St. Francis College (NY) announced on Monday some restructuring within the school that include the elimination of all athletic programs. Here are the relevant details to the athletics news from the press release:
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, effective at the conclusion of the Spring 2023 semester.
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. 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.
To ensure that student-athletes can continue their studies at SFC uninterrupted, the College will honor all current academic and athletic scholarships, even though students will no longer be participating in athletics.
Employment for athletics staff and coaches will end at the conclusion of the Spring 2023 semester. The College will provide information, recommendations, and next-step guidance to help ease this transition.
We thank everyone involved in our athletics program for their spirit, dedication, professionalism, and commitment to the College.
SFCNY is one of the founding members of the Northeast Conference (NEC), a league riding high at the moment following Fairleigh Dickinson‘s historic upset of 1-seed Purdue last week. There are already two programs currently transitioning to full D-I membership within the NEC, so it will be interesting to see what is next for the league.
From a men’s basketball standpoint, this spells the end of the Glenn Braica era in Brooklyn. Braica has been the head coach of the Terriers since 2010 and before that spent fifteen years with the program as an assistant. He went 178-216 overall with two postseason appearances, including a NIT bid in 2015 that came by way of a NEC regular season title.
credit to St. Francis (NY) Athletics for the image