By Brian Bohl
A few Hofstra playoff victories could generate buzz on campus. But before heading on the bus to Richmond for the CAA Tournament, coach Tom Pecora ripped into the student body for not supporting his team throughout the season.
“I want to know where they’ve been,” Pecora said. “When Wilmington has a down year, they still have sold-out student sections. When VCU struggled a few years back, they still had sold-out student sections.
“I’m afraid it’s because of what people think we are: a bunch of spoiled Long Island kids. I don’t think that is what our personality should be. We shouldn’t be fair-weather fans.”
Over two thousand seats were vacant when the Pride closed out the regular season Saturday. Even the student section failed to sell out for the Senior Day presentations that culminated with a ceremony in honor of Antoine Agudio breaking the school’s 43-year-old scoring record.
In 11 homes games last season, an average of 3,623 people jammed the Mack Sports Complex to watch a team that finished 22-10 and 14-4 against the conference.
Yet during the current campaign, a young roster struggled at the start before freshman Charles Jenkins emerged as the secondary option behind Agudio.
Attendance sagged to 2,740 per game in 2007-08, a decline that Pecora attributed to the team’s 12-17 ledger.
“We have a history of having great crowds here,” Pecora said. “Are they only going to be supportive when we win 20 games a year? We might have been to go from 12 wins to 16-18 wins if they were here every game. They have that big of an impact on the game.”
The Mack Sports Complex’s listed capacity is 5,047 seats, though crowd totals haven’t reached anywhere close to that this season.
Despite this Hofstra still finished 8-5 in Hempstead, leading them to the eighth seed and a matchup with No. 9 Towson in the first round Friday afternoon at the Richmond Coliseum.
The Pride’s longest winning streak this season is three games. Pecora will need to coax the unit into four straight victories to capture the championship and secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001.
Going on that type of run could bring the fans back in droves in 2008-09.
In the meantime, Pecora said the lack of support is being used a motivational tool.
“When tough times come up, you find out who is really with you,” Pecora said. “It’s disappointing because I thought we developed a solid fan base. I thought it had become a part of the fabric on campus for students to come to basketball games, and that’s obviously not the case.”
Located on the end near the visitors’ bench, the student center once created an environment that made it an intimidating venue for opponents.
But the number of students began decreasing during the intersession and has never fully come back after when the spring semester commenced.
“I want to thank the loyal bunch that do come. They’re wonderful but they are only 500 of them instead of 1,500, and that’s a shame because you’re missing out on the college experience if you’re not doing this. That’s the truth.
“They have to understand that in 5-10 years, they can go to a college basketball game but they’ll never be a student and have that connection to the team like they have when they’re a student. There should be a strong connection, and that’s something I don’t want them to miss out on.”