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By Paul Delaney
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EWU trustees OK staying in 'Sky, D-I

Vote on athletics future will require ‘money where mouth is’ pledge for fans

 

Last updated 6/17/2021 at 7:33am



CHENEY — In what might be considered a strong show of support for the future of athletics at Eastern Washington University, the school’s Board of Trustees voted 6-1 during a special June 11 meeting to remain a Division I program in the Big Sky Conference.

However, the school’s governing body also included a caveat challenging fans of this level of competition that its time to put money where their loud voices have been.

Trustee Jim Murphy, referencing a full-page newspaper ad in the June 6 Spokesman Review in support of EWU remaining D-I said, ”I think there’s a built in opportunity there to explore the money where your mouth is sort of concept,” to vastly improve EWU’s giving to athletics. It ranks last amongst Big Sky Conference institutions.

“I think we should absolutely make that (fundraising) request very explicit and immediately if we if we go with your recommendation,” trustee Jay Manning told May.

May told the board that work is already underway on enhancing fundraising efforts for Eastern athletics and said a report would be presented at the group’s October meeting.

The vote came after hearing interim EWU President Dr. David May, repeat the recommendation he made a few weeks ago that sports at the school remain status quo.

Other comments came from trustees — and a lone public commentor D-I critic Dr. David Syphers of the EWU faculty — each making cases for their points of view. While not specifically saying it, the BOT, outside of student trustee Abigail Greiner, hinted their willingness to remain NCAA Division I in a pair of opportunities to go on the record during the meeting.

The move to stay in the Big Sky Conference was OK’d rather than some of the alternatives presented by consultants from the PICTOR Group who conducted a rigorous study of Eastern athletics over the past 10 months and arriving at these other alternatives:

Stay in D-I but drop football.

Drop to D-II.

Move to D-III like Whitworth University.

Moving to a D-I conference that did not sponsor football — like the West Coast Conference (WCC) of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) — presented issues with mixing a public university with private religious institutions. And travel in the WAC would likely be more expensive than presently in the Big Sky.

In opening remarks May told the board while he sees some benefits by moving to a Division-I conference without football, “There are, however, I think benefits that come from being in Division I and sponsoring football.” He did not elaborate.

May also added, “To change athletic conferences or reduce the number of sports sponsored could be detrimental to the university’s pursuit of its mission, particularly through the institutional strategic plan.”

Greiner, a senior who is graduating and will leave the board, gave a different perspective, that from students who pay some of the cost of supporting an athletic program that required nearly $10 million in help form the general fund.

“I feel in my heart and my gut and with what I have learned that agreeing with the Division I recommendation is not right,” the Moses Lake native said.

According to university data, athletics received almost $9.79 million of direct support in fiscal year 2019 — a figure that amounted to 4% of the university’s overall $230.48 million operating budget. That is an increase from 2.9% of the budget in FY 2018 according to a March 11 Cheney Free Press story.

Part of that increase came from a $2 million infusion approved by the board to help cover some deficits. The Covid-19 pandemic and declining funding from the state led the board to cancel that infusion in 2020, and a $5 million reduction in expenses over the past five years — mainly from reducing salary and benefits, reductions in personnel and reduced scholarship commitments — brings the Athletic Department’s budget for FY 2022 to $13.3 million — about what it was in 2014.

Dr. Syphers, who co-authored a 2020 report on athletic spending, suggesting that money would be better spent on academics, said in public comment time, “We need to honestly weigh the costs and benefits of athletics against each other.”

In follow-up questioning, he provided an analogy of a $10,000 automobile vs. the $100,000 model. “The salesperson had better be able to talk my ear off about the relative benefits of the more expensive car,” Syphers wrote in an email.

“If all they can say is how cars in general help people travel around, and many people own one, then I’m going with the cheaper option,” or in this case the lesser expenditures for athletics.

In his testimony Syphers also raised the ire of some trustees on a couple of fronts.

Some took umbrage to his suggestion that a vote to remain in D-I athletics meant Eastern would be a sports-first, academic second university. Trustee Robert Whaley said that if that were the case with Eastern he would resign from his position.

Whaley also did not appreciate Syphers’ comment, that “You can’t dispatch it with less than 10 minutes of discussion,” alluding to the suggestion that whatever decision was to be made came from Friday’s discussion.

“All of us have been talking in the community trying to get a feel for what people thought and it’s a deeply explored subject by every trustee,” Whaley said.

Syphers suggested that a vote in favor of remaining in the Big Sky meant “That’s not the kind of university I want to work at,” he said, adding that “I am casually considering other jobs.”

Paul Delaney is a retired Free Press Publishing reporter and can be reached at pauldelaney53@comcast.net.

 

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