Lehigh Football Nation

It started out innocently enough as an article from New York Newsday 's Steven Marcus - a brief, 201-word report, quite frankly, not reporting on much. The headline read: Hofstra explores parting ways with the CAA , and mostly offered the writer's opinion, a cryptic official comment, and an unquoted anonymous source. Hofstra will explore moving its intercollegiate athletic program out of the southern-based Colonial Athletic Association, persons familiar with the athletic program said Thursday. Hofstra did not say what has prompted its exploration, but it appears the university would prefer to have more of a northeast profile. The Atlantic-10 is Hofstra's first choice, those close to the situation said, but no openings currently exist in that New England-based group. ... Hofstra apparently has no interest in returning to the America East. ``We have not had any conversations with representatives from the America East Conference regarding conference affiliation,'' Hofs

Summer blockbuster season is already here, and it's a time for sequels like the new Star Trek and Night at the Museum movies. But here at LFN there's also a sequel about something no college sports fan wants to contemplate: the credit crunch around the Patriot League, which I talked about quite a bit last month . In that blog posting, I had mentioned that Lafayette "seemed to be doing fine" from all outward appearances. But nothing could have been further from the truth, as reported by Michael Duck and Genevieve Marshall of the Morning Call : Lafayette College, Easton's biggest employer, will slash budgets, freeze salaries and cut back on building projects over the next four years because of the economic downturn and a dwindling endowment, college officials announced this week. ''Over the next four fiscal years, the college plans to decrease its operating budget by roughly 10 percent, or approximately $11 million,'' college President Daniel Wei