followers on the board, There would have to be a concerted effort to organize a large number of alumni and friends, both young and older, from many years. This should be as diverse a group as possible with very large donations. My guess is this money would have to be for quite a few seasons to get the program restarted. Then, of course, is the question of the placement in FCS (the old 1AA), whether CAA or Pioneer League. How this works should be investigated in advance. I do not know if the Pioneer League would be interested in any additions. Some of these colleges HU has had very little dealings with, for example, Drake, Morehead State, and Valparaiso. Of course there is the idea of the great distance between the various colleges such as California,Iowa, and Florida. How these schools feel about HU is a key into possibly gaining entrance. The only other possibility that I can see is a return to the CAA. All of the total costs for scholarships, coaches, equipment, travel, plus more, has to be determined to see if this is really possible for the HU that will be a 2020 and beyond college. Do most of our present students and alumni care about this topic as much as we do? I believe this last football game was in 2009, so much has changed in ten years. HU is just not the same as a college. The view that society has of football has also changed. I am not sure of the answer to these questions. What I am sure of is the dramatic change in what the present HU is now, without a football program, compared to what we fondly recall from past seasons. What do the rest of our board posters think? If there is not enough interest here, then there is probably no chance for this proposed idea to occur.

[HofstraPride1]

To HUSID74, stuball888, and all the other followers on the board, There would have to be a concerted effort to organize a large number of alumni and friends, both young and older, from many years. This should be as diverse a group as possible with very large donations. My guess is this money would have to be for quite a few seasons to get the program restarted. Then, of course, is the question of the placement in FCS (the old 1AA), whether CAA or Pioneer League. How this works should be investigated in advance. I do not know if the Pioneer League would be interested in any additions. Some of these colleges HU has had very little dealings with, for example, Drake, Morehead State, and Valparaiso. Of course there is the idea of the great distance between the various colleges such as California,Iowa, and Florida. How these schools feel about HU is a key into possibly gaining entrance. The only other possibility that I can see is a return to the CAA. All of the total costs for scholarships, coaches, equipment, travel, plus more, has to be determined to see if this is really possible for the HU that will be a 2020 and beyond college. Do most of our present students and alumni care about this topic as much as we do? I believe this last football game was in 2009, so much has changed in ten years. HU is just not the same as a college. The view that society has of football has also changed. I am not sure of the answer to these questions. What I am sure of is the dramatic change in what the present HU is now, without a football program, compared to what we fondly recall from past seasons. What do the rest of our board posters think? If there is not enough interest here, then there is probably no chance for this proposed idea to occur.

What about Patriot League for football? They have reduced scholarships from CAA and all schools in the northeast.

[Cards]

As you guys know, its all about attendance and overall school/community interest. What type of attendance do you need to make it worthwhile?

I check SB website - they had just under 10K attend thier opener. Since then, home games average about 6K. For comparison sake, SB played Utah State earlier this year and US had 22K attend.

Here's another example - I was at the Villanova/Maine game this weekend. It was the homecoming game for VU (and they are 5-0) and drew about 10K. Most other games draw significantly less.

What would HU have to draw to make it work? My guess is that based on the two CAA examples above, the base minimum HU would need for non opener/homecoming needs to be 8-10K and for openers/homecoming we're looking at 12-15K. For all the reasons other posters have already cited, I don't see it happening.

Just checked JMU and they get 20K+ for home games.

[The Shadow]

ToHofstraPride1, I have been told the Patriot League turned down HU for membership years ago. I believe this was before HU joined the CAA with the other AE schools. The CAA formed out of the old Yankee and A10 Football Conferences. Maybe others can fill us in on the more specific history. To Cards, This sounds like marketing for the entire athletic department that we have also discussed many times.

[EvanJ]

I was channel surfing when I came upon this on the YES network Delaware was playing Pitt is football. Yes that Pitt that Dan Marino and Tony Dorsett went to. Boy do I miss football at Hofstra.

It was on YES because it was at an ACC team, not to showcase the CAA. It's the same concept as if Delaware (or us or any mid-major) got Men's Basketball on TV by going to Duke.

The CAA formed out of the old Yankee and A10 Football Conferences. Maybe others can fill us in on the more specific history.

The CAA Football Media Guide has standings from past seasons, but not what it was called then, so I looked at Villanova's Media Guide. The Yankee Conference started in 1947 and had that name for 50 years before it became the A10 in 1997.

[The Shadow]

To EvanJ, Thanks for the research on the Yankee, A10, and CAA football leagues.

[HUSID74]

We used to draw pretty well when we scheduled properly...attendance dwindled significantly when we played Saturday afternoons and not Friday nights. I remember playing Stony Brook on the Friday night of Labor Day weekend and we drew something like 7,000 people. We played UCONN earlier and drew more.

We should use Villanova's return to football after dropping as the template for a return. They did extensive research and smart planning for the program.

We have all the facilities so there is no real cost there.

I would like to start by engaging with a small committee of people REALLY INTERESTED AND COMMITTED TO BRINGIING IT BACK...Perhaps we should start with such high profile guys as our former NFL players; guys like Willie Coon, Lance Shulters, Wayne Chrebet, Marques Colston. I know our new AD has been working on getting them more engaged with Hofstra. Many of them attended a basketball game this winter...once we get this group together it would be prudent to meet with BOT member Randy Levine, the Yankee president to determine how we would need to get this effort off the ground.

[The Shadow]

To HUSID74, Did you see the announcement about Marques Colston on the GoHofstra site today? Also on your NFL list you might add Dave Fiore, Tony Garay, Mike D'Amato, John Schmitt, Stephen Bowen, and Raheem Morris (he should be looked at to be the fist choice for the head coaching job). There may be other NFL players that may be interested and others that were not at the professional level that would be very helpful. I think your idea has merit and should be started before the tenth anniversary of the end of the program this December of 2019. Look, everyone out there on the boards, this might be the best time to start this! Let's all be extremely positive about this effort. The reality is if ever there was a chance for a rebirth, now may just be the best time when this can actually get something started. Ten years is long enough!

[stuball888]

More NFL alumns did you guys forget Gio Carmazzi, kareem Huggins, kyle Arrington, Devale Ellis and Charlie Adams the list probably has a few more

[The Shadow]

To stuball888, Thanks for the additional names of the HU NFL players. This should be a good starting point for the committee. Ten years is long enough!

[HUSID74]

Shadow, did look at the Colston announcement that you referenced. Only can help with restarting the vibe for returning a football team to campus. And once again, I would start by reaching out to all those high profile former NFLers...what school our size can boast such a large group of former NFL players...they could and should be the catalyst for getting this done...can you image a press conference with all of them in attendance announcing and effort to rekindle the FLAME!

[The Shadow]

To HUSID74, I would love for that press conference to occur! Do you have any ideas how to go about starting up this distinguished football committee? The phrases: 1)Ten years is long enough! or 2) Hofstra, First and ten, again! could be the used. There are probably better catch phrases, but those could be a start. Good luck to all in this great challenge.

[HofstraPride1]

ToHofstraPride1, I have been told the Patriot League turned down HU for membership years ago. I believe this was before HU joined the CAA with the other AE schools. The CAA formed out of the old Yankee and A10 Football Conferences. Maybe others can fill us in on the more specific history. To Cards, This sounds like marketing for the entire athletic department that we have also discussed many times.

This would only be for football though, not full membership. If they took Towson as an associate member for football in early 2000s no reason they would't take us.

[HofstraPride1]

ToHofstraPride1, I have been told the Patriot League turned down HU for membership years ago. I believe this was before HU joined the CAA with the other AE schools. The CAA formed out of the old Yankee and A10 Football Conferences. Maybe others can fill us in on the more specific history. To Cards, This sounds like marketing for the entire athletic department that we have also discussed many times.

This would only be for football though, not full membership. If they took Towson as an associate member for football in early 2000s I see no reason they would't take us. If nothing else is worth exploring.

[HUSID74]

ToHofstraPride1, I have been told the Patriot League turned down HU for membership years ago. I believe this was before HU joined the CAA with the other AE schools. The CAA formed out of the old Yankee and A10 Football Conferences. Maybe others can fill us in on the more specific history. To Cards, This sounds like marketing for the entire athletic department that we have also discussed many times.

This would only be for football though, not full membership. If they took Towson as an associate member for football in early 2000s I see no reason they would't take us. If nothing else is worth exploring.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves here...the least of our worries is conference affiliation...that's a LONG way off!

I see the first step would be to develop a carefully crafted letter seeking the interest and support of the NFL alumni along with a select group of influential alums who support football...the key would be to identify those individuals.

If there was interest the next step would be a meeting to discuss what needed to be done to get the plan in motion...this will take money, time and a great deal of hard work.

[HofstraPride1]

Agreed that conference affiliation is jumping ahead a bit, but I would like our odds a lot more for a resurrection if it involved a northeast-based conference with reduced scholarships.