Athletes facing uncertain future after three teams discontinued
Cougars volleyball captain has no idea where he’ll play — or live — next season
So I asked Harold, ‘Do you know my name?’ He didn’t know myname. I asked Lisa if she knew my name. She didn’t know myname.
The timing could hardly have been worse for Michael Corrigan.
On Sunday night, Corrigan and a University of Regina men’s volleyball teammate secured a residence by signing a 12-month lease.
The following afternoon, the U of R announced that men’s volleyball was being eliminated from the school’s athletic program, along with men’s and women’s wrestling.
“The abruptness and the timing of the decision affects more than just volleyball,” Corrigan said Wednesday. “It has been so quick that I haven’t really said anything (about whether he can get out of the lease). I have no idea what I’m doing come September.
“With the timing, there are so many things. Other teams (at U Sports schools) have all their roster spots filled up. All their scholarship money is divided out already, never mind that application deadlines at the universities have all come and gone. There’s hoops to get into the university and hoops to get on to a team and then hoops to help pay for school to get on at another team.”
Corrigan, a Winnipeg-born education major, was among the athletes who met Tuesday with Harold Riemer (dean of the faculty of kinesiology and health studies) and Lisa Robertson (director of sport, community engagement and athlete development).
“I spoke up in the meeting (Tuesday), an hour in, and Harold thought I was on the wrestling team,” Corrigan said.
“So I asked Harold, ‘Do you know my name?’ He didn’t know my name. I asked Lisa if she knew my name. She didn’t know my name.
“I said, ‘My name is Michael Corrigan. I’ve been here for four years. This is my second year as the captain of the University of Regina men’s volleyball team. I don’t have a big ego or a large head. I’m not a person like that. But I have a picture on the wall at the university that hundreds of people walk by every day, and I’m sure Lisa and Harold walked by it.
“Neither of them knew my name, so that really hurt.”
Riemer and Robertson were made aware of Corrigan’s quote Wednesday and invited to respond. Riemer, as the organizational spokesperson, provided the reply.
“It is understandable that this is a very emotional time for the affected athletes and that they are still processing the news that their teams have been discontinued,” Riemer said.
“The meeting (Tuesday) was held to try to answer any of their questions and to provide assurances to them that we would do everything in our power to assist them through this period.
“Our students are our top priority and we are committed to working with them. We have arranged for academic advisers, counsellors and other support staff to be available to them to assist with this process as needed.”
The U of R has also informed the student-athletes affected by the cuts that the terms of their scholarships will be honoured as long as they remain in good academic standing.
The reduction to 13 teams was made in line with a recommendation that appeared in last year’s U of R Athletics Programming and Operations Report. One of the conclusions was that “supporting 16 programs is unsustainable.”
Riemer said Tuesday that the athletic department has been in a deficit situation for “a number of years,” adding that the elimination of three programs will save between $350,000 and $500,000 over an unspecified period.
While understanding the university’s financial realities, Corrigan expressed disappointment that more advance notice wasn’t given.
“We weren’t given a chance to fundraise or anything,” he said. “If they would have said a while ago that, ‘You have to fundraise X amount of dollars’ or ‘You have to have this amount of success’ or ‘You have to do this amount of volunteering in the community’ and we weren’t able to fulfil that, and then our program was cut, it would be a much easier pill to swallow.
“But because of the abruptness, and with the idea that we weren’t really given the heads-up that it was in talks, it was pretty tough to swallow.”
So now what?
“I’m kind of taking it day by day and trying to find some positives,” Corrigan said. “I’m trying to take the punches and keep rolling.”