Mike Francesa: Hofstra downgrading athletics

[Go...gate]

He opined this yesterday afternoon on his WFAN show upon hearing that Hofstra Men's BB coach Tom Pecora was moving to the Bronx to take the Fordham Men's BB job.

Upon the heels of HU dropping FB, it makes sense. Thoughts?

Mods, please feel free to move to Other Sports if you wish.

[DFW HOYA]

He opined this yesterday afternoon on his WFAN show upon hearing that Hofstra Men's BB coach Tom Pecora was moving to the Bronx to take the Fordham Men's BB job.

Upon the heels of HU dropping FB, it makes sense. Thoughts?



Francesa talks first and thinks second. I wouldn't put much into that.

[Bogus Megapardus]

Did Francesa say what he meant by "downgrading athletics?" Does that mean non-scholarship or a tumble into the DIII abyss? Can that Rabinowitz character just "decree" this if he wants?

[CollegeSportsInfo]

They dropped football...that's downgrading enough. They could have gone non-scholarship and that would be a step down.

[TheValleyRaider]

He opined this yesterday afternoon on his WFAN show upon hearing that Hofstra Men's BB coach Tom Pecora was moving to the Bronx to take the Fordham Men's BB job.

Upon the heels of HU dropping FB, it makes sense. Thoughts?

Mods, please feel free to move to Other Sports if you wish.

Yeah, DFW is right here. Mike is just talking about something that's already happened

Sounds like Pecora left the CAA for an A-10 school (conference prestige?) and a likely pay-raise. Combined with dropping Football it sure looks like a downgraded program, but unless Francessa knows something we don't (and on this topic, that would surprise me), it sounds like he's just late to the party

[OhioHen]

Yeah, DFW is right here. Mike is just talking about something that's already happened

Sounds like Pecora left the CAA for an A-10 school (conference prestige?) and a likely pay-raise. Combined with dropping Football it sure looks like a downgraded program, but unless Francessa knows something we don't (and on this topic, that would surprise me), it sounds like he's just late to the party

Perceived conference upgrade - sure, but Fordham won 2 games this year. Not an improvement in visibility for the coach unless Hofstra is likely to deemphasize more than just dropping football. xtwocentsx

[Bogus Megapardus]

Perceived conference upgrade - sure, but Fordham won 2 games this year. Not an improvement in visibility for the coach unless Hofstra is likely to deemphasize more than just dropping football. xtwocentsx

Fordham authorized a heavy pay increase recently. He might simply be going for the dollars.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/basketball/pecora_takes_helm_of_sleeping_giant_MnR8oMYTc3W6yM kTMcPpuN


Fordham's formula started by giving Pecora a five-year, $650,000 deal that dwarfed what Big East school Seton Hall was paying recently-fired Bobby Gonzalez.

I'll say it before and I'll say it again: where in Sam Hill is Fordham getting all this money?

This fact seems to point to the fact that Pecora is following the cash to Fordham, though he clearly is embracing the challenge in making them a contender again. I have to believe Hofstra could never match that offer - matter of fact, there are schools punching at a much higher weight than both Hofstra and Fordham that wouldn't pay a coach that much either, IMO!

I think this story says less about HU and more about Fordham. I don't see how Fordham can bandy about this much money for basketball and at the same time make Fordham into a power in FCS football.


Fordham first contacted Hofstra on Monday, Pecora met with the school's brass at Rory Dolan's on Wednesday and he'll be upstate for the playoffs tomorrow. Clearly, he's no laggard.

I have no problems picturing this. I used to go to Rory Dolan's every once in a while when I lived around that area. I never thought that it might be a place for athletics folks to cut salary deals, however. xlolx

[jimbo65]

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/basketball/pecora_takes_helm_of_sleeping_giant_MnR8oMYTc3W6yM kTMcPpuN



I'll say it before and I'll say it again: where in Sam Hill is Fordham getting all this money?


I think this story says less about HU and more about Fordham. I don't see how Fordham can bandy about this much money for basketball and at the same time make Fordham into a power in FCS football.

The Board of Trustees approved an increase in $s for the Bball program. The fball schollies cost should be no greater than it was when on a "need" basis. I always felt that whether need or scholley, the cost was"virtual" but that is another entire thread. The fball program has been the recipient of generous contributions. while no guarantee that will continue, likely a safe bet for continuity.


I have no problems picturing this. I used to go to Rory Dolan's every once in a while when I lived around that area. I never thought that it might be a place for athletics folks to cut salary deals, however. xlolx

Two of the three in attendance were named McLaughlin & Gray. Not sure if Fr. McShane attended. Rory Dolan's seems about right.

[Dane96]

My cousin is a very well respected Professor and Dept. Chair at Fordham-- they have, and always will have, HUGE $$$. She talks about it all the time.

The school is making their move, for right or wrong.

[Seawolf97]

From a local point of view I'm not sure they are downgrading . Their mens basketball season was respectable, wrestlling seemed to slip and they are still a national power in lacrosse. The shame of it is their stadium will host only men and womens soccer this fall, so no major sports form Hofstra until November when basketball returns. If they are going to hang their hat on hoops and lacrosse as signature sports they will be hurting over time.

[DetroitFlyer]

They dropped football...that's downgrading enough. They could have gone non-scholarship and that would be a step down.

Time to move on, there is only FCS football. The funding model for scholarships, (athletic versus non-athletic), really does not matter....

[PantherRob82]

Time to move on, there is only FCS football. The funding model for scholarships, (athletic versus non-athletic), really does not matter....

Not really...only competitively.

[Jackman]

We just downgraded their lacrosse team, beating them 11-9, but I don't think you can point to a greater downgrading of Hofstra's athletic programs beyond football until we see how they approach replacing Pecora.

As for Fordham, they're a unique case. The A10 has been unhappy with them for awhile and has started making requirements regarding how they operate because their athletic department is run so poorly. They have an AD who has been there forever who Fordham fans pretty much universally agree is way over his head, but the administration doesn't have it in them to fire him. It's the sort of situation that doesn't develop at big state universities. Instead, the board of trustees authorized a huge increase in salary for the next basketball coach, to be used to entice someone to take the job who can run a basketball program on his own with minimal help from the athletic department. According to most Fordham fans, the athletic department then completely half-assed the search for a new coach, interviewing almost nobody over a 5 month period before throwing the cash they were granted at Pecora. I think he can get Fordham to a passable, mediocre level, but what they need more than anything is a competent, ambitious AD.

[Bogus Megapardus]

We just downgraded their lacrosse team, beating them 11-9

Nice win. I remember when UMass was in the lax final four - I was in Philly for a lunch and the team was just getting off the bus at the Embassy Suites downtown, so I hung out with them for a few minutes.

[kdinva]

Francesa talks first and thinks second. I wouldn't put much into that.

Any radio station that carries Francesa is downgrading themselves.:p

[Bogus Megapardus]

Any radio station that carries Francesa is downgrading themselves.:p


It looks like it's time for Francesa to upgrayedd, then.


http://www.routinefly.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/upgrayedd2-300x197.jpg

[Redwyn]

Hofstra did some major damage to its athletic reputation on LI by disbanding football. I doubt anyone would disagree with this. That being said, to "downgrade" a program means the administration is looking for Hofstra athletics to fail. This doesn't seem likely. Football is usually one and alone at many institutions. It's not uncommon for a football view to differ from a total athletics view.

In the end - Hofstra will either go A-10 or return to the AE in the near future. The CAA offers Hofstra no benefit to staying, and I doubt the conference would be angered if they left. I have similar feelings for Northeastern.

[Uncle Buck]

As a former HU follower, i can tell you that there are a lot of questions as to why Pecora would leave for Fordham. I keep saying, yes the money is there, but they are a bottom rung A-10 program where IMO, it's nothing more than a bigger payday and another stepping stone to an elite program. If Pecora stays with what people are saying could be his most talented team ever at Hofstra next year, he does well, gets the money and a shot at a university with more basketball prestige.

On the heels of dropping football in December and a president who can produce nothing to substantiate what he told the BOT to go along with him, this seems like Pecora got out before it was too late. Rumor has it that the athletic budgets were taking a freeze while Rabinowitz took a better look at the cost of the medical school. Either way, there is an uneasy feeling for a lot of alum that he will be taking the cheap way out on a basketball hire as his decision to drop football that came out of left field was a clear statement that athletics does not mean a whole lot to him.

[DFW HOYA]

Let's distinguish "downgrade" (UNO, Centenary) from "deemphasize", Hofstra may well find out the A-10 is not interested in them and the CAA will have pressure to end the Northeastern "experiment" of HU, Northeastern, etc. Settling in the America East will be fine to Rabinowitz. The damage will have been done.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Let's distinguish "downgrade" (UNO, Centenary) from "deemphasize", Hofstra may well find out the A-10 is not interested in them and the CAA will have pressure to end the Northeastern "experiment" of HU, Northeastern, etc. Settling in the America East will be fine to Rabinowitz. The damage will have been done.

I don't think settling in in the America East is part of Rabinowitz's plan. IMO, he's in a major pickle. He's not going to offer half a million dollars for a basketball coach, but if he doesn't get a solid, up-and-coming coach people will think his plan all along was to de-emphasize athletics and neuter a decent sports tradition - in both football and men's basketball - at Hofstra. It will also paint him as an abject liar since he's intimated that a possible reason for dropping football was to make them more attractive to the A-10.

If he was ever serious about becoming a member of the A-10, promoting an assistant or hiring an unknown isn't going to hack it. The A-10, whose interest in Hofstra has been tepid at best, would become nonexistent if there was even a whiff that men's basketball is going to be "de-emphasized". The A-10 has faced relentless criticism for keeping St. Bonnie and Fordham in their league as those b-ball teams struggled. Think they have any appetite for another basketball project?

Making matters worse is that all the NY basketball schools are filling high-profile vacancies - Seton Hall, St. John's, even Iona and Siena. Getting a good head coach to step in at Hofstra will not be easy.

There's only one way out of this - for Hofstra to overpay for Vermont's head basketball coach and get him to Hempstead. Like yesterday. Any other action, coupled with the midnight massacre of football, will almost certainly cause an alumni revolt. The revolt was already pretty strong about football, but any whiff of de-emphasizing basketball will IMO cause it to become a five-alarm blaze.

[Uncle Buck]

LFN, the scary part is, when you call the Hofstra office of alumni relations, they tell you that there has been very little in the way of complaints about football. Sad part is, if they have so few complaints, why don't they return my emails asking for something to substantiate the president's decision to drop football.

He's an SOB and i'd almost bet dollars to donuts that asst. Van Macon will get promoted to Head Coach for hoops. All i know, they need to get rid of Rabinowitz and the lame duck AD Hayes if we're to ever get football back.

As for your post, 100% on the money.

[DFW HOYA]

LFN, the scary part is, when you call the Hofstra office of alumni relations, they tell you that there has been very little in the way of complaints about football. Sad part is, if they have so few complaints, why don't they return my emails asking for something to substantiate the president's decision to drop football..

If Hofstra dropped the entire athletic program to fund the School of University Studies, they'd say the same thing. PR departments are not about dialogue, they're about getting their slant on things.

They're the college equivalent of the Iraqi Information Minister, the one who reported that "[The U.S Army is] not even [within] 100 miles [of Baghdad]. They are not in any place. They hold no place in Iraq. This is an illusion."

[Uncle Buck]

It's just scary how brainwashed the people at that university are. I hope the entire school implodes and all of the lemmings go down with it.

Maybe then we can pull an out of the ashes type of rebuilding process and get our heads on about where we stand athletically and academically. The president at HU actually said we were losing kids to George Washington and Boston University, i have news for him, as a person with college admissions in my background, we're the safety school for BU and GW.

[jimbo65]

.

They're the college equivalent of the Iraqi Information Minister, the one who reported that "[The U.S Army is] not even [within] 100 miles [of Baghdad]. They are not in any place. They hold no place in Iraq. This is an illusion."

Do you recall "Baghdad Bob" giving an outdoor interview (because we blew up the TV station) and that during the interview you could hear explosions in the background. Also, this guy was such a loser he did not even make our list of most wanted criminals as portrayed on the deck of playing cards distributed to the troops.

[CFBfan]

Do you recall "Baghdad Bob" giving an outdoor interview (because we blew up the TV station) and that during the interview you could hear explosions in the background. Also, this guy was such a loser he did not even make our list of most wanted criminals as portrayed on the deck of playing cards distributed to the troops.

it's kinda like our wonderful president telling us that his healthcare reform will lower the national debt!

[Lehigh Football Nation]

With Hofstra getting former Providence head basketball coach Tim Welsh as their new coach - acting extremely swiftly - they've certainly done their best to dispel rumors that they're "de-emphasizing" athletics. You don't get an ESPN announcer and former Big East guy if you're going to drop to Division III.

I don't know what this means in regards to Hofstra joining the A-10. Rumor has it that it was Pecora pushing hard for A-10 membership, and now that he's got his wish and IS on an A-10 basketball team it's interesting to think where Welsh stands on A-10 conference membership. I would find it incredibly hard to believe he would take the job if HU is going to be a member of America East in a few years, though HU surprised me immensely by dropping football. All that points to HU staying in the CAA for the forseeable future.

[DFW HOYA]

I would find it incredibly hard to believe he would take the job if HU is going to be a member of America East in a few years, though HU surprised me immensely by dropping football. All that points to HU staying in the CAA for the forseeable future.

Maybe, but there will be a move within the CAA to reevaluate its Northern teams for more of an all-sports commitment. The commitment at Drexel (no baseball, no football, no track), Northeastern (distance from other schools), and a Hofstra without football is a point that will be reviewed.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

I don't think settling in in the America East is part of Rabinowitz's plan. IMO, he's in a major pickle. He's not going to offer half a million dollars for a basketball coach, but if he doesn't get a solid, up-and-coming coach people will think his plan all along was to de-emphasize athletics and neuter a decent sports tradition - in both football and men's basketball - at Hofstra. It will also paint him as an abject liar since he's intimated that a possible reason for dropping football was to make them more attractive to the A-10.

If he was ever serious about becoming a member of the A-10, promoting an assistant or hiring an unknown isn't going to hack it. The A-10, whose interest in Hofstra has been tepid at best, would become nonexistent if there was even a whiff that men's basketball is going to be "de-emphasized". The A-10 has faced relentless criticism for keeping St. Bonnie and Fordham in their league as those b-ball teams struggled. Think they have any appetite for another basketball project?

Making matters worse is that all the NY basketball schools are filling high-profile vacancies - Seton Hall, St. John's, even Iona and Siena. Getting a good head coach to step in at Hofstra will not be easy.

There's only one way out of this - for Hofstra to overpay for Vermont's head basketball coach and get him to Hempstead. Like yesterday. Any other action, coupled with the midnight massacre of football, will almost certainly cause an alumni revolt. The revolt was already pretty strong about football, but any whiff of de-emphasizing basketball will IMO cause it to become a five-alarm blaze.

http://defiantlydutch.blogspot.com/2010/03/welsh-is-answer-but-questions-are-just.html


Giving Welsh $600,000—a 50 percent raise over what Pecora made in his most lucrative year—allows Hayes and Rabinowitz to effectively end any conversation about the future of Hofstra athletics. It also indicates the school thinks far higher of Welsh than it ever did of Pecora. And if you happen to think Pecora is really greedy and foolish because he ended up at a 2-26 school that only pays him $50,000 more than Hofstra is paying his replacement, well, my guess is Hofstra wouldn’t mind that at all.

[T]oday, this feels a lot like the Mets responding to the criticism generated by the 2002 firing of Bobby Valentine by overpaying for Art Howe. After signing Howe to a four-year, $9 million contract—a longer and more lucrative deal than Valentine ever had—the Mets spun a yarn about how they got a guy who “lit up the room” during his interview. No offense to Howe, one of the nicest men to ever occupy a manager’s office, but the night light in a bathroom has more wattage than Howe.

Just saying it feels like Hofstra is consumed with winning the press conference and quieting critics.

Paying a head coach a sky-high salary is the equivalent of slapping some sharp-looking siding on a house. It’s no good unless the foundation is in place. Is Hofstra willing to make the investment necessary to make this hire worth it? The school will win the press conference tomorrow, no doubt about that. But is it ready to win the next 1,826 days, as well?

Seems like I was wrong about getting the guy from Vermont, but was pretty much right about everything else.

[Uncle Buck]

Been off the board for a bit, but the deep pockets and the Welch hire did shock me. Though i will preface what i am about to say with my lack of respect for Rabinowitz and AD Jack Hayes is still through the roof.

I look at this hiring like this, Rabinowitz is struggling to raise money for the med school, his decision to murder football in the middle of the night is hurting the university a lot more than they are letting on to, this big money hire was an attempt to salvage their reputations. Hayes has been called by me and others a lame duck AD while Rabinowitz has been tagged with the label of anti-sports. In order to dispel the critics, this move was pure damage control because too much negative was going on since they killed football.

Like my dad always said though, you can't shine *****...and Rabinowitz and Hayes are two loads of it.

[CollegeSportsInfo]

Agreed, Uncle Buck. They could have just payed Pecora that money and he'd have stayed. So it means that either Hofstra was done with Pecora and fine with him leaving, or that Hofstra was trying to avoid any PR problems by overpaying for a coach out of the game the past 2 years (one that wasn't going to get that type of money from other schools).