[Libertine]

http://www.spc.edu/Include/Athletics/06 ... ball03.pdf

The non-schollie Peacocks from the MAAC are dropping football effective July 1st. This doesn't really affect LU directly, but I thought it might be of some interest since St. Pete was on the schedule for St. Francis this fall. There's also some potential fallout from the demise of the MAAC for the NEC which might somehow affect the Big South.

Saint Peter’s College Announces
It Will No Longer Sponsor Football
JERSEY CITY, NJ (June 14, 2007) – Saint Peter’s College Director of Athletics Bill Stein has announced that Saint
Peter’s College will no longer sponsor football as an intercollegiate sport as of July 1, 2007. The announcement comes after
months of deliberation.
“We feel that at this time with the demise of the MAAC Football League and recruiting difficulties that we are having, that
it is time to no longer sponsor a football program,” said Stein. “I have a responsibility for the health, safety and well being of
our student-athletes.”

[LU'sbestmanager]

i have a lot of friends that go to stony brook and they said that they will not have a team. i don't know how true that is, but i have 2 friends on the team that i will ask

[Sly Fox]

Hold on manger, you're saying you heard Stony Brook might be dropping football? If find that VERY hard to believe.

I'm curious how this goes down as well, Lib. Do you think Albany comes back into the picture for us if any other MAAC schools bite the dust?

[Libertine]

Along with Duquesne heading to the NEC drops the MAAC to 3 -- count 'em, 3 -- teams in '08, Marist, LaSalle and Iona. My belief is that Marist will also go to the NEC and that LaSalle will drop football entirely, while Iona could go either way. This would bring the NEC to 8-9 teams, not all of whom are going to be as committed to scholarship football as Albany.

I'll just say this about Albany. It doesn't matter what the Danes said or continue to say this year about joining the Big South. It matters next year.

[bigsmooth]

why do you think lasalle drops football? i agree with sly, i do not see stonybrook dropping football at this point.

[Libertine]

It's a personal assessment about what I hear. LaSalle has been described as being on rather shaky ground w/ regard to football for a while now. The departure of coach Phil Longo after the '05 season was rather odd timing and his replacement, Tim Miller, was hired from within the program. Generally, that suggests that the AD isn't spending money. The MAAC has been hanging on by a thread w/ 5 teams but losing 2 of them is pretty much the death knell for the conference. Those teams have to go somewhere. The NEC is trying to move toward schollie ball and the Patriot gives "need-based" grants so a program that's trying not to spend money won't fit there. The only other option would be the Pioneer but a look at LaSalle's current schedule suggests that travel costs may be a big concern for them. The only alternative left is drop it entirely.