Yes, there have been quite an amazing series of twists and turns and a lot of difficult moments for the Hofstra sports community to endure over just the past five months.

The myriad of problems began on December 3rd, when Hofstra dropped its 72-year-old football program, an institution that produced Marques Colston (the leading receiver of the Super Bowl XLIV winning New Orleans Saints); offensive tackle Willie Colon (who can’t shield Roethlisberger from further personal scrutiny, but who protected him from opposing pass rushers enough to win a Super Bowl ring the year before Colston won his); the terrific 11-year career of former New York Jets’ wide receiver Wayne Chrebet; and many others who have made their mark in the National Football League.

An expensive annual cost of $4.5 million and the ability to recoup far less in return due to a lack of fan support, were the basis of Hofstra’s controversial reasoning for cutting football, a decision for which the university still receives a fair amount of negative backlash.

As its second-most visible athletics program became extinct, Hofstra’s most recognizable program was on the verge of being entrenched in turmoil and some challenging times ahead.

The Hofstra men’s basketball team stumbled to a poor start to the 2009-10 season, but caught fire late, under former head coach Tom Pecora, who was in what turned out to be the final year of a 16-year run (seven as an assistant and nine as a head coach) at the school which gave the Queens, New York native his first Division I head coaching opportunity. Though it only managed a seventh-place finish in the Colonial Athletic Association, the Pride became the CAA’s hottest team, winning 10 of 11 games, nearly reaching the CAA tournament semifinals, barely losing to second-seeded Northeastern in overtime, in the quarterfinals.

What followed, was a whirlwind of events for Hofstra basketball.

After shunning the low-level, consolation College Basketball Insider postseason tournament the year before, Hofstra, widely accused of not fully supporting athletics after dropping football, tried to somewhat quell those doubts by spending reportedly about $60,000 to host a first-round CBI game against Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

That turned out to be a miscalculation as only 952 fans attended Hofstra’s season-ending, 74-60 loss to IUPUI in Pecora’s final game at Hofstra on March 17th, as Pecora uncharacteristically looked on as a disinterested, emotionless coach headed for a new gig from the moment his old team started the game as flat as can be, with a 21-2 deficit.

A week later, Pecora, the second winningest coach all-time at Hofstra (155-126), left his former school scrambling for a new head coach when he joined laughing stock Fordham, which was 2-26 without an Atlantic-10 conference win last season.

Speculation quickly mounted that Hofstra, after citing costs to dispense with its football program, would hire an inexperienced coach on the cheap. But, the administration surprised most on March 31st, spending $3 million on a five-year contract to bring in Tim Welsh, a Massena, N.Y. native who took Iona College to a pair of NIT’s and one NCAA tournament in three years before reaching two NCAA tournaments and three NIT’s during a ten-year run at Providence College.

Hofstra even said it would increase its basketball budget under Welsh in order to expand the Pride’s recruiting footprint, including potentially stealing recruits of some of the CAA’s better teams, from their own backyards in the Virginia area. Welsh also planned to use his contacts from his last job as an ESPNU analyst to help Hofstra gain more of a national spotlight. Optimism was reigning and Pecora’s relative success at Hofstra (despite failing to reach the NCAA tournament as a head coach) was long forgotten.

However, that too, soon unraveled for Hofstra when Welsh, just one month on the job, was arrested for drunk driving after being found 3.5 miles east of the Hofstra campus (where he and his family were staying temporarily), at 1am on April 30th, asleep at a green light, with his 2006 Lexus still in drive, and his foot on the brake. Two hours later, Welsh was found to have a blood alcohol content of .18, barely the threshold for an Aggravated Driving While Intoxicated charge, and more than twice the New York State legal limit of .08.

Just when Hofstra thought it was back on track, Welsh’s arrest continued a further downward spiral for the Hofstra basketball program.

On April 16th, highly touted recruit Branden Frazier, a 6-foot-3 combo guard who was initially recruited by Pecora to play at Hofstra after starring at Brooklyn’s Bishop Loughlin high school, followed Pecora to Fordham after Van Macon, Pecora’s top assistant at Hofstra, did the same.

On Monday, Welsh was forced to resign from Hofstra. On Tuesday, disappointed mostly by Pecora’s departure, Hofstra’s leading rebounder and last season’s All-CAA rookie team selection, 6-foot-8 Staten Island forward Halil Kanacevic verbally committed to join Pecora’s new A-10 rival, St. Joseph’s.

And, although he’s still very much a member of the Pride, reports surfaced on the same day that another former Brooklyn star, point guard Chaz Williams, who played at Bishop Ford high school and who joined Kanacevic on the All-CAA rookie team last year, might follow Kanacevic in asking for his own release from Hofstra.

Circumstances looked very bleak amid great uncertainty and little hope for the immediate future and perhaps a few years down the road for Hofstra basketball.

However, then came Wednesday, when Hofstra finally put the brakes on an athletics program –- or at least, on a men’s basketball program –- that like Welsh’s dangerous and irresponsible, drunken jaunt, was seemingly traveling down a dark road to nowhere.

With a surprising and fairly bold move, Hofstra decided not to conduct a lengthy search, and instead, give it one more shot — or, one Mo shot — as in Mo Cassara, who was promoted to a multi-year head coaching deal (terms undisclosed, though it’s believed that Cassara will receive about half of what Welsh would have earned annually at Hofstra).

Cassara, whom Welsh tabbed to be his assistant at Hofstra, is widely considered to be one of college basketball’s rising young stars.

Still, the opportunity which Cassara has been thrust into must be a shock even to him, relative to a mere five weeks ago, since the 37-year-old Canton, N.Y. native wasn’t even considered as a head coaching candidate by Hofstra when the university lost Pecora.

However, there were two things key things that worked in Cassara’s favor this time around. One, is that he very quickly ingratiated himself to Hofstra President Stu Rabinowitz, Hofstra athletic director Jack Hayes, and many of the Pride players, with whom he’s already begun to develop solid relationships both on and off the court since his arrival at Hofstra. Additionally, Hayes didn’t want to continue the recent program upheaval and put an entire third new staff in place since the end of March. Thus, Cassara became the choice to head a staff including two other Welsh selections, Allen Griffin, and Hofstra’s newly named associate head coach Steve DeMeo, who worked with Welsh at Providence, and who seemed to be the favorite to get the head coaching job when Hofstra decided to look in-house for Welsh’s replacement.

Cassara though, brings a strong pedigree in his own right. He comes to Hofstra after tutoring for four years under well-respected, long-time head coach Al Skinner, at Boston College, where Cassara was responsible for recruiting, scouting, on-floor coaching, off-season workouts, and game scheduling while helping Skinner guide the Eagles to two NCAA tournament appearances and one NCAA tournament win before the two were dismissed from Boston College after Skinner interviewed for the St. John’s head coaching job on March 27th.

Prior to his work at Boston College, Cassara gained two years of head coaching experience at Division III Clark University in Massachusetts after spending one year as an assistant coach at Dayton University, where he helped the Flyers go 24-9, win an A-10 regular season title, and earn an NCAA tournament berth.

Earlier, Cassara guided prep school Worcester Academy (Massachusetts) to a 90-21 record from 1999-2003 after beginning his coaching career as an assistant, spending a year each at The Citadel and Washington & Lee University.

As with Welsh, Cassara’s hiring is as much about the future of Hofstra basketball as next year, but that doesn’t mean that Cassara doesn’t have some Pecora holdovers which he’ll try to make some noise with in the CAA next season. The loss of Kanacevic hurts up front, but as of now, Hofstra’s all-time leading shot blocker and last year’s All-CAA Defensive selection, Centereach, Long Island’s 6-foot-10 forward Greg Washington, is expected to return as a senior. And, if Williams stays, he’ll return in the backcourt alongside fifth-year senior and reigning CAA Player of the Year, powerful 6-foot-3, 220-pound shooting guard Charles Jenkins, a former Springfield Gardens (Queens) high school star who’s been impressed with Cassara since the two met.

In the recent volatile world of Hofstra athletics, it appears that the Pride once again has reason to be proud. Or, as Jenkins told Newsday, “I think things are going to calm down now. I don’t think anything else is going to happen. I’m glad they hired [Cassara].”

Indeed, a coaching hire which already appears to be worth one “Mo” shot.

Week 6:

THE ELITE:

#1  NEW ORLEANS          5-0              –       Week 6: Beat NY Giants, 48-27

Drew Brees toyed with the Giants’ top-ranked pass defense, looking like he was having a simple game of catch in the backyard with Marques Colston and Lance Moore. With Brees leading the way, the Saints lead the league with a very impressive 38.4 points and 430.0 total yards per game.

#2  INDIANAPOLIS           5-0              +1      Week 6: Bye

The Giants’ loss is the Colts’ gain, as they enjoy their Week 6 bye moving up one, to number 2. The latest of Peyton Manning’s five straight 300-yard games to start the season, has the Colts rolling since a comeback win in Miami. And, the Colts are not just about Manning and the offense. Indianapolis ranks second, allowing just 14.2 points per game.

#3  DENVER                    6-0              +1      Week 6: Won at San Diego, 34-23

The Broncos weren’t legit after the fluke win in Cincinnati. They weren’t for real after beating up on Cleveland and Oakland. Well, no one is saying that anymore after home wins over New England and Dallas, and wining in San Diego on Monday Night Football. So far, Josh McDaniels has proved a lot of people wrong doing it his way, with his system, without Jay Cutler, and with Kyle Orton, who is 27-12 as a starter. Denver is allowing a league-low 11.0 points per game.

#4  MINNESOTA              6-0              +1      Week 6: Beat Baltimore, 33-31

Minnesota could easily have two home losses already in their first three home games, but as they did against the 49ers, the Vikings pulled one out late against the Ravens to remain as one of only four unbeatens left. It’s going to be difficult to keep the record unblemished with a pair of tough roads tests coming up in Pittsburgh followed by Brett Favre’s homecoming to Lambeau.

#5  NY GIANTS                5-1              -3       Week 6: Lost at New Orleans, 48-27

New York’s ride against the bottom feeders of the NFL ended with an abrupt wake-up call. The Giants still rank first in overall defense and against the pass, but they looked just the opposite in New Orleans. They still luck out however, maintaining a two-game lead in the NFC East, thanks to the Eagles stubbing their toe in Oakland.

SECOND-TIER CONTENDERS:

#6  ATLANTA                  4-1              +1      Week 6: Beat Chicago, 21-14

The Falcons look nearly unbeatable at home even though the Bears played them tough. So far, only one bad effort, at New England. Otherwise, Atlanta has looked sharp on both sides of the ball with a stout defense, and a nice run/pass balance offensively.

#7  PITTSBURGH             4-2              +3      Week 6: Won at Detroit, 28-20

After letting a couple of games get away late in Chicago and Cincinnati, the defending champs have righted the ship with three solid wins in a row.

#8  NEW ENGLAND          4-2              +4      Week 6: Beat Tennessee, 59-0

59-0?!? 45-0 at halftime?!? A records five TD passes for Brady in the second quarter?!? 619 yards of offense?!? And, all in the snow, no less? It looks like Brady has answered the questions of what might have been wrong with him after losses to the Jets and Broncos. The Titans are awful, but the Pats look like they’re finally playing up to their high pre-season expectations.

#9  CINCINNATI               4-2              -3       Week 6: Lost to Houston, 28-17

After five games going down to the wire including three wins in the final 22 seconds, there was no comeback this time, as Houston’s Matt Schaub lit the Bengals up for 4 TD’s and 392 yards. Not a huge surprise since Houston’s offense is dangerous. The area of concern is that Cincinnati’s offense was supposed to be equally dangerous, but couldn’t keep up. And now, Antwan Odom, with the second most sacks (8) in the league, is out for the year with a hurt Achilles tendon.

#10  ARIZONA                            3-2              +5      Week 6: Won at Seattle, 27-3

The Cardinals move up by five spots for the second straight week. After a slow start, Kurt Warner has regained his old form, and no one in the league stops the run better than Arizona’s defense which has surrendered just 59.6 rushing yards per game.

#11  CHICAGO                  3-2              -2       Week 6: Lost at Atlanta, 21-14

The Bears have played pretty well overall, sandwiching their three wins in between a couple of tough losses on Sunday Night Football in Green Bay and Atlanta.

#12  SAN FRANCISCO                  3-2              -5       Week 6: Bye

The Niners started strong, very nearly going 4-0 while barely losing in Minnesota. However, the 35-point home loss to the Falcons was a big red flag. We’ll find out soon if the bye week helps San Francisco regroup, as they resume with a couple of tough ones on the road, at Houston and at Indianapolis.

#13  PHILADELPHIA           3-2              -5       Week 6: Lost at Oakland, 13-9

Despite their winning record, the Eagles have a lot yet to prove, having beaten up badly on some of the league’s weaker teams (Carolina, Kansas City, and Tampa Bay), while losing to another one of those teams (Oakland) and getting crushed by the one good team they’ve played (New Orleans).

MIRED IN MEDIOCRITY:

#14  BALTIMORE               3-3              -1       Week 6: Lost at Minnesota, 33-31

It’s been a strange season thus far for the Ravens. Usually known for their defense, they allowed a lot of yardage early on, starting undefeated by scoring over 30 points in each of their first three games. Since then, they’ve lost three games by a total of only 11 points, including the last two in the final couple of minutes by a combined five points.

#15  GREEN BAY               3-2              +3      Week 6: Beat Detroit, 26-0

The Packers can be good if they can keep Aaron Rodgers upright. Thus far, they’ve allowed a league-high 25 sacks, many of which were a huge factor in their only two losses this season (to Cincinnati and at Minnesota).

#16  DALLAS                    3-2              –       Week 6: Bye

Despite three wins, the Cowboys actually looked their best in a loss to the Giants. Romo has been struggling with T.O. gone, and all three wins are against weak competition (Tampa Bay, Carolina, and Kansas City –- who Dallas needed, not T.O. but OT, to beat).

#17  NY JETS                             3-3              -6       Week 6: Lost to Buffalo, 16-13 (OT)

The early season bloom has come off the rose for both Mark Sanchez and Rex Ryan, who have recently looked like the rookies they are. The Jets’ results mirror the Ravens, only a little worse. After three impressive wins to start the season, everything has turned around with three straight losses, and two of those were against losing teams (Miami and Buffalo) within the division.

#18  HOUSTON                 3-3              +3      Week 6: Won at Cincinnati, 28-17

Inconsistency, thy name is the Houston Texans. So far this year: Loss, Win, Loss, Win, Loss, Win. After a slow start, Matt Schaub and the Houston offense have found their rhythm. If the defense can now join them on a more regular basis, the Texans might get out of their pattern and actually string two or three wins together.

#19  JACKSONVILLE          3-3              +3      Week 6: Beat St. Louis, 23-20 (OT)

The Jags have been tough to figure out. They play the Colts tough on the road, then lay an egg at home against Arizona. They get a huge win in Houston and take care of the hapless Titans easily, but they get then get blown away in Seattle and need OT to beat the lowly Rams. So, far it’s all added up to .500, which is better than many preseason expectations.

#20  SAN DIEGO                2-3              -3      Week 6: Lost to Denver, 34-23

The Chargers defense and special teams have let them down. An average of 17.5 points per game allowed in their two wins, but 31, 38, and 34 points, for an average of 34.3 points allowed per game in three losses.

#21  MIAMI                       2-3              -2       Week 6: Bye

Lose one Chad and start 0-3? No problem. Try another Chad, unleash the wildcat, win 2 straight, save the season, head into the bye week, and all’s fine again. Not so fast. Look who’s coming to town next: New Orleans. Expect a heavy dose of the wildcat aimed at keeping Brees off the field.

LOOKING TOWARD THE 2010 DRAFT:

#22  SEATTLE                            2-4              -2       Week 6: Lost to Arizona, 27-3

There’s no truth to the rumor of the Seahawks petitioning the league to play St. Louis and Jacksonville only. Seattle beat those two by a combined 69-0. Against others, they’ve been outscored 109-49.

#23  CAROLINA                 2-3              –       Week 6: Won at Tampa Bay, 28-21

Competition makes all the difference in the NFL. Start 0-3 playing Philadelphia and traveling to Atlanta and Dallas? No problem, play Washington and Tampa Bay. They may not play like NFL-caliber teams, but the NFL still counts them as NFL wins.

#24 BUFFALO                            2-4              +4      Week 6: Won at NY Jets, 16-13 (OT)

The Bills exposed Mark Sanchez, picking him five times. As bas as Buffalo has been at times (see the brutal Cleveland loss), they’re probably one late fumble in New England away from being 3-3 and 2-1 in the AFC East. T.O. has yet to be the factor the Bills hoped he would become for them.

#25  WASHINGTON            2-4              -1       Week 6: Lost to Kansas City, 14-6

How bad is the Redskins’ offense? Well, they became the first team to play six consecutive winless teams, and they are still only 2-4, with only a 2-point win over the Rams and a 3-point win over the Bucs. You must find a way to score points in the NFL, and as well Jim Zorn did that in the other Washington (as a quarterback in Seattle), he hasn’t figured out a way to get the Washington in D.C. to even come close to accomplishing the same yet.

#26  KANSAS CITY             1-5              +4      Week 6: Won at Washington, 14-6

The Chiefs finally got a win over… who else? The aforementioned Redskins. Although they’re one game worse than Oakland and lost to the Raiders at home, they get rated a notch higher since they have played better than Oakland overall during the first six weeks, and should have beat the Raiders after statistically dominating them.

#27  OAKLAND                 2-4              +2      Week 6: Beat Philadelphia, 13-9

The Raiders can be respectable. They played San Diego tough, and should have beaten them. Although the Chiefs badly outplayed them, they somehow found a way to win. And, they shocked the Eagles at home, although the offense struggled again. But, when the Raiders are bad, they’re horrible. Prior to the win over Philly, they lost three straight games by 20, 26, and 37.

#28 CLEVELAND                1-5              -3       Week 6: Lost at Pittsburgh, 27-14

The Browns won by default in a 6-3 game in Buffalo in which their punter was the game’s MVP. Other than that, they’ve been pretty bad all around, although they’ve generally hung in most losses a little better than the next four teams…

#29  DETROIT                            1-5              -3       Week 6: Lost at Green Bay, 26-0

The Lions have allowed a league-high 188 points while beating only the Redskins (which says more about the state  of pro football in D.C. that it does about Detroit turning things around any time soon). The ineptitude in the Motor City has now reached 20 losses in 21 games, but hey, at least they can’t go 0-16 again, like last year.

#30  TENNESSEE               0-6              -3       Week 6: Lost at New England, 59-0

How can a team fall so far, so fast? From an NFL-best 13-3 last season to winless and a 59-0 utter embarrassment in the snow up in Foxborough. The Titans are now allowing league-highs 33 points and 405.7 yards per game and seem to have simply quit on head coach Jeff Fisher, who seems to have lost it, donning a Peyton Manning jersey for a charity fundraiser, saying he “just wanted to feel like to be a winner.” At this rate, he may not get the chance, as that stunt has backfired with Titans fans (even though they’re overreacting), and he could be let go before Tennessee can muster their first win. The only reason the Titans are not last (and they may yet end up there very soon), is that they were very competitive while losing three tough games to start the season, before the three horrific efforts that followed.

#31  ST.LOUS RAMS          0-6              +1      Week 6: Lost at Jacksonville, 23-20 (OT)

For the longest period this season, the Rams have been the NFL’s worst team overall, and easily the league’s most offensively challenged team, scoring just 54 points this year. But, they move out of the cellar this week for at least giving Jacksonville an overtime scare on Sunday, while Tampa Bay…

#32 TAMPA BAY                0-6              -1       Week 6: Lost to Carolina, 28-21

Can’t get out of its own way. The Bucs were more competitive against Carolina but they haven’t been in all of their other games aside from a close loss in Washington. Losing their past 10 games dating back to last season, the bumbling Bucs are in the midst of their longest losing streak since 1977, when they were in the middle of their NFL-record 26-game losing streak. Let’s hope Tampa at least gets a win or two before the current streak repeats itself like that.