Northeastern Drops Football

[Crashola]

CAA conference member Northeastern recently announced that it is dropping its football program.

http://www.boston.com/sports/colleges/extras/colleges_blog/2009/11/northeastern_de.html

There's a spirited discussion over on Bisonville whether the Bison should welcome the now-jobless Rocky Hager back into the fold.

[JackJD]

Re: Northeastern Drops Football

Northeastern's coach is/was Rocky Hager. He led the Bison to great heights in the 1980s. I recall he was asked to leave after some players had off-season or at least off-campus problems and it slopped over to the coach and the buck stopped there! Many Bison fans would like to have him back but most recognize it won't happen.

I recall Hager was a North Dakota native, went to school at Minot State.

[Cowbell]

Re: Northeastern Drops Football

Rocky did have great success at NDSU. At the time, NDSU (with the help of donors) was able to fund the full complement of scholarships allowed by the NCAA (I might be wrong but I'm thinking it was over 50). Very few DII schools were able to match what NDSU was able to do. With that money, they were able to bring in a lot of quality athletes. So if a starting player got hurt another good athlete was able to take his place. There was no drop off. The winning and the money created a steamship. Then, the rules changed and scholarship levels dropped. NDSU was no longer able to hand out scholarships like candy on Halloween. Good high school athletes followed the money to other schools. The playing field was leveled and NDSU's dominance came to an end. It isn't coming back, Rocky or no Rocky. End of story.

[Crashola]

Re: Northeastern Drops Football

Most of the Bison faithful recognize that this ain't the 1980's Division II anymore. The Bison can't go into Minnesota (and South Dakota!) and throw scholarships to every decent Division II-caliber player. Today, a certain school to down I-29 is winning many of those recruiting battles -- something that was all but unheard of 25 years ago.

Here's a story from the Fargo newspaper. Sounds like a crappy deal all around for the players and coaches. The administration dropped the bombshell and now an entire coaching staff has to look for jobs and an entire roster of players is without a team.

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/260662/

[BitsTD]

Re: Northeastern Drops Football

What would the transfer rules be in a situation like this? Would this be an avenue we could use to reload?

[Crashola]

Re: Northeastern Drops Football

My uneducated guess is that there are no transfer restrictions when your administration pulls the rug out from under you! I'd be surprised if they had to sit at all.

[1stRowFANatic]

Re: Northeastern Drops Football

Correct; if an institution terminates a program the athletes are allowed to transfer without restriction on eligibility.

[FargoBison]

Re: Northeastern Drops Football

Rocky is actually having a player's fair next week where coaches can come in and watch film on his guys. Sounds like he won't think about taking a new job until his players have found new teams.

[JackJD]

Re: Northeastern Drops Football

Rocky is actually having a player's fair next week where coaches can come in and watch film on his guys. Sounds like he won't think about taking a new job until his players have found new teams.

Nice gesture by the coach.

[Nidaros]

Re: Northeastern Drops Football

Just wondering but does Rocky got a resume addressed to Youngstown State University?

[JackJD]

Re: Northeastern Drops Football

He's struggled at Northeastern. My guess is Youngstown is not going to be interested in Hager.

[Nidaros]

Re: Northeastern Drops Football

He's struggled at Northeastern. My guess is Youngstown is not going to be interested in Hager.

I think you are right here, plus they might not be too impressed with his departure from NDSU. So his options might be less than what they were 15 years ago.

[rabidrabbit]

Re: Northeastern Drops Football

Hofstra, another CAA school drops football

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/sp...r=1&ref=sports

[Nidaros]

Re: Northeastern Drops Football

Seems like Hofstra had a home and home series with Montana not too long ago. I see the adminstrations side of it, but its tough for the S/A who are there for education as well as athletics.

[Crashola]

Re: Northeastern Drops Football

Two CAA schools gone in around two weeks. I know its a big conference and they already had expansion plans, but that has to create some scheduling havoc for the CAA next year.