MCTC basketball getting cut

I'm glad to see Souhan took this issue on in his Sunday column. I have a friend who's a coach in the same conference as MCTC, and he has nothing but good things to say about Jay Pivec. I recall a game a couple years ago that I went to see, matching MCTC versus my friend's team. Pivec remained calm throughout the game, but his anger was drawn when he saw one of his players showboat after a dunk, and that player immediately found himself on the bench. In an environment filled with seedy characters, it seems like Jay Pivec is one of the true gentleman and a coach who give opportunities to players whose life paths have been a struggle. I'm all about looking at academic priorities over athletic priorities, but it seems that not only did MCTC basketball bring a lot of great publicity to the school, but also offered many young men opportunities that they would otherwise not take if not for the basketball program.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/46505912.html?elr=KArks:DCiU1PciUoaEYY_4PcUU

Scandal

I can't remember the last time a university took the advice of students over its collective faculty. Who is advising the president? This is an insane decision. I can't imagine that JC basketball costs much, and all the arguments about what publicity the program brings to the school are very true. I was just talking to a friend the other night about what Pivec has done for a lot of kids who would not be getting an education without him and MCTC basketball.

Add me to the list of people who would not have a clue what MCTC was without its basketball program.

It's pretty ridiculous that the opinion of 6 students are the reason for dropping the program.

underground629 said:

It's pretty ridiculous that the opinion of 6 students are the reason for dropping the program.

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6 students who probably won't even be there when the program is gone. 6 students who spend 2 years at the school get to decide the future of the school?

Souhan totally botched this one

Basketball is not being cut at MCTC. The next season will be funded via a one-time pooling of money and the program will be asked to solicit fundraising for upcoming seasons. It will no longer be funded via student life fees.

The student senate can only make recommendations for spending for student life fees. Currently 14% of the student life budget is spent on the basketball team, who represent ~24 (men's and women's) of the roughly 12,000 students (full and part time) at MCTC. Do the math on that one - it's hard to justify.

The student senate solicited feedback from their fellow students on the importance of various things to them. Health and child care scored near the top, while baskebatball came in dead last. This was not the decision of six students acting independently - rather, they felt as though they needed to respond to the thinking of general student body. They deserve kudos.

Before I knew this, I was angry about the idea. After learning both sides, I now understand the decision and think it was the correct one. That said, Coach Pivec is awesome and deserves all the accolades. He also deserves a student population that shows their support by actually coming to the games. Losing the national championship by a point is a pretty good product, if you ask me.

Souhan, on the other hand, showed signs of being a hack. He had his agenda and published a one-sided article to bend public sentiment. Lost all respect for him.

Thanks for the clarification Gopherphile. Yet another lesson in taking everything the media tells us with a grain of salt and to ask if we've heard the whole story. Your detailed explanation makes a lot of sense, yet I wonder if the basketball program will continue to survive at MCTC when reliant on fundraising. One hopes so.

coolhandgopher said:

Thanks for the clarification Gopherphile. Yet another lesson in taking everything the media tells us with a grain of salt and to ask if we've heard the whole story. Your detailed explanation makes a lot of sense, yet I wonder if the basketball program will continue to survive at MCTC when reliant on fundraising. One hopes so.

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Totally agree on the media "education" point. I'm hardly a conspiracy type but if I'd read Souhan's article without knowing the situation, I'd have drawn the same conclusions as the previous posters. Souhan could have made his point without throwing community college students under the bus and without making it sound like the students were setting the budget at the state's largest cc (narrowly ahead of Normandale).

Perhaps the new funding of the program will allow Jay some additional freedom. I know nothing about the task of moving classifications, but Minneapolis seems like a great location for a Division I juco program, not the current Division III status. Without any D-I juco programs in the state, I'm guessing travel would become a larger burden, but the prospects of keeping home some of the state's best talent would probably lead to a higher profile and much better attendence. Perhaps it could even become a feeder program for the U and the Trevor Mbakwes of the world could spend a season in front the hometown fans before playing for Tubby.