Former North Shore football legends Jim O'Leary and Mark Cox ran into each other locally last week on the eve of Thanksgiving and discussed their former college football programs.
O'Leary, the Triton football coach who played at Northeastern University, and Cox, a former Amesbury High football standout who played at Hofstra University, didn't talk about their best memories of their playing days. They didn't compare the success of their respective programs in recent seasons. Instead, they talked about budget cuts.
O'Leary's alma mater (Class of 1988), Northeastern, cut its football program on Nov. 23. Cox, who served as an associate athletic director at Hofstra for 13 seasons after graduating from the school in 1992, had a feeling the Hofstra program would be next.
He was right. Yesterday, Hofstra ended a football tradition that lasted 69 years at the school. Similarly, Northeastern will be without football for the first time in 74 years next fall.
The common spin from the athletic departments at both schools has been that the program cuts were necessary for economical reasons. Hofstra President Stuart Rabinowitz said the school will put the $4.5 million spent annually on the team toward scholarships and other priorities. When Northeastern cut its football program, athletic director Peter Roy estimated the cuts would save more than $3 million per school year.
"It was a heartbreaking, sad day for me when I heard the news," said O'Leary, who will likely forever hold the single-season record for rushing yards by a Northeastern quarterback. "I had so much camaraderie with everyone who played there. I took so much pride in going back and telling stories. Once or twice a year, all of the guys would go back and that would be a highlight. We won't have that anymore. It's sad."
Northeastern took criticism following its budget cut because the school recently added $10 million in upgrades to the school's basketball and hockey facilities. However, the football team had far less success than most other Northeastern sports teams in recent years. The football team hasn't posted a winning season since 2003, and this year's record of 3-8 capped a six-year stretch in which the team posted a combined record of 20-47.
"Two years ago, they brought us in for an emergency meeting," O'Leary said. "They said they were having difficulties financing the program, and if we didn't do something quick, the program would be cut. A group of guys worked hard to come up with fundraisers for the program. I was under the impression it was working, but there was that sneak attack after the last game, and that was it."
Both Hofstra and Northeastern competed in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as Division 1-AA) and were members of the Colonial Athletic Association. UMass Amherst is also a member of that conference, but the school's athletic director, John McCutcheon, said yesterday he has no plans of cutting the football program.
Based on his experience working in the athletic office at Hofstra, Cox doesn't believe athletic directors pay enough attention to the impact a football program can have on non-athletes. Cox left Hofstra three years ago to serve as the chief development officer of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Long Island.
"They say these things are economic decisions," Cox said. "To be honest, there are about four (Subdivision) programs in the entire country that make a profit. In my opinion, it's more about the overall experience of going to a school that has a football program. That establishes school spirit, and it becomes a factor for students who don't play sports but are looking for an athletic atmosphere."
Cox said when he was at Hofstra, the school had 63 football scholarships. To remain in compliance with NCAA regulations, Hofstra must now balance its athletic scholarship pool so that the male to female scholarship ratio is representative of the male to female ratio of students at the school.
"Does that mean they have to cut 63 women's scholarships?" Cox said. "I don't know. I know they've always been in compliance, but I'm not sure how they'll handle it since I'm no longer a part of those meetings."
At both Hofstra and Northeastern, all of the football players on scholarship have been told they will keep their scholarships if they remain at the school beyond this year. Cox does not believe that will compensate for the lost experience.
"For me, as an alum, football is what connects me to the school," Cox said. "I got a great education at a business school, and that's what I got my degree in. But the majority of the relationships I formed there were with people on the football team. It's definitely disappointing."
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