Northeastern University football players left in the lurch

When Brian Palangi of Nahant heads home for the Thanksgiving holiday today, he’ll have football on his mind. Unfortunately for the former Swampscott High football player, it won’t be the outcome of the Big Blue’s game against Marblehead that tops his priority list.Palangi is a Northeastern University football player and as of Sunday night, he’s a player without a team. When Northeastern announced its plans to drop football effective immediately, Palangi and the 86 other players on the team found themselves in a position of having to decide whether to stay at the school but give up their dream of playing college football, or start shopping for another school and another team.”It definitely was a shock,” Palangi said about hearing the news. “It’s not a situation I wanted to be in.”Palangi, who played on Swampscott’s 2007 Super Bowl Division 3A championship team, said he’ll be talking to his parents about his future plans over the holiday break. The 2008 graduate and 2007 Item Football All-Star red-shirted his freshman year. He played this fall, seeing time at center and occasionally at guard.Palangi said his decision to go to Northeastern was based on two things – the education he was going to get and the level of football he would be playing. He said he also liked the size of the school and the fact that it was in a city setting.Although players have been told they won’t be penalized for transferring (meaning they won’t have to sit out a year), Palangi said it’s a particularly difficult decision for some of the older players because they may only have a year of two left to play and they’re further along academically.”I’m lucky I’m younger, but it’s still difficult,” he said.Palangi said the coaching staff has been excellent since the decision was announced – despite the fact they’ll be out of a job as well.”The coaches have been very helpful, right from the beginning. They all said ‘anything I can do, I’ll do,'” Palangi said, adding they’re already making arrangements to give coaches who might be interested in places an opportunity to come in and look at game films.Palangi, who is listed at 6-4, 286 pounds, said the prospect of launching another college search, whether it’s for next semester or for next fall, is like going through senior year in high school all over again.”The next two or three weeks are going to be pretty critical,” he said. “I have to find a place I’ll enjoy.”In addition to being named an Item Football All-Star his senior year, Palangi was a Boston Globe and Boston Herald All-Scholastic. He was a two-time Northeastern Conference All-Star, and he played in the 2008 Shriners Game. He was also a team captain.In outlining the reasons for ending the program, NU athletic director Peter Roby cited the fact the program has been running a $2 million to $3 million deficit per year for several years. He said the football facility, Parsons Field, doesn’t meet the standards of the other teams in the Colonial Athletic Conference. Low attendance at home games and the amount of money it would take to bring the facility up to par and make the program more competitive (the Huskies were 3-8 this season) also factored into the decision.