Cortland Standard .net

By ALAN BUTLER
Sports Editor
The SUNY Cortland football team certainly doesn’t mind sharing.
The prestige and benefits from having the New York Jets hanging around the premises known as the SUNY Cortland Stadium Complex this summer is all good stuff, even if the NFL team won’t be leaving town until a couple of days after the Red Dragons pre-season camp opens up on Aug. 19.
“The kids get to come to camp and be around professional athletes, and that’s kind of neat,” is how Cortland head coach Dan MacNeill sees things, welcoming with open arms the arrival of the Jets to his work place.
Cortland has a lot of work to do once August arrives, considering all 11 offensive starters and some crucial defensive folks such as inside linebacker Jim Smith and defensive tackle Richard Rolo have graduated off an 11-2 team that won the New Jersey Athletic Conference regular season title in unbeaten fashion and captured two NCAA Division III playoff victories before losing to eventual national champion Mount Union in the quarterfinals.
Heading into his 13th season directing the Red Dragons, MacNeill is still looking to get his coaching staff in order, too. Three assistants from a year ago, including offensive coordinator Dan Lounsbury, have found new jobs elsewhere.
Still, co-existing with the Jets is a joy, not a headache.
“It’s all been real positive,” said MacNeill of working out details with the Jets. “The Jets’ director of operations has been working with us and understands our operation. If we have to practice on the two grass fields across the street for a couple of days it’s fine. That’s all positive.”
MacNeill points to the success St. John Fisher’s football program has had in recent seasons, the place where the Buffalo Bills work out in the summertime. Being known as the home to the Jets can only help recruiting, though Cortland’s recent history — the Red Dragons with 35 wins against 10 losses over the past five seasons — has certainly helped lure talent to campus.
“It has to be a boost to recruiting,” notes MacNeill. “St. John Fisher is enjoying it now, and we’ll have that, too.”
Cortland has been on the NFL radar before, losing out to Albany to be the summertime home of the New York Giants and later drawing some interest from the New England Patriots before they decided to stay in New England. The Jets and new head coach Rex Ryan were looking for more sedate surroundings than metropolitan New York — despite the fact the team just built a new $75 million practice facility in Florham Park, N.J. some 30 miles from downtown Manhattan. Hofstra University on Long Island has been a site for Jets practices and is still used for mini-camps.
The Jets selected Cortland over Cornell University and Stony Brook sites. Cortland fit best into Coach Ryan’s needs, with the college hopeful the current one-year deal with the Jets will eventually be extended.
“They’ve agreed to help work within the community, to help our coaches and staff, even run a clinic. You can’t put a price on that,” said MacNeill, looking forward to learning from the Jets personnel. “They are going to make some renovations, too, that I’m sure are going to benefit us.”
That will not include the Cortland weight room. The Jets will bring their own equipment and plunk it down inside the Alumni Ice Arena at the PER Center. The team is looking to start workouts on July 31 and stick around through the first three weeks of August.
Spring workouts have gotten the Red Dragons started towards the 2009 season. And two former Red Dragons are playing prominent roles on the coaching staff. Former starting quarterback Alex Smith and former all-conference cornerback Jeff Beck, both graduate students at Cortland, are playing vital roles. Smith is working with receivers and quarterbacks, with Beck drilling with the defensive backs.