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When he finally arrived, all of the players on the football team were already assembled outside.

"A lot of the guys were crying," said Cervino, a redshirt sophomore wide receiver from Wayne, N.J.

The Pride had been informed that the board of trustees voted unanimously Wednesday night to shut down the football program, which had been in existence since the school's founding in 1937.

The school cited costs and fading interest and will use the $4.5 million spent annually on the team on scholarships and other priorities.

All 84 players were told they can keep their scholarships if they remain at the school. Those who transfer will be eligible to play immediately.

"It was a total surprise," said Cervino, who transferred to Hofstra from Syracuse after the coaching change prior to last season at the Big East school. "No one ever even thought of that. We saw [what happened at] Northeastern. It was just total craziness.

"The coaches didn't even know. The coaches were out recruiting."

Last month, Northeastern University in Boston dropped football after 74 years. Northeastern, like Hofstra, plays in the Colonial Athletic Conference. Four of the final eight teams left in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs are from the league.

Hofstra was 5-6 overall and 3-5 in the league this season. Northeastern went 3-8, 3-5 in the CAA.

Four former Hofstra players are now in the NFL: Kyle Arrington of New England, Stephen Bowen of Dallas, Willie Colon of Pittsburgh and Marques Colston of New Orleans. One of the best-known Hofstra players to have played in the NFL was receiver Wayne Chrebet of the Jets, a Garfield, N.J. native who, like Cervino, is undersized.

The 5-foot-10, 183-pound Cervino was an All-State quarterback at Wayne DePaul Catholic High School who initially committed to Syracuse, where he played one year under former coach Greg Robinson.

After new head coach Doug Marrone took over last December, Cervino was one of 18 scholarship players to depart Syracuse.

Now Cervino, who suffered a broken rib and a punctured lung this past season, may be on the move again.

"I can't even believe this," he said. "I feel like it's musical chairs. I can't even believe it's going on. For one coach to be fired at one school and for the next one the whole program to be dropped, it's crazy."

Cervino said coaches from several other schools had already contacted one of the assistant coaches at his high school to express interest in his transferring.

"I don't want to lose too many credits," Cervino said. "I already lost some credits transferring here. I need to find a school that's going to take some credits."

Brian Hanly, a sophomore placekicker from Wyckoff, N.J. who played at national powerhouse Don Bosco Prep, was equally shocked at Thursday's sudden developments.

He went to a weightlifting session with teammates at 6:30 a.m. and was in a psychology class when Cervino texted him the news.

"Of course I was shocked," Hanly said. "It was pretty much like a slap in the face."

Hanly suffered a torn ACL during the season and underwent surgery three weeks ago. He was in a rehab session during a phone interview with a reporter and said he wasn't certain what his next move would be.

"I'm not sure, man," he said. "It's still hitting me right now. I'll work through finals and I'll probably decide during the winter break."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.