For NIC sports, winning leads to doom

The NIC Board meeting last week brought out a large crowd to listen to Athletic Director Al Williams and NIC President Joe Dunlap explain why they were proposing a move from the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC) to the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) and why the Board's decision was needed immediately.

The main reason is the shortage of money allocated to the athletic department. One of the primary reasons expressed was the increasing cost of travel due largely to the various teams qualifying for national tournaments. Apparently success is a problem.

The SWAC conference is one of the strongest in the nation. It's a rare year when one of the teams doesn't win a national championship. NIC was national champion last year in wrestling, their 14th such achievement, and goes to nationals yearly. Women's basketball won it all three years ago and has gone in other years along with volleyball, golf, and softball a few years back.

Williams has spoken on numerous occasions lauding the success of NIC teams, how in recent years all of our winter teams, men's and women's basketball, women's volleyball and wrestling, have been ranked in the top 10 in the nation and many times have been No. 1. Now the reaction from these two men seems to be we can't afford to be so successful, can't afford to go to national tournaments.

The option they present is to join the NWAACC, where we're guaranteed of never going to a national tournament because that conference does not allow participation in any tournament beyond their own conference tournament.

It's a step down, there's no question about it. The NWAACC, basically junior colleges throughout Oregon and Washington, doesn't allow any recruiting of athletes except from adjoining states. Furthermore they don't allow any recruiting of international athletes.

This alone would reduce the quality of play. The top two young women on this year's women's basketball team are from Australia. Three years ago when NIC was national champion in that sport the outstanding player was from Turkey - and later represented Turkey in the last summer Olympics.

Bottom line, joining the NWAACC would very likely bury NIC there forever. There is very little likelihood of ever being able to rejoin the SWAC and a great loss in prestige.

President Dunlap explained how the financial crisis relates to national economy. When the economy is bad more people return to college to improve their education. When the economy improves, as it has recently, fewer people enroll and thus there is less money available for athletics. The economy will always fluctuate. I would hope the athletics budget could be managed to not be dependent on such fluctuations.

I have no problem with the president's message. The problem is with the timing. He had to be aware of the financial problems last September when school started. Why weren't the boosters and community notified then? That would have provided time to search for solutions to resolve the problem. And there are other options.

Dunlap said he waited till spring semester to see how enrollment might change. By the time that was known it was February and he and Williams needed to meet with NWAACC officials to see if NIC would even be invited to join.

The NIC Booster Club was officially notified on Tuesday, Feb. 25. The College Board of Trustees met on Wednesday, Feb. 26. Williams and Dunlap wanted an answer that night, essentially giving the Board no time to study the situation and possible options, even though this may be the most important decision the school has ever had to make regarding athletics.

This also presents questions as to the legality of even talking with the NWAACC without prior approval by the Board of Trustees.

The Board delayed a decision till they had more information and agreed to an extra meeting in two weeks to gather additional information before voting on joining the NWAACC or remaining in the SWAC. Williams and Dunlap reluctantly agreed to a two week delay.

There is no turning back if we slide into the oblivion known as the NWAACC. There is no chance to shine on the national stage and we'll have few players capable of ever going on to a D1 school while now we have many who perform very well at major colleges. Several NIC grads are also now playing professional ball elsewhere. We'll have no international students who also bring a value in providing the diversity of learning of other lands and other cultures. It's a no win situation.

I feel as though these two men are taking "the sky is falling" approach rather than looking for solutions and involving the community in this endeavor.

There are strong economic benefits to the community by remaining in the SWAC. When those teams visit they check into local motels, eat meals in local restaurants, even do some shopping in local stores. Several of the NWAACC schools would come to town, play a game, and leave the same night. The economic loss to Coeur d'Alene would be substantial over the course of a school year.

Williams has said in the past he feels we have one of the best coaching staffs in the country, if not the very best. Only time will tell but if this change occurs I would expect some coaches would leave. They develop pride just like boosters and moving downward and out of national consideration is a huge blow to the pride of those who love what North Idaho College has become in the NJCAA.

Some things to consider should include examining the bookkeeping procedures for grant in aid money. A boo keeping change has been made in the system that severely hurt athletics. There is another fund, under the President's direction, which was established to pay transportation to national tournaments, something that can't be budgeted yearly as it's not known how many teams might qualify to go to nationals. President Dunlap seemed to have no understanding of that.

Another might be a different allocation of money from non-scholarship funded "walk-on" athletes who come to NIC with the hope of making the team but receive no grant-in-aid funding. Wrestling coach Pat Whitcomb has 13 wrestlers receiving grant-in-aid money and 47 walk-ons this year who received no funding. Tuition and fees alone from those 47 amount to over $300,000 and they spend nearly another $450,000 for room and board. It's likely none of these young men would be here if it were not for athletics and the hope of wrestling for a team with 14 national titles. The college would be that much deeper in debt without them. The overall cost for a student to attend NIC has risen 483 percent in the past 10 years and now stands at $12,300 per year. The athletic budget isn't close to even doubling.

Eliminating sports is not a popular option but it's been done before and is preferable as a temporary measure to balance the budget with the hope of soon reinstating the teams. Two teams might be all that's required. I would rather lose two teams for the immediate future rather than lose membership in the more prestigious SWAC conference. Even this reduction would still keep the number of sports in line with other schools in the SWAC. And there are possibly other options if time weren't now so critical.

The other SWAC schools don't participate in either men's or women's soccer. Both involve sizeable numbers of athletes. Dropping those sports for the time being would go further toward balancing the budget than teams with smaller number. I don't like the idea but it could be a short term solution rather than dropping into the NWAACC forever.

But it takes more than 24 hours, the time the A.D. and President asked of the Board. Two weeks isn't nearly enough either but it's better than nothing. If you're proud of NIC and proud of the national spotlight which the athletic program has brought to NIC, the time is now to make your voice heard, and if you have a spare million dollars they could use that too. You can voice your concerns by contacting the Board of Trustees at board@nic.edu.

Jack McNeel is a Kootenai County resident.