Harbor Football Program May Be on Verge of Being Disbanded : Community colleges: Program’s fate will rest in hands of the school president. Decision could be made on Friday.

After 43 years of competition, the future of the Harbor College football program appears to be in jeopardy.

Harbor officials are reviewing the football program, and it could be disbanded as early as Friday, The Times has learned.

A committee of school administrators will make a recommendation on the matter to Harbor President James Heinselman, who will make the final decision, Athletic Administrator Charlie Bossler said.

Bossler said directives from the school to make cuts in the athletic department budget and bring the women’s programs in line financially with men’s programs work against continuing funding for football.

“They’re asking us to cut 10% out of the athletic budget and, frankly, it’s not there,” Bossler said. “So there are some decisions that have to be made soon.”

He said a decision on the program is particularly important with registration for Harbor’s spring semester approaching.

“Rumors are flying and I know if we don’t decide about this one way or the other, the (football players) won’t come here,” Bossler said.

Harbor Coach Don Weems declined to comment on program’s future, although he was unaware that any action was imminent.

The possibility of discontinuing the program caught players by surprise.

“I talked to my coach (Wednesday) and he said (coaches and administrators) had a meeting about the season and talked about next season,” defensive back Troy McCoy said. “He didn’t say anything about dropping the program.”

The program’s chances of survival apparently were not helped by a decision two weeks ago by the Western State Conference to extend the team’s supervisory probation for two years.

Under terms of the probation, the school is eligible for postseason bowl games during the two-year period but still must file regular reports with the conference after games.

“I was disappointed by that decision,” Bossler said. “I thought we had done all we could do and were headed in the right direction again.”

The conference had originally placed Harbor on probation for the 1993 season and disqualified the Seahawks from postseason competition in October after a brawl erupted between players, fans and coaches following a 23-0 loss to Pierce on Sept. 25.

Harbor officials had suspended the program for a week after the incident and the team forfeited its Oct. 2 game against West L.A. The Seahawks finished 4-6.