Washington Post column: "Hofstra's Charles Jenkins and Mo Cassara making the most of their chances"

Here is the article for today's The Washington Post ---------

As soon as the final buzzer sounded this past Monday night, Charles Jenkins turned and sprinted in the direction of the Hofstra student section, his arms in the air, the joy written all over his face. A few feet short of the railing that separates the students from the court, he took off and did a Lambeau Leap into the arms of his fellow students.

"It was such a great feeling to come back that way, to fight from that far down and win," he said a few days after he had scored 35 points in Hofstra's 92-90 overtime victory over James Madison - a game in which the Pride trailed by 15 points in the second half. The students "stuck with us even when we got way down. They were still chanting 'defense' when we weren't playing very much of it. I just wanted to share that moment with them."

In many ways, Hofstra's comeback victory was a microcosm of this season for the team and the entire school. A little more than a year ago, Hofstra announced it was dropping football because it was swamped in red ink trying to compete on the division I-AA level. Last March, Tom Pecora left after nine seasons as men's basketball coach to take the Fordham job. He was replaced by Tim Welsh, a hire greeted with great enthusiasm because Welsh had enjoyed success in the Big East while at Providence and great success at Iona prior to that.

That joy didn't last long. One month after he was introduced as the new coach, Welsh was charged with driving while intoxicated when police found him asleep at the wheel of his car at a stoplight at 1 a.m. on April 30. He resigned three days later.

"When Coach Pecora left it was really tough," Jenkins said. "He was the one who recruited me, who I'd played for, who I'd become close to. Then I was really happy when Coach Welsh came because I liked him a lot. All of a sudden, he was gone too."

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