September 07, 2004

Another Division I-A Football Program On The Ropes

FROM THE SOUTH BAY comes yet another alarming status report on what could unfortunately be the demise of a century-old football program.

There�s a lot gone wrong for San Jose State these past few years, and there�s far from a groundswell of energy to energize the program. To use a boxing analogy, it�s like the football program has been knocked down repeatedly, but gotten up each time. However, on the last knockdown, SJ State took an 8 count and has unsteadily returned to the vertical.

Much of the problem has to do with the makeup of the commuter school�s student population and an exaggerated apathy that has worsened through the years.

In a nutshell:

� SJ State is overwhelmingly a commuter school, approximately 27,000 out of 29,000 students are commuters. That translates to not a lot of ownership or interest in the football team.

� The average age for undergraduate students is 24; for graduate students: almost 33. Many have jobs and families. This is hardly the profile of rabid, avid fans with face paint that the school needs to fill the stands.

� Average student attendance last year was 862 per game. That�s less than 3% of the student population.

� A paltry total of 310 students showed up for the Tulsa game last year.

There are legions of groups opposing the continued propping up of a sick program that they see as a drain on financial resources that could be better spent on academics. Faculty leader James Brent, an outspoken opponent, is very blunt in his assessment of the teetering situation, �The students don't care about it. We've already figured out where it fits -- it doesn't fit.�

It doesn�t help that the state of California has cut hundreds of millions from the state university system, or that SJ State has had a perennially mediocre team, or that SJ State has had a revolving door of presidents, interim presidents and acting presidents.

Now would be a great time for a megabucks benefactor to step forward and pony up about $50 million or so to save the day.

Any takers out there?

(this 353 word excerpt�with accompanying commentary--has been reduced from a 917 word article in the San Jose Mercury News of 9-1-04)