EMPTY BLEACHERS, UNHAPPY ATHLETES AT UALBANY.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: ALAN WECHSLER Staff writer

Alex Argulewicz has played football with the University at Albany Great Danes for four years. But his most memorable game didn't happen on his home home turf, nor in victory. It was a game more than 2,000 miles away, when his team was crushed, 45-7, by the University of Montana on Sept. 7.

It wasn't the score that so impressed the Walkill native, a sociology major who plays offensive guard. It was the crowd -- 19,000 football fans crammed into a stadium and cheering with abandon.

``You feel like people are there to see you play,'' he said. ``That's what playing football is all about.''

At UAlbany, where 470 student-athletes take part in 19 different varsity sports, too many bleachers are empty. And it's most noticeable in football, the highest-profile sport in higher education.

``Football on a Saturday afternoon is just fantastic to me. But it isn't for students,'' President Karen Hitchcock said at a recent public meeting. ``We have to get the word out.''

An average football game at UAlbany this season has attracted about 1,900 people -- and that includes attendance during homecoming weekend. Get a bad weather day, such as on Oct. 26, and the bleachers are virtually empty: just 634 people, with only a few dozen students, showed up to watch the Great Danes play St. Francis University on that drizzly day.

In 1998, UAlbany elevated its sports programs from Division II to Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (the football team is 1-AA, one notch below the premier college teams, because UAlbany doesn't give football scholarships).

The idea was to raise the profile of the school's athletics at the same time the university is growing more prominent academically.

``We compete with Division I schools for faculty. We compete with Division I schools for students,'' Hitchcock said. So it made sense to compete with the best sports teams as well.

A number of schools have done the same thing -- at SUNY, Stony Brook, Binghamton and Buffalo are recent Division I members.

``If we want to be considered in the same sentence with Berkeley or Michigan, you've got to play with those boys,'' said Richard Laskowski, dean of physical education and athletics at the University of Stony Brook. ``It really does legitimize your entire university.''

UAlbany's decision to move to Division I was made by Hitchcock's predecessor, H. Patrick Swygert in the mid 1990s. A straw poll taken at the time to gauge student interest in Division status resulted in 1,437 votes in favor and 156 opposed. But the amount of students who didn't bother voting -- 14,407 -- also shows the apathy UAlbany is fighting.

``It's something you have to work with every day,'' said Lee McElroy, director of athletics and recreation at UAlbany for the last two years, who has made increasing student turnout at sports events one of his goals.

But at a time when students can get lightning-fast access to the Internet, two ESPN channels and the MSG network on cable TV, and enough high-quality video games to conduct a virtual Olympics in a dorm room, there's a lot of competition against a good, old-fashioned gridiron match. And that doesn't even take into account the part-time jobs, late-night partying and -- when there's time -- studying.

McElroy said student participation has increased since UAlbany joined Division I, though only marginally. Four years ago, about 5 percent of the 16,700-student body came to sports events. Today, attendance ranges from 10 to 15 percent, or from 1,670 to 2,500 students, he said.

Like many universities, UAlbany has tried all sorts of techniques to recruit students: T-shirt and visor giveaways, free pizza, even lotteries for ticket-holders for a free semester's tuition or first choice at next year's dormitory room.

Still athletes and spectators alike bemoan the empty benches.

``I know a girl who cheers for Syracuse University, and they get so excited going to games,'' said Leanne Jwaskiewicz, co-captain of the UAlbany cheerleading team. ``I forgot what that felt like.''

Among the 125 Division I schools in the NCAA, UAlbany ranks 109th in football attendance. And that's despite free admission for students. Meanwhile, the basketball team attracts an average of 1,649 people to games -- not too shabby, but a far cry from such prominent public universities as Connecticut, Michigan or Minnesota, which draw up to 200,000 spectators in a season.

Meanwhile, sports like soccer or lacrosse often attract from a handful to a few dozen students, even on sunny fall afternoons.

``It makes the game seem like it goes a lot longer if there's no one there,'' said Elizabeth Michalenko, a junior who plays defensive midfield in lacrosse.

The athletic department has asked student-athletes to support each others' sports. It's also started an advertising campaign, with a giant, eye-catching sports bulletin board in the Campus Center. More are planned for dorms. Posters announcing games are put up all over campus.

Do students notice? Some think not.

``An 8-by-11 piece of paper stapled to a pillar is no longer effective,'' said Joey Favata, vice president of the student government's Central Council ``I think people need to create new ideas.''

Some say the best way to attract student fans has nothing to do with posters or free tuition.

``If you want students in the seats, you've got to win,'' Stony Brook's Dean Laskowski said. ``And if you're going to lose you'd better be exciting when you lose.''

The UAlbany football team has six wins and four losses and leads the seven-team Northeast Conference.

But winning isn't everything. History helps. Siena, with a 60-year basketball legacy, lures up to 1,500 students at its men's basketball games at the Pepsi Arena. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute draws about the same number to its Engineers hockey games. (Siena's tickets are free to students, while RPI's tickets cost $4.)

Union, which gives free football tickets to students and faculty, has seen interest in games go up. In the past, about 100 students and faculty got tickets. But on Oct. 12, more than 800 showed up for the match against RPI. The school opened a $1.7 million stadium this fall.

At Stony Brook, which joined Division I the same year as UAlbany, Laskowski said a new $26 million stadium has helped bring an average of 6,500 people to games. That's despite the presence of other colleges, countless high schools and two professional football teams in the New York metropolitan area.

Stony Brook has used high-ticket gimmicks, too, such as a $100,000 kicking contest sponsored by Coca-Cola and Long Island supermarket chain King Kullen.

UAlbany does hope to some day build a new football stadium. The present field contains bleachers for 4,000, smaller than some high school stadiums.

McElroy, UAlbany's athletic director, said as the school continues to play big teams, rivalries will build, attention to the games will increase and the school will attract more publicity, luring in more students and community members.

``Notre Dame has been at it for a long time. They've got a bigger fan base. They've been doing it for 100 years,'' he said. ``You have to start with a foundation.''

FACTS:PHANTOM FANS Attendance for football, men's basketball, women's basketball for University at Albany home games, with average per game: YEARGAMESTOTALAVERAGE Football 199558,3131,663 1996513,5502,710 1997514,9272,985 1998716,9882,427 1999411,8762,969 200048,0562,014 2001511,7222,344 Men's basketball 1995-961413,096935 1996-971617,8711,117 1997-981314,2111,093 1998-991410,607758 1999-001114,1901,290 2000-011314,9191,148 2001-021111,5871,053 Women's basketball 1995-96122,866239 1996-97166,836427 1997-98123,614301 1998-99113,050277 1999-00117,405673 2000-01139,938764 2001-02137,287561 Source: UAlbany

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JAMES GOOLSBY/TIMES UNION WOMEN TRY OUT recently for the University at Albany Pep Squad, a group that boosts spirit at school games. Story on B9.