September 23, 2006

The Tide has Turned

Despite the inactivity on this web site durint the past 20 months, there has still been active discussions on the future of Men's XC and T&F at Western.

Just witness the posts to our discussion forum at http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/BringBackTrack We have averaged about 10 posts per month until the last 6 months where there have been 20 posts per month. OK...I admit that most are from the prolific Bob Parks, former Western Asst Coach and head coach at Eastern Michigan for many years.

Did we play a role in the firing of President Bailey? Who can say. What we do know is that the first of many bad decisions in her administration was the elimination of Men's XC and Indoor and Outdoor T&F.

The will to return this legendary program to Western still exists in the community, the alumni, and the student body. There even appears some change in thinking by the trustees and the interim administration.

The new president will have a lot of challenges, but high on the list will be healing wounds with faculty, community, and alumni. The return of T&F would be a low cost bridge to these university stakeholders.

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Western needs to heal sports-dropping wounds

Thursday, September 21, 2006

By Peter Livingstone-McNelis

In reading Graham Crouch's Sept. 2 front page article in the Kalamazoo Gazette on Western Michigan University's football program being described as the bread and butter of WMU's athletic program, I couldn't believe how distorted the thinking has become at Western.

Athletic Director Kathy Beauregard explained that all other athletic teams are dependent on football making more than the $1 million that the WMU program is expected to LOSE!

Of course, many would say you shouldn't get down on this year's football team if they only lose $1 million since it is less than they lost each of the last three years, not including facility improvements like the $900,000 spent this year on artificial turf that was budgeted for $700,000 or the $25 million that was spent on the glorious indoor football practice facility, also known as the Seeyle Center, which was supposed to accommodate an indoor track that the university solicited track alumni donations to fund.

It is simply ridiculous that other athletic teams should be dependent on the aptitude of the football team on the field or lack of aptitude of the football team in the classroom. The fact football lost five scholarships after being sanctioned by the NCAA for not meeting the minimum academic standards should not mean true scholar-athletes such as those on the men's cross country, indoor/outdoor track teams and women's synchronized skating teams can't compete. These 100 athletes had a combined grade-point average of well over 3.0. Is not Western Michigan University a place of higher education that values scholarship?

Personally, I am tired of hearing the lie that the revenue generated from a Division I-A football program supports the so-called non-revenue-generating sports. In reality, it is because of the fiscal irresponsibility of Division I-A football programs that many non-revenue-generating sports have been cut.

In fact, about half of Division I-A football programs lose money. From 1993 to 2000, not one Mid-American football program had a year in the black. It is time now for Western to demonstrate fiscal responsibility by bringing back the only four varsity sports that actually made money for the university (factoring in tuition dollars garnered from non-scholarship athletes) and which the recommendation committee at the time of the cuts said the university could not financially afford to lose.

We can only hope that the new administration will realize that more than 1,000 track and field alumni matter, especially since many of them graduated when Western was known as a teaching college and are no longer referring the students and athletes they coach to Western!

If Western is going to rebound, it must first heal old wounds and acknowledge its mistakes! The money is in the athletic program. The football program has shown us this time and time again!

Peter Livingstone-McNelis

President of the Bring Back Track Association.
He resides in Kalamazoo.