MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[y_jack_lok]

Pat, thanks for sharing your "investigative reporter" approach to getting info for your article. Nice job of piecing together a very informative story.

A general comment for all. Perhaps the budget cuts at Mac are what prompted the AD to leave, as I still recall someone (probably MacAttack) posting here that Mac had a new AD who was fired up about bringing change and improvments to the athletics program. It will now be up to a new president (and perhaps he/she will have to persuade the trustees) to give the athletic department the help it needs so students will have oppportunities to participate on competitive teams. The student athletes must be feeling betrayed and abandoned right now. Very sad.

[fcnews]

The AD has been resigned for quite awhile. Mac is in a very difficult postion. Finances are definately an issue. Budget cuts are continuing. An athletic dept. is always the first place they go fishing. Mac has a large portion (Large) covering the sport of football. Obviously by far the most expensive sport to sponsor. On the other hand, could the school absorb the loss of say, another 75 student athletes. This is a situation that won't be resolved over night. What type of coaching canididates are they going to find? It is said that they will have an SID next year. So if they have to positions that pay something. They have about five coaching positions avialable. AD/ Head BBall Coach? SID/ Head Baseball Coach? This is not a good situation for all parties. Most importantly the student athletes.

I'm sure Coach Hopefan is looking into the Mac job. Coach Y_Jak (with his ties) at EC. I'm sure they would do a great job.

[hopefan]

FC  -  I seem to recall something in your background dealing with Sports Information - perhaps that would be a fit for you  -  as for me, I'm still waiting for a call about the Commish's job  -  I have a change or two that I would look to implement.....

[fcnews]

First rule by Commish Hopefan would be, that the Griffin's gotta play with their shoes tied together.

Hope I think I'm a little old to be a first time head coach. I don't know if 8 years as asst. will qualify.

By the way, what would be your first change. Men play second? or Require regular coke served at Prin. I always take my own Pepsi. Gotta have caffine

[y_jack_lok]

As I've becme more aware of all aspects of D3 athletics I have begun to think that schools with small enrollments (under 700) like Blackburn, MacMurray, Eureka, Principia would be better off without football. Westminster is a little bigger (almost 900) and Greenville (over 1,100), so they are in better shape to bear the expense. But abandoning football should not be seen as simply a means to balancing the institutional budget. The money saved from not having football should be redirected within the athletic department to bolster the other sports.

[Mr. Ypsi]

y_jack,

The unresolved question, however, is whether or not football actually generates more tuition dollars from guys who would otherwise not have attended that school than it costs.  At a place like U of Michigan, football (and to a lesser extent, men's bball and hockey) funds the entire athletic department.  On the other hand, at Eastern Michigan (where I taught for 34 years) football generates so little revenue it can't even pay for football!  But at non-scholarship schools it can be a close call - do enough tuition-paying students attend IN ORDER TO PLAY FOOTBALL that (even with little or no direct revenue) a football program is actually a financial net plus?

[sully309]

I realize there is a football board, but in the risk of getting off topic...Let's not forget that it's not just the current football players and students we need to consider. Speaking for Eureka only now, I can tell you that many of our larger donors are former football players. They tend to be a tight-knit group and all are strongly in favor of the school continuing to give students the opportunity to play football. Does football cost far more than other sports? Absolutely. But there are far ranging benefits to having a football program that often get overlooked when some people look as cost/benefits.

As far as MacMurray goes, I think us sports fans can get a little carried away with the importance of athletics sometimes. Sure, I love sports and I think athletics is a great part about the collegiate experience, but just because a school's athletic department may be going through changes or hard times does not mean the school itself is in crisis mode. MacMurray still has a larger enrollment than (cough) some schools in this SLIAC. Hopefully, the powers that be at Mac make wise choices when picking their new leadership at president, AD and head coaching positions. Mac has a beautiful campus and some fine student-athletes at the moment.

[Mac Attack II]

Been away for a while. Then when I tried to post, my password wouldn't work. Real quick, concerning the current situation at MacMurray. While all of us inside the Highlander family are extremely disappointed that Coach Hettinga has chosen to leave - particularly after only one year - we understand his desire to move up in coaching ranks, especially a head coaching position at the D2 level in his home state. My sense is more than a few D3 coaches would make the same decision that Coach Hettinga did. He was not looking to "get out" of Jacksonville. He cares deeply for his players and the future of the MacMurray basketball program. It was just a case of an opportunity that presented itself, and it was clearly a good professional move for him. Time to move on.

Seth Whalum is eligible for the 2007-2008 season and he will return and play. This is an incredible turn of events for Seth and his teammates.

I'm confident MacMurray College will attract another outstanding young coach who will lead the Highlanders to an even better season than they experienced in 2006-2007. My guess is there aren't many (if any) NCAA basketball programs that will return all five starters and their first two players off the bench from a team that posted its best record in 15 years and tied for the league championship. My sense is there are more than a few coaches out there who will view MacMurray as an excellent opportunity. The cupboard isn't bare - far from it. And there are players already on campus, enrolled, and ready to go who will help this team next season - plus other recruits who are on the way who will make a difference.

MacMurray College will soon announce the hiring of a new President, which I believe will be a real shot in the arm. This person will be committed to not only academic excellence, but raising the necessary resources to fund competitive athletic teams. MacMurray will soon hire another athletic director who will step in where Kevin Haslam left off and continue to rebuild the athletic department. And the Highlanders will have a new men's basketball coach on board months before Coach Hettinga was hired last year. No one needs to "turn out the lights." At small, private colleges such as MacMurray, it's always tough. But there are dedicated and committed leaders within the administration and throughout their alumni base who have and will continue to do their very best to help these great kids achieve remarkable goals.

Help me out here, but was MacMurray the only team in the SLIAC last season that beat every other team in the conference at least once? I think that's true, but not sure. Regardless, my sense, from what I saw, there was one team in the SLIAC last year that could and did beat anyone in the conference on a given night - and that was MacMurray. The Highlanders will have their first seven back, plus some new players who bring immediate help. They will have a new AD looking to upgrade the program even more and a new coach looking to make his mark with a veteran group of players. My hopes are high.

[furbug]

Webster also beat everyone in the conference at least once. Webster's conference record was 18-4, the 4 losses being to MacMurray, Westminster, Blackburn and Greenville, in that order. They never lost twice to anyone, but of vourse lsot to Fontbonne in the playoffs after beating them twice during the season.

[hopefan]

Mac  -  glad to have you back to shed some sunshine on what appears to be a rather dark time at Mac -while your optimism is to be admired, I sit back and say to myself, ok no President, no AD, no Basketball Coach, men's or women's, no football coach   -  who is recruiting, who is going to hire the new coaches on a timely basis, and if Coach Hettinga openly refers to severe budget cutbacks, who is going to show interest in the open positions?

Now then, you say Seth Whalum is eligible, and that's great - but what about the game in Dec 03 that has his name in the play by play?  I didn't make it up - it's out there for anyone to see - until someone proves that it was a mistake, (how does a name get in the play by play from out of nowhere) -  still looking for an explanation.....  in the mean time, I may have to press on...  Was Seth on the team that year?  And he appeared in no games?    I don't get it....

Hope your favorite Mac player is doing well and working hard towards next season...  if the team comes back whole, it will indeed be an exciting conference season next year  -  I had so much fun with my "see the best game of the night" policy last year and met so many new people from the various schools, I already am looking forward to next November....

[furbug]

Mac Attack,

To completely respond to your question, MacMurray did do that as you say, beat everyone once. So there were two teams that did so. MacMurray lost to once Greenville, Fontbonne, Webster and Westminster, in that order.

[hopefan]

ok I dug a little further, found 8 box scores from 2003-2004 of Mac games, none of which contained Seth Whalum's name.  It's obvious that Seth played little, if any, role that season - why his name would appear in the play by play of one game from that season and not in the box score is beyond me.   It is the last time I will mention it....  I only hope that one game does not come back to constitute an entire season.....  HOWEVER, I would want to see proper protocol followed to protect the player, the team, and the conference.

[hopefan]

furbug - I saw in the paper today that Webster is playing softball today  -  will you be there?   Bundle up - our thermometer reads 38

[furbug]

hopefan,

furbug and Yjack will both be there at 4:00, all bundled up - that's for sure. This Webster team beat Wash. U. 4-3. Dana Vahey of the basketball team hit a home run in that game.

[Mac Attack II]

Whalum has been cleared by the NCAA. End of story.

MacMurray has a head football coach and he will be a good one.

Webster did beat everyone else at least once in the SLIAC. Mac was the only other team to do it.


MacMurray will have the pieces in place within the month - a new President, AD, and basketball coach. Rest assured, all is not lost. As a matter of fact, I think things are going to get better. You want people who want you. At the D3 level, it's not uncommon for younger coaches and AD's to move around. It happens, especially at the smaller schools like MacMurray. But the Highlanders return a wealth of talent and experience. An excellent opportunity for a new coach and I'm confident the MacMurray administration will hire someone with the same vision, qualifications, and integrity as Steve Hettinga.

All of this will take some time. But I have a feeling that when the ball goes up next October, the Highlanders will be ready to go. Anyone who saw them play this past season knows that Mac will bring it every night. Should be fun.