Huskies athletics deemed to be ‘in fine shape’
Board of governors chairman touts 12-year turnaround
There are no cuts planned for Huskie Athletics.
Despite what is happening at the University of Regina with the reduction of Cougars sports teams, University of Saskatchewan sports teams are staying put.
“We’re, financially, perfectly in fine shape right now,” said David Dube, chairman for Huskie Athletics’ board of governors.
The last time there was an external review of Huskie Athletics sports was back in 2006. That was 12 years ago. The review painted the organization, at the time, as “badly underfunded” and “dysfunctional,” recommending changes to the administrative structure.
Many changes have been made since then. The Huskies have taken steps to capitalize on their brand and improve the game-day experience. A new governance model and administrative structure have been implemented. Full-time coaches have been added to sports like women’s hockey, men’s and women’s soccer, and track and field. A new twin-pad hockey arena, along with a new practice gymnasium court for basketball and volleyball, will be featured in the new Merlis Belsher Place, set to open this fall.
“Will there be one (review) in the future? Absolutely,” admitted Dube. “Do I know when it is? I don’t know, but these are best practices. U of R situation, I think, is unique to the U of R in terms of only that institution knows what fits with its traditions and values.
“When you do these reviews, they can sometimes be painful, but finance is just one small element to them. Are you functioning at a high level? Are your teams as competitive as they should be? Are you providing the academic supports? And all of these things.”
Dube said when Huskie Athletics began a new governance model a year and a half ago they talked about needing to compete at the highest level.
“And we’re still focused on that — in all 15 of our sports teams,” said Dube.
“Is there going to be a review? Yeah, I’m sure there will be because it is best practice. But, until that time, and hopefully when that time comes they’re going to say, ‘This is great and these are areas where we might want to look at adding sports.’
“I look and I go, we need to be aspirational. For now, we’ve got 15 sports and lots of moving parts and I think we’re going well and nobody ever likes to see this (cuts) happen.”
In the past few decades, Huskie Athletics has added sports, not subtracted.
“When was the last time a sport was dropped at the U of S?” said-Dube. “We’ve added sports. Men’s and women’s soccer weren’t around 25 years ago.
“At the end of day, we’re focused on sustainability of our program. We’ve got new funding resources coming in with Merlis Belsher Place, with expanded seating and a much better game-day experience. All of those things help us from a financial perspective.”
HOPE FOR CONSULTATION
Disappointed at what has happened at the U of R, where wrestling and men’s volleyball programs have been dropped, U of S wrestling coach Daniel Olver said he would hope there would be extensive consultation, options and solutions discussed before any sports would ever be cut at the U of S.
“In this (Regina Cougars) scenario, from my understanding, it came out of nowhere,” said Olver. “That, to me, is the frustrating part that there’s a lot of history, there’s a lot of time and energy involved in a lot of sports, that not given the opportunity to be a part of whatever challenge you are facing, that’s a huge frustration.
“I would want to know. I would want to involve the alumni if I was ever in the position that the U of S was placing its teams in because I truly believe that there’s always a way of working around whatever challenges.”
U of S men’s volleyball coach Brian Gavlas said that any future cuts are not something that has been discussed with Huskie Athletics.
“We just added full-time coaches in certain sports, so I don’t know or think that anything like that would be coming for us,” said Gavlas.
“They (Cougar Athletics) did a review. After what the review recommended, and the fact that nothing was done (initially), I didn’t expect anything to occur. It was a bit of a shock to everyone in the volleyball community and definitely disappointing.”