By Jim Ecker
March 3, 2009

The University of Northern Iowa plans to cut its varsity baseball program after the 2009 season because the team runs an annual $400,000 deficit and the school has financial problems, but there’s a simpler way to save the sport and trim more than enough from the budget.

Fire Ben Allen.

Allen is the school’s president. He makes $300,000 a year, and if he's willing to cut the program without even talking to the head coach, he deserves to go.

And fire Tom Schellhardt, the vice president who oversees the athletic department. He wouldn't meet with Coach Rick Heller before the decision was made either, so dump him, too. That saves another $180,000.

That was easy. You trim $300,000 here and $180,000 there, and pretty soon you save the baseball program. You save the head coach, three assistant coaches, 35 players and the honor of the school.

Allen and Schellhardt might be missed in some circles, but hey, these are tough economic times. Somebody has to bite the bullet. It's better to chop the bloated salaries of two administrators than tell 35 innocent players their team is folding.

Allen and Schellhardt can find other jobs, but good luck finding another Division I baseball program that will take 35 guys on short notice.

Heller said he didn't get a chance to fight for his program, until it was practically too late. Allen and Schellhardt refused to meet with him while the decision to drop baseball was being made.

"After 10 years of service, I felt like I deserved the chance to maybe meet with the president and the vice president and at least defend the program," Heller said at a press conference last week. "I didn't get that opportunity, and that saddens me a little."

Shortly after Heller made his remarks about the president and vice president, he was invited to a meeting with Allen and Schellhardt the next day. They wouldn't meet with their head coach before the decision was made, but they were willing to meet after he'd been fired, essentially.

You've got to love their sudden concern with his feelings. From this angle, it sounds like a pair of sheepish administrators ducking for cover.
They're pretty good at that at Northern Iowa. Ducking for cover, that is. Troy Dannen, the school's director of athletics, did it, too.

Dannen said it was his decision to drop baseball, and then he belatedly gave the players a possible last-second reprieve by saying they could save the program by raising $1.2 million by April 5 and by raising another $10 million during the next three years to endow the sport. To their credit and honor, the players accepted the challenge.

The Support UNI Baseball campaign has raised $165,000 in one week, but there's still a long way to go. They need a couple of heavy hitters to donate $250,000 or $500,000 apiece to reach the immediate goal of getting $1.2 million to rescue the program for three years. They can worry about the $10 million endowment later.

You can help by going to www.SupportUNIBaseball.com and making a pledge. No amount is too small, but the bigger the better. The more the merrier.

It also might help to send President Allen and Vice President Schellhardt a message. Phone calls, e-mails, letters, personal visits to their office. Keep it clean and civil, but you might want to tell them how you feel about the baseball program being cut.

Allen, Schellhardt and Dannen cleverly deflected some of the criticism that was headed their way when Dannen concocted the last-second plan to let the players raise $1.2 million in about six weeks. That wasn't in the original decree when they announced the program would be cut, and it made them seem willing to compromise, like they were willing to help.

The offer came out of left field and was not mentioned in a press release that was given to reporters at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 23. But 75 minutes later, after the team had met with Dannen, the players talked about the $1.2 bailout and their determination to raise the money. One arm of the university didn't know what the other arm was doing. The sports information department said the program would be cut, and then the athletic director said it could be saved.

Dannen appeared to be winging it, offering a possible solution that had only a scant chance of succeeding, in order to trim his losses. Dannen is the same guy who announced last summer that no sports would be cut under his watch, then nine months later changed his mind. Yes, the economic situation changed, but he gave his word and then reneged.

At least it's a chance. If the Panthers can raise $1.2 million by April 5, they can save the program for the next three years. It would be a lot easier, however, to fire Allen and Schellhardt and save $480,000 right there.