5 Questions about Hockey

To start with, losing Hockey at BG would be an absolute tragedy. Although I do not anymore, I spent many happy hours in the Ice Arena, and I think hockey is a part of the University's identity. I would be very happy if hockey at BG was saved.

I also know that we are in times when you can't always keep everything that is part of your identity. I know people who have had to close businesses they have spent their lives building. That's a tragedy, too. People losing jobs just a year or two from retirement. That's a tragedy, too. Good people losing homes, even those who had mortgages they could afford--isn't that part of your identity? That's a tragedy, too.

I just think that lost inside the strong emotional arguments about the hockey program is a lack of recognition that we are in deep, deep trouble...and we haven't gotten to the bottom yet. If it has been 80 years since things have been this bad, we need to be prepared to take some steps we never might have considered before.

Until proven otherwise, I believe this is a situation with no good options. If there are, I am ready to hear about them.

With that in mind, some questions.

1. If you don't think that the Athletic Director and the President are doing this because they believe it is absolutely necessary, what other possible motivation could they have? What possible reason would they have for enduring this kind of controversy for something they didn't think was 100% necessary?

2. Can you acknowledge that there are severe and unprecedented pressures on the university's finances that have caused the once unthinkable to become thinkable? If you do, then do you have any ideas on how the university can maintain a hockey program and also answer the budget challenges?

Follow up: Yes, I know you have asked for a bunch of budget information from the athletic department and you either haven't gotten it or think there is something they aren't showing you. Here's the deal. If they are talking about dropping a program, that's not the kind of budget gap you close by making fewer photocopies. We're talking strategic cuts, not tactical ones. If there are other ways to close the gap, they are going to be similar in scope. So what are your ideas?

Follow up #2: If you say dropping to I-AA football, I do think that a case can be made for that. That wouldn't be my preference. I do not think it is a realistic step for the university to take.

3. Can you accept that the current economic conditions (and impact on the university) could not have been anticipated when the university raised money to renovate the Ice Arena?

4. If the choice is between keeping hockey on a starvation diet and dropping hockey, which would you choose?

5. A financial issue for the University is a tuition freeze. Do you believe that keeping tuition affordable for the students who come to BG--who are disproportionally more likely to be the first ones in their family to attend college--is more important than athletics?