A national basketball powerhouse in New Jersey is closing.
St. Anthony's, the school that bears the stamp of Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley, will shut its doors in June. Hurley and other school officials announced the expected decision Wednesday after meeting with the Archdiocese of Newark and then informing staff and faculty.
The Roman Catholic school has been fighting declining attendance and rising costs for decades.
"Those of us who have been involved in St. Anthony's - members of the board, the staff and faculty, parents, alumni and other supporters - had weathered challenges to continue to remain open in years past," Hurley said in making the announcement. But even with the financial and moral support that we have received, it has become more and more clear that maintaining the school was becoming too difficult."
St. Anthony's has won 28 New Jersey state titles and four national championships. The school has sent more than 150 players to Division I basketball programs. Among them are Hurley's two sons, who now coach Rhode Island and Arizona State.
The school has an enrollment of about 160 students. It has a 100 percent college acceptance for seniors the past two decades.
Hurley said the archdiocese recently gave the school that looks out onto the wealth of the New York City financial district, nine conditions that it had to meet to stay open.
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The 69-year-old Hurley said six conditions were met, a seventh was possible, but there was no chance they school would get 200 students for next year or meet the requirement to have $500,000 in its bank account by September.
Hurley said the school owes the archdiocese roughly $1.2 million, and it would have to raise a $1 million to meet all it bills.
Rosemary McFadden, a member of the board of trustees, said the closure will cost 27 members of the staff and faculty their jobs.
Hurley said the school would work with the freshmen, sophomores and juniors to find them alternate Catholic school choices.
