Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Heating issues force Cheyney to scramble
Heating isuues force Wolves to scramble
WEST CHESTER » The 40th anniversary of the greatest moment in Cheyney University athletic history is fast approaching. In 1978, under the guidance of upand-coming head coach John Chaney, the Wolves topped Wisconsin-Green Bay, 47-40, to win the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball National Championship.
Looking at the current state of athletics at CU, it might as well have been 400 years ago. Late last year, in a budgetary move, the football program was axed. And even though school administrators won’t say one way or another, there are some serious questions whether intercollegiate athletics is going to survive much longer at one of the nation’s oldest historically black universities.
Then on or about Dec. 26th, things got even worse. In the midst of some great uncertainty, the ancient heating system at the epicenter for Cheyney Athletics – Cope Hall -- gave out. And almost on cue, bitter sub-freezing temperatures blanketed the region.
It was just another curveball to the CU men’s and women’s basketball programs, who were told a few days earlier to vacate their offices in another building and move all the computers, files, tapes, etc., into Cope Hall storage – about a third of the way through the season.
“It’s been very inconvenient,” said Dawud Morris, who has been the ‘acting’ head coach for the men’s program for two seasons now. “As a head coach on the collegiate level, I kind of feel like I’m at the high school level.”
There was a ray of sunshine when it was reported that heat was restored at Cope for the first time on Wednesday, but later that day Morris said it felt pretty cold in the building. And under the cir-
cumstances, you can probably understand his skepticism.
“I will know that there is heat in that building when I walk into that basement locker room and it’s steaming hot down there, like it used to be,” he said.
The Wolves have not played a home basketball game since Dec. 9th. Earlier this week, the East Stroudsburg clash was postponed to a date to be determined. And then two days later, the West Chester contest was moved to Hollinger Field House. The two will play again on Feb. 10th, also at Hollinger, which means that Cheyney lost its home court advantage against its cross-county rival.
The next home date, on Jan. 17th against Kutztown, is currently slated to be played at Cope Hall.
These current impediments would be a severe challenge for any college program in the middle of a season, but things have been trending downward for Cheyney basketball for many years. The men’s last winning season was in 2012-13, and the program is 10-108 ever since (an .084 winning percentage). The women haven’t had a winning season in this millennium, and are averaging just over four wins per season since 2000.
“We practiced once in the cold before we went to Millersville (on Dec. 30th) because we had no other options,” Morris reported. “We just toughed it out. All of our practices have basically been walk-throughs and shoot-arounds, but that is only supposed to happen on game days.
“It’s a challenge for me and I like to be challenged. I know that (assistant) coach (Leon) Bell and I can get through this, but what we are here for is bigger than basketball right now. It’s about these young men that we have on our roster. Can we get those guys through it without losing any of them?”
The men are 2-11 overall, which doesn’t sound like much but actually equals or exceeds the program’s win total for each of the last four seasons.
“Wins and losses don’t mean as much right now to us,” Morris pointed out. “We are trying to win a different battle.”
Women’s head coach Tammy Bagby acknowledged the current struggles, but took a decidedly different approach. Her team is 3-12.
“We don’t make any excuses,” she said. “We find a location and go practice. The Cheyney University administration made sure we had an opportunity to go practice somewhere.
“It can’t be an excuse because we beat Clarion (on Jan. 3rd). And we could have won against Bloomsburg three days later.”