Western Washington Drops Football After 98 Years
Western Washington’s played its last football game. The Bellingham school annnounced Thursday’s that it’s dropping its NCAA Division II program in order to save the other athletic programs at the school.
Do you think WWU did the right thing? Do you think it will impact Central Washington, now offering just one of four NCAA Division II programs in the west?
Here’s part the press release from Western:
“I have made this decision with a heavy heart as I am well aware of the profound consequences it has on the student-athletes on the football team, their dedicated and hard-working coaches, and on our passionate supporters on campus, in the community and region and on our alumni,” said Western President Bruce Shepard.
“I feel strongly that we need to offer a high-quality program of intercollegiate athletics that is commensurate with our status as a premier university.
“It is the focus on maintaining overall intercollegiate program quality and doing so at a time when we and all universities are being challenged financially that drives the recommendation of the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and my decision to accept that recommendation,” Shepard said.
Athletics expenditures have grown more rapidly than revenues over recent years, due in part to increased travel costs, field rentals and a relatively flat growth in gift and donation dollars, according to a release from the university.
This has been compounded by additional budget reductions and the more recent substantial cuts facing the University. Among all the options considered, the only way to ensure Western can maintain a strong program of intercollegiate athletics is to eliminate football, the release stated.
Another key consideration was the prohibitive cost of running a NCAA Division II football program with the lack of geographically close opponents. Western was one of just five Division II schools (along with Central Washington, Western Oregon, Humboldt State and Dixie State) that sponsor football in the western United States.
The coaches and players were notified Thursday that the football program had ended. All current student-athletes will be allowed to retain their scholarships if they remain in school and those transferring to other schools will be eligible to play immediately.
“In my 22 years as director of athletics at Western, this is by far the toughest decision that I have been a part of,” said WWU Director of Athletics Lynda Goodrich.
“Once the decision was made, we wanted to make this announcement as soon as possible to allow our players with eligibility remaining to look for new schools, our coaches to look for new job opportunities, and for prospects we were recruiting to reassess the choices available to them.”
Football began at Western in 1903 with the only stoppages during World War I (1917-20) and World War II (1943-45).
The Vikings played 797 games during their 98 seasons compiling a record of 383-380-34. They won seven or more games in 13 campaigns, eight of those between 1989 to 2001.
Western made five national playoff appearances, all during the 1990s. The school’s best season was in 1996 when the Vikings reached the championship game of the NAIA Division II playoffs.
The Vikings finished 6-5 in 2008, defeating Colorado School of Mines 25-10 in the Dixie Rotary Bowl Dec. 6 at St. George, Utah.
Western Washington won a total of 13 conference titles including GNAC titles in 2001 and 2003 and Columbia Football Association crowns in 1995, 1996, 1999 and 2000.
The Vikings also won Tri-Normal Conference titles in 1923 and 1924, the WINCO championship in 1938 and Evergreen Conference titles in 1951, 1958, 1969 and 1971. They also won the NAIA District 1 championship in 1976 in a playoff game with Pacific Lutheran.
“This is a difficult situation for Western Washington University and the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Unfortunately is a reflection of the current state of our national and regional economies,” GNAC Commissioner Richard Hannan said.
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Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
January 9th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Sad day for football in the Northwest. I don’t think this will happen at Central Washington, because I’m pretty sure the school president and the athletic director want to keep their jobs. But I hope that the people involved at CWU will do everything in their power to make sure it never does.
January 10th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
““It is the focus on maintaining overall intercollegiate program quality and doing so at a time when we and all universities are being challenged financially that drives the recommendation of the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and my decision to accept that recommendation,” Shepard said.”
Finally. Decisions made to benefit the entire school and programs. Here is a school that will survive and thrive in my opinion. Decisions based on past history without looking at the current life events and times of change will lose their focus, intent on keeping something that must go.
Look at newspapers folding…eg: Seattle PI. Times have changed and the successful will adjust with those times, hard and painful though it is.
Congratulations to a brave school officials stepping up to the plate of reality. They made hard decisions in order to be here decades to come.
Sharon O’Hara
January 15th, 2009 at 12:05 am
Sharon,
I’m with you. Make the tough decisions! I think we should drop all non-essential university programs immediately! Any funding for intramural sports should be wiped out. Any spending on community outreach should be cut. Experimental project funding- gone. Art funding is totally out of the question….(hey, art is purely subjective anyway, right?) Let’s strip our colleges and universities into learning “annexes” where we can get our noses to the grindstone and get an education as to the true meaning of homogony and unified thought! Yes, the tough financial decisions are the correct ones! But hey, sacrifice the long term to balance the short term budget, right?
The “plate of reality” is that public college is about academics AND the collective exposure to many different experiences- not just the ones you are personally comfortable with or are willing to accept as being beneficial to you.
January 15th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Whatever rings your bell, kolege…drop all non-essential programs too?
Personally, I admire people who can make the hard, unpopular decision for the overall benefit…and has nothing to do with what I like or dislike in sport or art.
Most folks call it balance and survival.
What do you call it?
Sharon O’Hara
March 21st, 2009 at 11:38 pm
It’s rough to see a football program shut down. However, in light of the economic downturn it’s wise for any institution to cease or pause spending in areas that don’t pay for themselves. I am from St. George, Utah and had it not been for a multi-million dollar donation from a generous donor, our Divison II team would have certainly faced a similar fate.
April 7th, 2009 at 7:38 am
Dixie State is currently seeking to become a football member of the NAIA’s Frontier Conference. Similar to the situation with Nebraska Wesleyan and Quincy. Look for similar action from Central Washington.