One month after ending its 2008 season with a victory over Colorado School of Mines in the Dixie Rotary Bowl, Western Washington University announced Thursday that it is eliminating its intercollegiate football program due to budget constraints.
That decision was an absolute surprise to everyone around the program, including Vikings head coach Robin Ross. Players were notified at an afternoon meeting and the reaction, said several team members, was one of disbelief, outrage and tears.
“I was like in shock,” said defensive back Dustin Adams from Lake Stevens High School. “I just heard the news, put my head down and started tearing up.”
“It was horrifying,” said wide receiver David McMurray of Granite Falls and Lake Stevens High School. “It brought tears to my eyes immediately.”
The feeling, said defensive lineman Casey Hamlett, a graduate of Edmonds-Woodway High School, “is like losing your family. … When we were in there, it was very upsetting and shocking. We were really angry. It was like, ‘Why are they taking this away from us?’ There was extreme disbelief.”
Athletic costs at the Bellingham school increased significantly in recent years due in part to increased travel costs, and those expenditures have not been matched by comparable increases in gift and donation dollars, WWU officials say.
Western Washington is a member of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, which includes Central Washington, Western Oregon, Dixie State (Utah) and Humboldt State (Calif.) for football. In 2008, the Vikings played a home-and-home schedule with the other four GNAC schools for the third time in five seasons.
“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,” Western Washington president Bruce Shepard said in a statement.
“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 Lynda Goodrich, the school’s athletic director.
Football players have the option of retaining their scholarships if they remain in school, or they can transfer to any other NCAA program and be eligible to play immediately.
Ross was told of the announcement Thursday morning in a meeting with Shepard, Goodrich and Eileen Coughlin, Western Washington’s vice president for student affairs and academic support services. No other sports at the school are affected.
“They just said basically because of the financial state (in Washington) and with all the cuts coming down to the university, they felt like this was the only way to help get the university through these tough times,” Ross said. “They said that this was the direction that had to be done. There was not a lot of, ‘Can we do this, can we do that?’
“Now I’m a football coach. And if I’m told it’s fourth-and-1, I say go for it. But obviously this was the decision that was made and now we have to deal with everything else that goes with it.”
Ross, who has two years left on his contract, said he will focus on “making sure our coaches and players are taken care of.”
“We’ve got some good football players here, and some of them will get very good opportunities to continue their football careers. A lot of them will be looking to transfer and get into other programs by spring practice, and we want to be available to help them with that,” he said.
Hamlett said he expects to transfer so he can play next season.
“I’m a football player,” he said. “It’s in my blood. I just love to play the game, so I’m going to be actively looking for a spot. Where that is, I haven’t the slightest idea. But my intention is to continue to play football.”
Adams said he put in a phone call to new University of Washington football coach Steve Sarkisian on Thursday afternoon to inquire about a transfer. Sarkisian was out of the office, “so I just left a message,” Adams said. “But I’m going to try to stay close to home.”
McMurray is unsure about his plans because “this is all so new to me, but I’ll have to start looking at it pretty soon.” His grief, he added, is because “I love the program here. I love all the coaches and the players. It’s like I don’t want to play anywhere else.”
Western Washington began its football program in 1903, with stoppages only during World War I (1917-20) and World War II (1943-45).
“It’s a sad statement on our society that we’re cutting out positive things for young people to do,” Ross said. “It’s sad those opportunities are being taken away, not only for the players we have now, but for the future players who’ve also had their opportunities taken away.”
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