12-19-2009 11:30 AM

FCS Teams like Monmouth Struggle with Cost of Fielding Successful Programs

Her office computer faces Kessler Field, so each day Marilyn McNeil, Monmouth University’s director of athletics, can observe the needs of her football program.

During fall practice, the scholarship-deprived Hawks file into a 16-year-old stadium which needs renovations and is “absolutely not a good facility,” McNeil said. The nearly $2 million football budget needs an influx of money, but “we’re struggling to get revenue out of ticket sales and to get a following,” she said.

The Hawks won or shared the Northeast Conference title three times this decade, but without a modernized stadium, McNeil believes the school fails to attract sought-after recruits.

Without a fully funded scholarship program, the school fails to sign them.

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