Former Iona President faces Child Sex Abuse Allegations

[GaelsFootball]

Here's an update on the man who single handily killed football at Iona.


http://www.lohud.com/article/20120721/NEWS/307210045/James-Liguori-resigns-Fordham-amid-sex-abuse-allegations?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CNews

[Bogus Megapardus]

Time to bring back Iona football? Start out as a PFL team and renew the rivalry with Marist.

[GaelsFootball]

We've already formed a well-organized group which has conducted various studies for the college. Our plan has been submitted to the college and the new administration. The difference this time is that our alumni from the 1960s, 70s and beyond are fully engaged in the effort. The college is reviewing our initial pitch and we are hoping to have a conference with the board of trustees at the end of this month.

[Bogus Megapardus]

We've already formed a well-organized group which has conducted various studies for the college. Our plan has been submitted to the college and the new administration. The difference this time is that our alumni from the 1960s, 70s and beyond are fully engaged in the effort. The college is reviewing our initial pitch and we are hoping to have a conference with the board of trustees at the end of this month.

xthumbsupx

This is excellent news! Keep up the good fight.

[slycat]

Hope to see Iona bring back football. Good luck with y'alls efforts.

[Bogus Megapardus]

GaelsFootball - could you fill us in on how Br. Liguori was responsible for destroying football at Iona? Other than pure economic realities, what was his motivation for doing so?

Iona doesn't have a deep football history, but the Gaels played consistently and competitively since 1965 and they counted Fordham, Maine, Georgetown, Duquesne, Columbia, UNH and Villanova among their opponents. Iona had a winning record against arch-rival Marist.

Is there a realistic possibility of bringing back football to Mazzella Field?

[Bogus Megapardus]

In reading the article, it appears as if the claim against Br. Liguori, stemming from a single alleged incident 42 years ago, was entirely unsubstantiated. Br. Liguori otherwise has had 53 years of dedicated service to the Christian Brothers.

I would imagine that Br. Liguori's (perhaps innocent?) failure to reveal the decades-old accusation to his Fordham interviewers - even though the accusation seems to have been baseless - led to his swift dismissal.

Penn State - methinks there is a double standard fettering about amongst the BCS elite.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Iona's discontinuation of football stemmed more than anything else from the death of the MAAC, if memory serves me right. They even tried to make it work as an independent for a year before deciding that they couldn't do it anymore. If Fr. Ligouri was dying to kill football, he probably would have done it when St. Peter's and LaSalle did.

If St. Peter's, LaSalle, and Fairfield had held onto non-scholarship football, you have to wonder what might have been. The MAAC might have been able to ride into the possibility of the FCS playoffs on the PFL's coattails, and Georgetown would have had a compelling alternative option when the PL went scholarship. I suppose that the PL should thank these teams for discontinuing football, since it puts them in a much better situation with Georgetown.

[GaelsFootball]

LFN is correct. I was a member of the team for the final four seasons. While Iona will never admit this, when the MAAC folded after 2007 they wanted to drop the program. The reason why they didn't was because we were coming off of a 7-4 season; so the theory they used when we dropped in 2008 that there was "not a level competitive playing field" would not be valid. So they put an extremely extremely young team through a last minute independent schedule; fully knowing our roster would struggle against our schedule (3 full scholys in four weeks).

Some details the outside don't know about. The Monday after our homecoming victory in front of a large crowd (for Iona standards about 3-4k I believe); Ligouri did an interview with our school newspaper The Ionian and discussed how we were basically on the chopping block of being cut and are being "evaluated". Try keeping a young team focused on practice when everyone at the school is talking about this MID SEASON! Also, after it happened my position coach admitted to us that during the summer of 2008, before our final season, a drunk employee within the administration told him it was over and to start looking for a new job-more prove their mind was made up and were just waiting for first signs of struggles.

I was one of 5 captains for the final season; Ligouri refused to meet with us on multiple occasions. In fact, he never ONCE contacted head coach Fred Mariani, instead only doing so until an hour before our meeting telling the team we were being discontinued. The school didn't even make us a media guide until MIDWAY through the season! Ligouri refused to answer concerned parents calls-the same parents who were paying for tuition to his school. He met with parents ONE HOUR before Senior Day kickoff, ruining the parents final tailgate together and some parents missed their kids name being called out before the game because he did not release them in time. We had a father who is a very successful lawyer in Cali, he organized a large sum of money to help keep the football team alive from his firm and other contributions and asked for a private meeting-Ligouri denied. Another parent is a Westchester County politician and had multiple ideas for LONG TERM fundraising efforts for the program-again Ligouri declined to listen instead telling the parents, "YOU GUYS JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION".

Obviously after they dropped the program I was on campus for the reminder of the semester. From the time we were dropped to the time we went on Christmas break; Iona managed to put a brand new scoreboard in, brand new locker rooms, take down the scoreboard, new coaches office for every team, and a brand new film studio. All projects started less than ONE MONTH after the program dropped.

Sorry for such a long post, but this is just some of the things going on behind the scenes. The funds were already allocated. All this is prove that he simply did not like sports, football specifically. Their minds were made up during 2007, but because of our success they needed to wait for us to have a poor record before they could have a real reason for discontinuation. He convinced the Board of Trustees that we would get hurt because we are not big, strong enough to compete against the Stony Brooks, UC Davis, UNH, Cal Poly and Maine's of FCS

[GaelsFootball]

I'm not going to fabricate it, but our chances of being reinstated are tough. But we are still fighting. Football lines and goalposts need to be put back and I'm assuming the present day locker room is an issue. But, we have alumni (with money) who are fighting, and a new administration who is willing to talk and listen to us. We need to get the current student body excited somehow, but things are moving and we will see what happens.

[Go...gate]

I hope Iona returns to the gridiron as an FCS member.

[GreatAppSt]

More football is always better.

[Bogus Megapardus]

The MAAC nightmare makes Marist's survival all that more incredible - and commendable. I know that Iona folks don't want to read that but it's true. How come Marist pulled it off? Can Iona follow suit?

[Go...gate]

Marist has made a facilities commitment and built a PL-quality facilty. Iona may have to do the same.

[Fox 94]

Marist has a commitment from the President and many football alumni who donate generously to the school and program.

Sounds as if Iona is missing the adminstration part. I hope that changes, we would welcome them to the PFL!

[TheRevSFA]

So is Iona getting the "near death penalty" too ?:D

[Panther88]

Hmmmmmmmm.... *looking for commonality between this situation and the PennSt snafu*

:D Hmmmmmmmmmmm..... what gives? lol