WSU trustees meet to discuss sports’ future
$20M was spent on 11 athletic teams in 2019; $10M came from WSU.
A special committee, in its first meeting Monday, said it wants to know more about how athletics contribute to the university.
Wright State University’s Special Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics wants to better understand how the institution works with its athletics department, and how athletes contribute to the school, the group said during its first meeting Monday.
The board will ultimately create a report on athletics at Wright State within a year to bring to the greater Board of Trustees.
Doug Fecher, a trustee on the committee, said they should look at both the Division I sports as well as club and intramural sports, which he said also add to the college experience.
He noted there are several different ways students could be affected by athletics, and the committee should seek out students to hear from them.
“I think it’s going to be important for us to understand as best we can, kind of, how is the world of intercollegiate athletics going forward?” Fecher said.
Andrew Platt, another trustee on the committee, said he thought it would also be important to connect athletics to recruitment and retention. Platt noted he is a graduate of the Wright State athletics program. According to the trustee’s website, he played golf for the university and was team captain for his final two years
of college.
The committee decided Monday they should eventually speak with stakeholders, including students, faculty, staff, members of the community and alumni.
“You know, our student athletes are our students, too, and they have a perspective on their experience here,” said Brittney Whiteside, another trustee who sits on the committee.
Whiteside also suggested eventually pulling information to compare Wright State to other institutions.
The committee adjoined with plans to speak with the athletics department and meet again in two weeks. They eventually plan to meet monthly. Marty Grunder is chairman of the committee.
Wright State has 11 athletics programs with 194 student athletes, according to the university. Last year, WSU cut three sports: men’s and women’s tennis and softball.
The elimination of the programs was part of a larger
Wright State budget plan designed to stabilize operations as enrollment has declined, the school said. The COVID-19 pandemic “has accelerated the need for all areas of the university to reduce expenditures,” according to the university.
Wright State spent about $20 million on athletics in 2019, according to USA Today data. A little more than $10 million of that spending was appropriated from the university.
A Preble County man died by suicide Saturday in the Butler County Jail, which was the second inmate suicide in the facility in about five weeks.
Andrew Azzalina, 34, of Eaton, died by hanging, according to the Butler County Coroner’s Office.
Azzalina was found by jail staff at 3:45 a.m. He has been an inmate since Nov. 30 for a probation violation, according to Butler County Chief Deputy Anthony Dwyer. He was a prisoner of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, so he had been in prison, was released and violated his probation.
He was alone in a cell, because he was on homicide watch.
“At one point not too long ago, he was placed on homicide watch. He had made verbalizations about killing his cell mate,” Dwyer said. “We have a protocol in cases like that. We are concerned about the safety of the inmates around him. They are single-celled at that time. We also restrict visits and (other privileges) while they are there.”
The forensic staff also contacts the inmates to try to transition them into the general population. Dwyer said Azzalina did not indicate he had any suicidal thoughts.
Travis Goad, 33, died from an apparent suicide at the Butler County Jail about 1 a.m. on Jan. 31. Goad was charged with two felonies after allegedly walking into the West Chester Twp. police offices on
Jan. 29 and telling officers he put a bomb at a business, which turned out to be false. A contingent of police and the county bomb squad unit responded to investigate.
After talking to Goad for several hours, police took him to the jail. Dwyer said he was placed in a cell block for inmates with special needs. Goad was in a cell alone with the door open. He was found kneeling and leaning into a devise fashioned for hanging.
Before Goad’s death, it had been three years since a suicide in the county jail.
“It is an unfortunate circumstance and something that is difficult for everyone,” Dwyer said.
Last month Dwyer shared some of the ways staff are trained to prevent suicides in the jail.
“When (inmates) are brought in, before booking one of the questions asked is do they have any suicidal ideations, and based on the response we will take whatever action necessary. The difficult part is a lot of people in jail either exacerbate or limit their problems,” he said. “Are they being honest at that point? But if someone indicates they are suicidal we have protocol we follow.”
That includes suicide prevention cells with glass doors, special beds and a suicide-proof gown.
“It’s a very thick material that can’t be folded to make any type of ligature,” he said.
Dwyer said it is much more difficult for an inmate to die by suicide while on suicide watch.
“So people may be less than truthful about their intentions with jail staff,” he said. “We have had people screened and cleared then go and commit suicide. We have had people manipulate to get in to a position where they could.”
The Seattle Seahawks SEATTLE — are releasing veteran defensive end Carlos Dunlap after the sides could not agree on a contract extension that would soften the blow of a $14.1 million salary cap hit.
A person with knowledge of the move told The Associated Press on Monday of the pending release of Dunlap, who was acquired in a trade with Cincinnati midway through last season. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the move had not been announced by the team.
Dunlap, 32, was a major boost to Seattle’s pass rush following his arrival from the Bengals. Dunlap appeared in eight regular season games for the Seahawks with five sacks and 14 quarterback hits. He was the spark for a Seattle pass rush that was among the better units in the league over the second half of the season.
But his salary for 2021 was always going to be a point of contention, especially with Seattle tight against the salary cap. When the trade was made, Seattle agreed to let Dunlap test free agency if an extension could not be reached.