Unfortunately, there will be fewer student-athletes in NYC next fall, as St. Francis College in Brooklyn announced Monday that the school will be cutting its entire athletics program, effective at the end of this spring 2023 semester.
“There are challenges facing higher education institutions, particularly smaller liberal arts colleges in the Northeast, from which SFC is not immune,” Denis Salamone, chair of the school’s board of trustees, said in a statement announcing the cuts. “Among these challenges are increased operating expenses, flattening revenue streams, and plateauing enrollment due in part to a shrinking pool of high school graduates in the aftermath of COVID. The St.
Francis College Board of Trustees and Leadership are responding to these challenges by acting decisively with plans in place to benefit the College and the students we serve. Accordingly, the Board of Trustees recently approved a strategic realignment plan which includes the elimination of the college’s NCAA Division I athletics program.”
In a statement released on Twitter, Director of Athletics Irma Garcia did say that the St. Francis teams currently competing will finish their seasons as scheduled, and the school will continue to honor all academic and athletic scholarships received by student-athletes affected for as long as continue attending the school. However, all athletics staff and coaches will have their employment ended at the conclusion of the semester.
“My heart hurts for our student-athletes, coaches, and staff. The COVID-19 pandemic has left an indelible impact on St. Francis College, and as a result, Terrier Athletics,” Garcia, a 1980 alum of the school, said in a statement. “I want to thank every student-athlete that has donned the Terrier Blue and Red over the many generations that have come to Brooklyn. Our student-athletes have been at the heart of our Department's work and we will continue to support them to the best of our ability in the aftermath of the College's decision.”
Scholarships will be honored, but per NCAA rules, any student-athletes who choose to transfer will be immediately eligible to play for their new school.
St. Francis, which has been in financial peril, made the decision as part of the SFC Forward: Strategic Vision for 2023 & Beyond” initiative, which included naming COO Tim Cecere as acting President after granting current President Dr. Miguel Martinez-Saenz his request for a personal leave on Sunday, and making a series of moves to “position the College for success, development, and growth.”
In addition to cutting athletics, the moves include relocating the College’s primary campus to a new facility on Livingston Street, and expanding its school population locally and internationally.
“We want to acknowledge that SFC has a rich legacy in competitive athletics, and are proud of our Terriers today and in all years past,” the school’s release said. “This difficult decision was guided by a commitment to preserving the College's 164-year Franciscan mission to provide a high quality and affordable education to working-class and first-generation students.”
The St. Francis Terriers competed in the Northeast Conference and had 19 NCAA Division I teams across 10 sports: with men’s and women’s teams in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, volleyball, and water polo, as well as a women’s bowling team.
The men’s basketball team, founded in 1896, was a charter member of the NCAA and the oldest program in NYC, and they notably ended what is now their final season with a loss in the quarterfinals of the NEC Tournament to Fairleigh Dickinson, who went on to become just the second No. 16 seed to defeat a No. 1 in the NCAA Tournament since the event expanded to 64 (and eventually 68) teams.
However, in what was likely a harbinger of the school’s transition, they lost their home arena, Daniel Lynch Gymnasium at the Pope Athletic Complex, when the school closed its Brooklyn Heights Campus, playing their final game there in November. Because the new Livingston Street Campus has no athletic facilities, the Terriers played the rest of their home games in 2022-23 at Pratt Institute’s Activity Resource Center on their campus in Clinton Hill.
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