NIC considers new gym, new sports

COEUR d’ALENE — North Idaho College is considering adding at least two new sports, said vice president for student services Graydon Stanley on Wednesday. If approved, the programs would begin no earlier than fall 2020.

Stanley is heading up a committee to look into whether NIC and the community would benefit from adding more sports to its repertoire.

NIC President Rick MacLennan commissioned the committee after the board of trustees broached the topic at its June 27 meeting, said Stanley.

At that meeting, board members singled out men’s baseball and women’s wrestling as possible new athletic programs for NIC, Stanley said.

Because of Title IX requirements which require NIC to “maintain participation numbers, financial support, and opportunity in equitable ratios that are reflective of our current campus makeup,” Stanley said there won’t be a recommendation to only add men’s baseball, for example. NIC is about evenly split between male and female students.

The committee had its first meeting on Monday, will meet every other week, and will issue a report to MacLennan no later than March 1, 2019, Stanley said.

Its work will revolve around three issues: community interest, financial viability, and the impact to enrollment. Stanley said the committee will survey superintendents, principals, and families in the five northern counties on sports they would be interested in supporting. He said the committee will also investigate whether adding new sports would make sense for NIC financially.

Costs for current athletic programs will be compared to anticipated revenue from additional students who may enroll at NIC to participate in the new sports, Stanley said.

Finally, the committee will ascertain whether NIC’s enrollment, retention, and completion rates would benefit from more student-athletes at the college. Stanley mentioned that student-athletes typically graduate at higher rates than their peers, thanks in part to a more-structured academic environment required by their athletics programs.

Stanley emphasized that the committee is looking at the question without particular sports in mind. “We are not moving forward with the idea about certain sports,” he said. Rather, the commmitee is guided by the possible overall impact to NIC. “We’re approaching it very holistically that way,” he said.

Due to Northwest Athletic Conference rules that require around two years of lead time before member colleges field teams in a new sport, Stanley said the earliest NIC would see new athletes compete would be fall 2020, and that participation at that early date may be as independents instead of as full conference members.

Stanley said it was “absolutely coincidental,” but said it would be well-timed if NIC both added to its athletics programs and expanded its athletics square footage.

The board of trustees voted unanimously Wednesday night to authorize $34,000 for an architectural firm to begin the design process for a possible future athletic facility and parking structure.

MacLennan said the step is one of the results of a yearlong integrated planning process. NIC took a serious, integrated look at all its current and future needs, MacLennan said. “A big part of that was a physical plant structure to meet needs now and in the future.”

Board chair Christie Wood observed that some of NIC’s current facilities don’t meet the institution’s program needs.

Trustee Ken Howard pointed out that the $34,000 does not prioritize a possible athletic facility and parking structure over other needs at NIC. The $34,000 will come from NIC’s capital reserve fund.