Status of the transition

With the July 1st deadline looming, folks at UVSC are scrambling to get all things university in order.


UVSC transition under way
School will officially become a university on July 1, 2008
(Deseret Morning News, September 28 2007)

There are a lot of things that need fixin' on campus, just check out the comments section in the article above and you'll find folks bitchin' about things like the Math Department and student services. And how can you blame them?

But the best part of the article was this little nugget from our friends in the Athletics:

"Basically, our response is, we're ready to go through Division I transition," said Megan Kennedy, an assistant athletic director, explaining how UVSC is in its fifth of six years of provisional Division I status with the NCAA.


First of all, the move from college to university has nothing to do with the NCAA or Division I status. UVSC could start a Ph.D program tomorrow and it wouldn't change the fact that the school is not in a conference, and it is no closer to getting in a conference than it was five years ago.

Much like a certain war, UVSC Athletics has never come up with an exit strategy for when it fails to get into a conference next year. Will the school continue to be an independent? Can it afford to operate without conference funding, not to mention a far-flung travel schedule? Will fans support a team that will never develop rivalries with other conference schools? Will athletes sign scholarship agreements knowing that they have little to no chance of participating in national championships?

Yet the Athletic department says "We are ready!"

Even when you don't have a football team, you can still argue about football

If you are feeling a little more socially responsible lately it is probably because it is Ethics Week at UVSC. And with all the contentious ethical issues out there nothing gets people riled up faster than football.

2 UVSC profs deem BCS unethical
(Deseret Morning News, September 20 2007)

Maybe its just UVSC's way of extending an olive branch to all the Cougars and Utes out there, but professors Dennis Farnsworth and Jon Moore say that the schools in the Mountain West Conference should join other disgruntled athletic conferences and file an antitrust lawsuit against the Bowl Championship Series.

PHOTOS BY DON LAVANGE

UVSC Athletics latest attempt at manufacturing tradition

No doubt students returning to classes tomorrow will be assailed by the numerous hawkers, haranguers, and pitchmen that roam the halls. And once again UVSC Athletics will cry out a desperate plea for attention. And this time there total lack of relevance on the commuter campus will be called "The Unknown Zone".

Now we are not too sure why fans would want to be part of "The Unknown Zone", but what really causes us to scratch our heads is the fact that they will now have to pay for the privilege to root, root, root for the home team.

Fishing for fans (College Times, August 20 2007)

That's right, instead of students not showing up to a free game they will now pay 20 bucks for an all sports pass, and then not show up.

This is hardly the first time that Athletic Director Mike Jacobsen and his crew of flunkies have tried desperately to stay relevant at a school that just doesn't seem to care at all about athletics. It seems every year since the big move to Division I provisional status, the department comes up with some new scheme to pack the McKay. But despite pizza give-aways, free admission with student ID, and the exciting play of Ronnie Price, attendance was better when playing at the junior college level.

But this latest example of ill-conceived public relations may not be completely Athletics fault. For the past 5 years Student Government has shoveled tons student fee dollars onto the sinking ship that is UVSC Athletics. They have invested millions in Athletics, and with time running out on the provisional clock, they now are doing all they can to bail them out.

Will it work? Will students pay for something they never took advantage of when it was free? When will student government and the administration realize that the school might be best served when Athletics goes the way of the Dodo?

UVSC secures Hunsaker for another five years

We here at The Pipeline can't believe we missed this one, but better late than never. It was announced two weeks ago that Wolverine Men's basketball coach Dick Hunsaker has signed another five-year deal with the school.

UVSC's Hunsaker signs five-year contract extension (Daily Herald)

While the piece does not include how much Hunsaker will be making, what is made abundantly clear is that the coach knows how to win. During his first five seasons as head coach he garnered an impressive 104-43 record.

While it is important for an athletic program to keep winners around, The Pipeline wonders if the contract is a smart move seeing how the school's Division I provisional status is winding down, and it doesn't look like the school is any closer to being accepted into a conference.

The big question remains, what will happen to UVSC Athletics when their provisional clock runs out in 2009? One thing is for sure...Dick Hunsaker will still be collecting a paycheck.