* – Merrimack ineligible for NEC title and FCS postseason play due to transition to NCAA Division I, and also ineligible for NEC title due to not playing a full conference schedule
The 2019 LIU Sharks football team represents both the LIU Post and LIU Brooklyn campuses of Long Island University in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They are led by 22nd year head coach Bryan Collins and play their home games at Bethpage Federal Credit Union Stadium. They play as a first–year member of the Northeast Conference. This is the first season that the LIU Sharks are competing as a team following the merger of the two LIU campuses' athletic departments in the summer of 2019.[1][2]
The Sharks finished winless in their first season. A month after the season ended, starting quarterback Clay Beathard was stabbed to death in Nashville, Tennessee.[3]
Preseason
Preseason coaches' poll
The NEC released their preseason coaches' poll on July 24, 2019. The Sharks were picked to finish in 8th (last) place.[4]
Predicted finish
Team (1st place votes)
1
Duquesne (7)
2
Sacred Heart (1)
3
Central Connecticut
4
Wagner
5
Bryant
6
Saint Francis
7
Robert Morris
8
LIU
Preseason All–Northeast Conference team
The LIU Sharks were the only conference team to have no players selected for the 2019 All–Northeast Conference Football Preseason Team.[4]