NFL

LAST DAYS AT HOFSTRA FOR JETS

Diehard Jet fan Pete Wilson of Long Island has been watching his favorite team practice at Hofstra University for more than 35 years, since the days when Hall of Famer Joe Namath headed the huddle.

But Wilson says this summer’s stunning trade for the team’s greatest star since Namath – Super Bowl-winner Brett Favre – can’t even sugarcoat his pain over the Jets pending exodus from their practice field in Hempstead for greener pastures in New Jersey.

After 40 years, Gang Green is leaving behind its outdated accommodations at Hofstra for a magnificent new state-of-the-art training center and headquarters in Florham Park, NJ.

And the Jets have been flying high during their final days at Hofstra with record crowds attending practices to welcome Favre and bid goodbye to the team.

The Jets are averaging 7,400 fans per practice since acquiring Favre two weeks ago – with a record 10,500 seeing his first workout Aug. 9. Last summer, the team averaged 1,816 fans and 2,469 this summer before the Favre trade. .

Fans today have a final chance to watch the Jets at Hofstra. The team is holding its last public practice there, beginning at 1:30 p.m., before eventually heading over to the $75 million Atlantic Health Jets Training Center on Sept. 2.

But many say the Jets risk alienating its largest, most loyal fan base by leaving Long Island.

“It’s like they’ve become the New Jersey Jets,” said Mike Russo, 27, of Lynbrook, while watching the club train last week. “They play in New Jersey, and now they’re going to practice in New Jersey.”

For decades, many players and coaches have made Long Island their home and spent countless hours assisting local charities there. Ex-Jets like Greg Buttle and Marty Lyons still live in Long Island, and former Jet and Hofstra star Wayne Chrebet even opened a restaurant across the street from the campus last year.

Many current Jets this summer have been busy packing their belongings and searching for homes in New Jersey. And while they say they won’t turn their backs on Long Island, they also can’t wait to work out at the new training center.

Veteran wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery said he’s enjoyed training at Hofstra during his four seasons with the Jets, but also said “it still doesn’t feel like our facility because it is on campus.”

He expects the new training center to “add to the excitement” surrounding the club because it’s more “isolated.”

But Wilson, 46, of East Meadow, said the Jets are again leaving New Yorkers “out to dry.” He is “still hurting over the Jets leaving” Shea Stadium in Queens after the 1983 season to play home games at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

The Jets have been holding summer training camp at Hofstra since their lone Super Bowl season of 1968 and moved its offices to the campus in 1974.

The decision to relocate all operations to New Jersey is part of a 2006 deal the Jets made to co-build a new $1.6 billion Meadowlands stadium to be shared with the Giants beginning in 2010.

Glen Belekis, 18, of Queens, said that while he’s also sad the team is leaving Long Island, the new training center “is necessary for the Jets to best compete” with the rest of the NFL.

The new 26-acre complex includes spacious corporate offices four times the size of Weeb Ewbank Hall at Hofstra with massive locker rooms, weight rooms, coaches offices and 11 player classrooms.

It also holds five NFL-regulation, 100-yard playing fields – including one inside a spectacular indoor field house with 103-foot high ceilings to allow for kicking practice.

Hofstra’s indoor practice “bubble” is too small to kick in, and four of its five practice fields are just 50 yards long.

“Our Hofstra facility was great when it opened in 1974, but it’s out of date now,” said Jets spokesman Jared Winley.

The Jets plan to maintain their Long Island ties by continuing to host its popular “Green versus White” team scrimmage there each summer and supporting local charities and community groups, he said.

Vernon Gholston, the rookie linebacker and highly touted first-round draft pick, has mixed feelings about the move but believes it’s best for the club.

“The Jets have been [at Hofstra] for 40 years, so there’s an historical presence here, but I think it’s good for us to get a new facility and expand on what we can do,” he said.

The New Jersey move also helped the team land Favre, a Mississippi native who prefers the hunting and fishing opportunities near Florham Park to the bright lights of New York.

Longtime fan Pete Sheppard of Deer Park attended camp Thursday with his grandsons, Glenn Hope, 7, and James Hope, 5, to check out Favre and enjoy one last practice. The senior said he wouldn’t travel to New Jersey for practices.

“I wanted to make sure my grandsons had a chance to come before the Jets leave,” said Sheppard.

Lauren Libroia of Wantagh attended her first Jet practice the same day, and the 20-year-old said she had “such a good time” that she’s “sad over never taking advantage” of her favorite team “being so close to home.”

She said she’s willing to trek to New Jersey for practice next summer “especially now that Brett Favre is on the team,” provided her friend Colleen Aldrich, a 19-year-old Giants fan from Wantagh, agrees to come along for the long ride.

Aldrich, laughing, said she’d seriously consider it.

As expected, Jet fans in New Jersey say they can’t wait to watch the team practice at their new stomping grounds beginning next summer.

“I only went once to Hofstra in 15 years, but I would certainly try to go a few times a year now. This is great thing for the New Jersey fans,” said Steve Kern, a Jet season ticket holder from Boonton, NJ.

Hofstra is planning to convert the team’s longtime offices into temporary classroom and lab space for Hofstra’s School of Medicine. It’s yet to decide what to do with the practice fields and practice “bubble.”

“We regret that the Jets will be leaving our campus, but we are confident that our special relationship with them will continue because of our many connections to the organization,” Hofstra spokesman Stuart Vincent said.

rcalder@nypost.com