Editorial: The time may be right for UWM to drop its athletic programs

[mu_hilltopper]

Found this .. funny / interesting:




Article printed from OnMilwaukee.com:



09:00 a.m. May 01, 2012
The time may be right for UWM to drop its athletic programs
by Dave Begel


The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee athletic department has been a mess of late.

If ever there was a perfect time for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to bite the bullet and take a huge and dramatic step, this is it.

Now is the time for UWM to end the folly of a collegiate athletic program and get on about the business of building a reputation in some field other than women's cross country or swimming and diving.

UWM is going through athletic directors who come and go with little logic in their arrival and lots of secrecy in their departures.

The latest departure is Rick Costello, who was fired a couple of weeks ago, just a year and a half into his reign that was highlighted by a rebellion of his soccer players, the resignation of a high profile coach and a nutcase dream of creating a Division I football team on campus.

Nobody said why he was fired from his $200,000 a year job but everybody wished everybody else well and success in all future endeavors.

Sure they did.

Almost every time this guy opened his mouth I found myself shaking my head and muttering "He can't be serious, can he?"

He wanted a football team. He wanted to build a basketball arena in the middle of the densest population area in the city. He couldn't keep alumni, students or his coaches happy. Or his bosses, apparently.

Here's the situation right now at UWM. They need a new athletic director. They need a new soccer coach because the old one was fired by the athletic director who just got fired. The soccer coach got fired because he apparently swore and stomped his feet and even used some ethnic slurs when he was talking to his team. He even apologized for his language, but still got fired. Then they also are looking for a new women's basketball coach since the old coach left that juggernaut to work in the alumni relations department.

We also have a huge study of the athletic department going on, which was supposed to be paid for with $80,000 from the coffers. It was this study that was going to be used to further the argument that they should build a basketball arena on campus, even though there is no good place to actually build it.

Fortunately, some smart guy, realizing that the whole athletic department was in disarray, cancelled the contract after spending just $15,000 that had already been spent.

History is not on the side of the university. First they hired George Koonce, who left under mysterious circumstances after a year. Then they hired Costello, who was fired under mysterious circumstances after just a shade over a year. The same people who made those two hires are essentially the same people who will hire the next one.

Doesn't give you much hope, does it?

This just seems like a perfect storm. Lots of high profile vacancies. No boss. An investigation that may well result in some NCAA infractions. Summer vacation is approaching so the throngs of students who go to the UWM games will be busy working as lifeguards, lawn fixers and fast food servers.

Hardly anyone would even notice if they dropped athletics.

This is the chance for the university to realize other dreams which are much more realistic than having a football team, a new stadium or a berth in the Final Four, Elite Eight or Sweet 16.

People need to come to the hard realization that the words college athletics and UWM don't belong in the same sentence. This is an athletic program destined to be mired in mediocrity, or less, so let's cut bait before we keep draining resources into a black hole.

This university has a dynamic leader in new Chancellor Mike Lovell and an outstanding faculty, adept at both teaching and research. It has a commitment to being the best "freshwater" research institution in the world.

This is the time I say "go for it." Build your reputation. Help slake the thirst for, and absence of, drinkable water in some of the roughest and driest spots in the world.

Developing valuable and drinkable water for the whole planet may seem like a huge task. But it pales in comparison to the pipe dream of creating a big-time athletic program at a school where almost nobody cares if the Panthers win, lose or even show up.



Web address: http://onmilwaukee.com/articles/begeluwmathletics.html

[Spotcheck Billy]

funny timing, this is Micheal Hunt's column a few days ago on jsonline

In the next few weeks, UW-Milwaukee will assemble a search committee to hire yet another athletic director.

Here are the mistakes I hope it doesn't make:

UWM doesn't necessarily need a lieutenant from a major-conference school with a $100 million-plus athletic budget. That person might not be prepared to deal with the issues facing UWM, such as grass-roots fundraising and image reconstruction.

For example, someone from the University of Texas, accustomed to living in an athletic penthouse, might not have the patience or insight to restore a fixer-upper.

And the committee shouldn't be so egg-headed as to require candidates to have at least a master's in sports administration because the Panthers might miss out on some freethinking people who know how to see through UWM-type problems and create the right marketing niche for UWM sports in this city.

I took exactly one postgraduate class in an unrelated field, and even a dope like me could advise UWM chancellor Mike Lovell on what the school should do to turn things around athletically.

Let's start with image. First thing, drop the hyphen that relegates UWM to the children's table.

A 30,000-enrollment school must be called the University of Milwaukee for proper athletic branding. It certainly doesn't hurt in places such as Memphis, Cincinnati, Louisville, Houston and Pittsburgh.

The UW System Board of Regents won't like it, but so what? Declare your symbolic independence and create a distinct brand from the mother ship in Madison.

Next, get men's basketball back on campus. The only revenue sport can't go on downtown. Whether the Klotsche Center is expanded or room is somehow found to build a modest-sized arena, there are enough students within walking distance and potential patrons from the nearby and wealthy Lake Park neighborhood to make the investment work.

Even then, the program can't sell itself. The coach has to go dorm-to-dorm, door-to-door and business-to-business to promote the team like no one has since Bruce Pearl was willing to do it with an evangelistic fervor, all the way to the Sweet 16.

Next, promote the fact that UWM has the only Division I baseball program in the state and do something about the awful state of the facility that keeps a worthy program in obscurity.

It is an absolute shame that UWM baseball is subjected to the off-campus Henry Aaron Field, the worst in the Horizon League. It's also a shame that good baseball players leave the state after getting a look at the field UWM shares with many high school teams.

The next AD needs to take advantage of the fact that Milwaukee is home to not only the Brewers, but the office of the commissioner of major league baseball. It would not hurt to ask about the legacy that could be a new Henry Aaron / Allan H. Selig Stadium.

Next, stop neglecting the soccer program. It was once a top-20 power until it began losing its coaches to higher-profile schools. Engelmann Field, the one on-campus facility of note, is a hidden jewel. Do what is necessary to make it an attraction because its charms could be irresistible to the romantic in a lot of sports fans.

Finally - and this is where the new AD cannot be afraid of butting heads with small-thinkers in this town - UWM should restore football.

Adjacent Shorewood High School is almost ready-made for a small, start-up non-scholarship program. Have a fundraiser for bleachers that would seat about 5,000. Better yet, find a stadium that is about to be razed and buy its seats on the cheap.

Hire UW-Whitewater coach Lance Leipold, who has built the best Division III program in the country. He does it without scholarships and with players from suburban Milwaukee, Madison and Northern Illinois. You're telling me he couldn't make it work at a place that deserves to be called the University of Milwaukee?

OK, one more thing.

Milwaukeeans love sports and a bargain. Not everyone can or wants to pay Madison ticket prices. With smart fundraising and the right kind of vision, there is no reason why UWM could not, within perspective and reason, fill that niche to create a higher profile for itself in the largest market in the state.

Send email to mhunt@journalsentinel.com

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/panthers/heres-what-uwmilwaukee-needs-to-do-with-its-athletic-program-h2576cp-149448955.html

[warriorchick]

Let's start with image. First thing, drop the hyphen that relegates UWM to the children's table.

A 30,000-enrollment school must be called the University of Milwaukee for proper athletic branding. It certainly doesn't hurt in places such as Memphis, Cincinnati, Louisville, Houston and Pittsburgh.

Excellent idea!  In fact, every D1 hyphen school should do that.  UNLV should become the University of Las Vegas! How cool would that be?   UIC should become the University of Chicago!  Oh, wait......

[tower912]

I recently took my daughter on a campus visit to UW-Milwaukee.   I was impressed by the campus more that I thought I would be.    They have done good work since I was last there 25 years ago.   But in the 5 hours I was on campus, I never caught a whiff of enthusiasm for the athletic program.    I have sensed it at other schools I have visited with her, even ones with lousy athletics.    At UW-M......nada.   I had to excuse myself from the tour and go peek in the arena on my own, because the tour guide ( a very nice young lady) was so busy describing student access to the athletic center, that she never actually took us into their arena.   

[GGGG]

Mike Hunt is a moron.  He fails to answer one question....how do you fund all of these dumb ideas that he has?

UWM is a mess.  Changing the name of the school isn't going to change anything.  Playing in a high school football stadium would be an embarrassment...UW-Whitewater has a better facility than that right now.

They have to seriously question why they have athletics.  What is the point?  Where does it fit in the life of the University?  A lot of good universities have de-emphasized it...dropping to Division 2 may not be a bad idea.

[mugrad2006]

Excellent idea!  In fact, every D1 hyphen school should do that.  UNLV should become the University of Las Vegas! How cool would that be?   UIC should become the University of Chicago!  Oh, wait......

Not to mention the University of Memphis used to be known as Memphis State.  It wasn't the University of Tennessee-Memphis.

[Brewtown Andy]

They need a new soccer coach because the old one was fired by the athletic director who just got fired. The soccer coach got fired because he apparently swore and stomped his feet and even used some ethnic slurs when he was talking to his team. He even apologized for his language, but still got fired.

Is it just me or did that come off as dismissive of the alleged ethnic slurs?

Then they also are looking for a new women's basketball coach since the old coach left that juggernaut to work in the alumni relations department.

I'm amazed that Begel didn't demand that UWM take this opportunity to definitely cut women's hoops.

http://onmilwaukee.com/sports/articles/WNBAhascometoofar.html

[LON]

Is it just me or did that come off as dismissive of the alleged ethnic slurs?

I'm amazed that Begel didn't demand that UWM take this opportunity to definitely cut women's hoops.

http://onmilwaukee.com/sports/articles/WNBAhascometoofar.html

To be fair to Begel, he definitely looks like a guy that would brush off ethnic slurs.  And holy crap, if he wasn't so fat I'd wager his eyebrows could lift him to flight.

[PBRme]

How much of the UW-M(ilwaukee) student fees are used to fund athletics?  Could also be a way of reducing the cost of higher education

[GGGG]

How much of the UW-M(ilwaukee) student fees are used to fund athletics?  Could also be a way of reducing the cost of higher education

Well it looks like $100 per semester, and I don't think students who live at home need to pay them:

http://www4.uwm.edu/bfs/depts/bursar/tuition/fall-2011-segregated-fees.cfm

[warthog-driver]

Isn't UWM a commuter school? There is no campus life after 1600 as everyone is back home in Muskego and Oconomowoc. I always thought UWM was a place for those who didn't get into the other UW-M, couldn't afford to go away for school, or couldn't do something else. Why tax dollars are wasted on inter-collegiate sports there is beyond me. The hubris is Madison worthy.