There were ubiquitous signs and sweatshirts around campus displaying Hofstra Pride, but there was an underlying sense of embarrassment, brought on by the arrest of four basketball players for looting their classmates’ dorm rooms.
Jimmy Hall, Dallas Anglin, Kentrell Washington and Shaquille Stokes were arrested Thursday and charged with burglary after admittedly stealing $20,000 worth of electronics. But it’s hard to put a price on how much they have damaged their school and their team.
“I’m sorry, and I just want to go home,’’ Hall told The Post from the Nassau County Correctional Center Saturday morning. But long before his shorthanded teammates were left to suffer a 73-47 loss to Southern Methodist last night, the news had spread far beyond his classmates and surrounding communities.
“It’s a shame, because as an NCAA student you’ve got to be tip-top behavior — it shouldn’t be anything like that. Everybody in my family was calling, and they were like, ‘Don’t you go to school there?’ I was like, ‘Yeah,’ ’’ student Jesus Lopez said with a sigh.
Coach Mo Cassara — whose team fell behind 10-0 and 26-7 yesterday — acknowledged representing the school is a “big” part of players’ jobs.
“I’m heartbroken. I love this place, and the opportunity I’ve been given here. I love all the players and people around this university, I love this team,’’ said Cassara. “I can’t tell you I’m the best coach in the world, but I do everything I can to reach out to this community, on campus and off. There’s nobody — nobody — that feels worse, that has slept less, that is more devastated about this than me.’’
New athletic director Jeff Hathaway was in the same post at Connecticut in 2005 when basketball players Marcus Williams and A.J. Price were arrested and suspended for stealing laptops. And while he wouldn’t discuss what he learned from that experience, he said this incident hit the athletic department hard.
“The mood was this is a very disappointing situation,’’ Hathaway said. “We have deep pride. We work every day to do the best we can to move this program, make it something the university and extended community is proud of.
“When this disappointing situation came about, and it fell upon us, Mo said it best, it took us all aback. But we regroup, and we’re going to work harder. We understand the ground we have to make up and we’re going to do our part.’’
When asked what impact the four suspensions had on the game, SMU coach Larry Brown replied, “It was everything. One, you hate to see kids have to go through something like this.
“A lot of us have made mistakes in our lives, but I don’t think at the time you realize the impact it has not only on your life but all the people around you who care about you.“I told Mo before the game I felt real bad about it. … You don’t want to see kids’ lives affected by one silly incident. Unfortunately a lot of people don’t give you second chances. Hopefully this can be resolved and they can get on with their lives.’’
—Additional reporting by Frank Rosario