Legion Collegiate Suspends Its Football Program
Legion Collegiate is set to “pause” its football program effective immediately. The Charter school, located in Rock Hill, currently offers 15 sports. The football program has competed for the past 4 seasons and accumulated a 15-14 record while being coached by 2019 York County Hall of Fame inductee, Strait Herron. Current football players at Legion are eligible to play football at the public school they are zoned for since Legion will no longer offer the sports.
Here is the full release from the school:
Legion Collegiate Academy to Pause Football Program
ROCK HILL, SC – The Legion Collegiate Academy football program will be paused, effective immediately.
The 2022 season was the fourth football season for the Lancers. The decision to pause the football program was made at the Legion Collegiate Academy Board meeting this week and was agreed to by the members of the board, school and athletics administrators along with Pinnacle Charter Academies management. “We did not come to this decision lightly, nor do we expect this to be a permanent move,” Legion Director of Athletics Rich Posipanko said. “A lot of discussion went into this. We considered multiple challenges facing the program and determined this to be the right move at this time.”
The primary issues that led to the decision to pause the program are a limited number of student-athletes on the roster and remaining in the program, issues scheduling games and the lack of a football facility to play home games. Posipanko said a committee will be formed immediately to take up the challenges that led to the program being paused. Board member Judge Collier, Sr., whose son Judge Collier, Jr., played at Legion and earned a football scholarship to the University of South Carolina where he is currently enrolled, will serve on the committee along with Mike Drummond, former Associate Athletic Director at Winthrop University, South Pointe and York Prep.
“We will constantly evaluate where we are as a school and as an athletics department to make sure we are serving our students the best way possible,” Posipanko said. “Our mission is focused on both academics and athletics, and we keep that mission in mind with everything we do.”
Current and potential student-athletes at Legion Collegiate will still be able to play football. Students interested in participating in a sport not offered by Legion may attend Legion, taking advantage of the dual enrollment classes and the split session class schedule, while competing for the high school in the district zone where they live.
Legion Collegiate Academy is dedicated to offering its students a wide range of athletic opportunities. The Lancers will continue to sponsor the sports of basketball (B/G), golf (B/G), lacrosse (B/G), soccer (B/G), tennis (B/G), volleyball (B/G), baseball and softball.
