St. Francis Brooklyn to drop NCAA D-I athletics program

NEW YORK (AP) — St. Francis College, one of thesmallest NCAA Division I schools, announced Monday that its boardof trustees has approved a plan to eliminate its athletic programat the end of the spring semester.

St. Francis sponsors 21 NCAA teams, including men’s and women’sbasketball, and has been a member of the Northeast Conference formore than four decades.

The move comes as part of larger restructuring of the privateCatholic school located in Brooklyn. Enrollment at the school isabout 2,300 undergraduate students.

“There are challenges facing higher education institutions,particularly smaller liberal arts colleges in the Northeast, fromwhich SFC is not immune,” the school said in a new release. “Amongthese challenges are increased operating expenses, flatteningrevenue streams, and plateauing enrollment due in part to ashrinking pool of high school graduates in the aftermath of thepandemic.”

Athletic director Irma Garcia said in a statement she was“heartbroken” by the decision and the school will honor all currentacademic and athletic scholarships for athletes that choose tocontinue their education at St. Francis.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has left an indelible impact on St.Francis College, and as a result, Terrier Athletics,” Garcia said.“Our department has always been committed to providing anopportunity to compete at the Division I level, dating back tostarting the oldest men’s basketball program in New York City tothe introduction of men’s volleyball and women’s soccer in2019.”

The Northeast Conference is also home to Fairleigh Dickinson,the small school located in Teaneck, New Jersey, that pulled offone of the biggest upsets in NCAA men’s basketball tournamenthistory this past weekend.

FDU became just the second team seeded 16th in the field todefeat a No. 1 seed when the Knights beat Purdue last Friday.

FDU lost to FAU on Sunday in the second round of thetournament.

“Coming off a week that has served as a rallying cry for theentire Northeast Conference, today is a bittersweet day,” NECCommissioner Noreen Morris said in a statement. “As a chartermember of the NEC, St. Francis College is tightly woven into thevery fabric of this conference. It saddens us to lose them as anintegral member of the NEC community.”

St. Francis also announced that its board had granted schoolpresident Miguel Martinez-Saenz a request for a personal leave andappointed Chief Operating Officer Tim Cecere as acting president,effective immediately.