Saturday, August 29, 2020

PSA

Desperate times call for desperate measures.  I try to keep this blog circumspect, politically neutral, unbiased, slow to respond to current events, somewhat irrelevant, and lazy like Sunday morning. But considering the current developments surrounding the proposal to ditch the Ski Team, I think it's appropriate today to use this website as a bulletin board, to post this notice and this request:

The Board of Regents are scheduled to hear public testimony on Monday, August 31.  If you would be willing to call in and give your opinion, it would really make an impact. The phone number is (866) 831-8713. Regents will hear public testimony from 4-6pm, Alaska time. I think to get into the queue, you would need to start trying to call in between 3 and 3:30 or so.  Explicit instructions for how you can get in on the action can be found AT THIS LINK.

The points we are trying to make are the following: 1) The Ski Team has a solution. 2) The solution we are proposing saves UA millions of dollars. 3) The Ski Team produces community leaders, drives local employment, boosts enrollment, serves the University mission, and diversifies the student body. These are the main points that need to be woven into your 2 minute personal statement. You only get two minutes so you'll want to be on point and focused.

So maybe at this point you're wondering what is the solution that we are proposing?  Please read below to find out.  I have cut and pasted the letter that Sparky has submitted to the Board of Regents, outlining our proposal.

Sparky

------------

Dear UA Board of Regents,


I am writing today to present an idea and a solution. The most apparent solution is to
redistribute the total 7.2 million dollar cut handed to UAA as part of the pact made with the
governor. As regents, I understand you have a difficult task, but if UAA’s total budget reduction
were 5 million dollars instead of 7.2, there would be a compelling argument to keep all four
sports facing elimination. That move would additionally save UAF resources with collaboration
between the two institution’s ski and hockey programs. If a reduction in UAA’s share of cuts
isn’t possible, UAA’s best fiscal option for maintaining a healthy and thriving athletic
department is to retain NCAA Skiing.

By keeping the ski team at UAA now, athletics will realize exponentially more savings well into
the future. The recommendation to eliminate four sports drop UAA below the NCAA required
ten sport minimum and knocks the department out of compliance. This prohibits teams from
competing at a championship. UAA can ask the NCAA for a temporary waiver which may or may
not be granted, and even with a waiver, UAA will need to add another sport in the immediate
future. Skiing is easily the least expensive moving forward, and arguably adds revenue with
enrollment, and value as an advertising and marketing tool.

Skiing, as a demonstrated success story and deeply rooted in our Alaskan and Anchorage
community, is by far the best economic choice. The ski team can run leaner, travel fewer
athletes, attract the maximum number of walk-ons, boost enrollment, and has the ability to
match gender equity and Title IX ratios.

Sports proposed to be added other than skiing include Men’s Volleyball, Lacrosse, and Soccer.
Men’s Volleyball isn’t offered in Alaskan high schools and is more expensive than skiing.
Lacrosse, also not offered in Alaskan high schools, requires large numbers and a field which
UAA doesn’t yet have. Soccer, also lacking a facility and needing large numbers to compete on a
collegiate level, is a very expensive sport to maintain. Of these, only soccer is a GNAC sport. No
conference hosting lacrosse or men’s volleyball will be inclined to allow UAA to join because of
the extremely high cost of travel to Alaska. This leaves Soccer, an incredibly expensive and
therefore unrealistic option. We need to work to keep Skiing at UAA. We have a plan.

The university can and should propose new legislation from the NCAA Division II membership
council. NCAA legislation is continually reviewed as an annual occurance, and new legislation,
amendments, or exceptions are common. There is precedent, in the states of Alaska and
Hawaii, of permanent legislative exceptions because of our unique geographic challenges. For
example, bylaws listed under 17.30 on page 273 of the Division II Manual directly address
“Exceptions for Member Institutions Located in Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.” This is
possible and needs to be explored. This proposal keeps skiing, one of the UAA’s greatest
success stories. Every other option is not consistent with our state, university, or community.

Our proposed legislative changes have a strong argument. This path will help our frontier state
navigate these uncertain times and allow our institution to better fit into our unique heritage,
geographic location, and deeply rooted cultures.

Current NCAA legislation in the 2020-21 NCAA Division II Manual is as follows:

20.10.3 Sports Sponsorship. A member of Division II shall sponsor in Division II a minimum of:
(Adopted: 1/14/02 effective 8/1/05 for those institutions that are Division II active or provisional members as of 8/1/01; immediately for any institution applying for provisional membership or declaring its intent to reclassify to Division II on or after 1/14/02)

(a) Five Men's and Five Women's Varsity Sports. Five varsity intercollegiate sports, including at least two team sports, based on the minimum requirements of Bylaw 20.10.3.3 and involving all-male teams or mixed teams of males and females; and five varsity intercollegiate sports, including at least two team sports, based on the minimum requirements of Bylaw 20.10.3.3 and involving all-female teams; (Revised: 7/23/13)

(b) Four Men's and Six Women's Varsity Sports. Four varsity intercollegiate sports, including at least two team sports, based on the minimum requirement of Bylaw 20.10.3.3 and involving all-male teams or mixed teams of males and females; and six varsity intercollegiate sports, including at least two team sports, based on the minimum requirements of Bylaw 20.10.3.3 and involving all-female teams; or (Revised: 7/23/13)

(c) Single-Gender Programs. Institutions that sponsor and conduct athletics programs for only one gender must sponsor a minimum of five varsity intercollegiate sports, including at least two team sports, based on the minimum requirements of Bylaw 20.10.3.3, for that gender. (Revised: 7/23/13)

Proposed legislation:

20.10.3 Sports Sponsorship. A member of Division II shall sponsor in Division II a minimum of:
(Adopted: 1/14/02 effective 8/1/05 for those institutions that are Division II active or provisional members as of 8/1/01; immediately for any institution applying for provisional membership or declaring its intent to reclassify to Division II on or after 1/14/02)

Five Men's and Five Women's Varsity Sports. Five varsity intercollegiate sports, including at least two team sports, based on the minimum requirements of Bylaw 20.10.3.3 and involving all-male teams or mixed teams of males and females; and five varsity intercollegiate sports, including at least two team sports, based on the minimum requirements of Bylaw 20.10.3.3 and involving all-female teams; (Revised: 7/23/13)
Member institutions located in Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, may use one individual sport in place of one of the four team sports required to satisfy the minimum 10 sport sponsorship. 20.10.3

(b) Four Men's and Six Women's Varsity Sports. Four varsity intercollegiate sports, including at least two team sports, based on the minimum requirement of Bylaw 20.10.3.3 and involving all-male teams or mixed teams of males and females; and six varsity intercollegiate sports, including at least two team sports, based on the minimum requirements of Bylaw 20.10.3.3 and involving all-female teams; or (Revised: 7/23/13)
Member institutions located in Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico, may use one individual sport in place of one of the four team sports required to satisfy the minimum 10 sport sponsorship 20.10.3

(c) Single-Gender Programs. Institutions that sponsor and conduct athletics programs for only one gender must sponsor a minimum of five varsity intercollegiate sports, including at least two team sports, based on the minimum requirements of Bylaw 20.10.3.3, for that gender. (Revised: 7/23/13)

By keeping skiing, a sport that operates leaner and has the ability to adapt as needed for Title IX
compliance, you are poised to save millions of critical dollars for the university over the next
decade. Operating budgets for a team sport like soccer or hockey often run into the millions
annually. The University of Colorado’s NCAA soccer budget is 1.7 million dollars without having
to fly to and from Alaska. Skiing operates for a fraction of that. Using these figures, keeping the
historic UAA ski team in place of soccer will save the university 12 million dollars over the next
decade. Please vote to reject UAA’s proposal to cut the ski team. The ski team is part of the
solution. Allow the Seawolves Ski Team to help foster UAA’s recovery and move our university
into a brighter future.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Respectfully,
Sparky Anderson
Head Ski Coach
University of Alaska, Anchorage
1.907.350.9718
sparky@alaska.edu

Thursday, August 20, 2020

The Current State Of Affairs


Today's scheduled blog post was to be an interview with former UAA Skiwolf Superstar Toby Schwoerer and some photos from my work trip, earlier this week, to Bristol Bay.  

But in light of the fact that I can't seem to find a way to get my .WAV audio interview file to load onto this blog website, nor can I seem to find any way to upload it onto any site and make it linkable from this blog, and in light of yesterday's announcement from the Athletic Director regarding the Ski Team, I'm going going to need to put that other blog post off for a bit and replace it with a link to my blog post from November 8, 2016.  Unfortunately, the words I wrote at that time are still relevant. So I regret to say that it's appropriate to resurrect that old blog post without any amendments.

Sunday, August 9, 2020

Rendezvous and Reconnaissance

Toomas Kollo
The last time I saw Toom was on the sidewalk in front of the Three Bears Lodge in West Yellowstone last March, after the Rendezvous race awards ceremony. Toom drove back to Bozeman to meet the team that evening, and I was off to Jackson Hole for a few days of alpine skiing.  We planned to rendezvous four days later in Bozeman, wax up some skis, and get ready to slay at the NCAA classic race. But of course things went sideways and we still haven't managed to meet up, all these months later. What an unexpected turn of events!

Toom called me up this morning and asked if I'd be interested in taking a little bike ride around town to scope out some of Anchorage's rollerski roads at Kincaid, Potter Valley and the Hillside. As eager as I was to visit with Toom again and hear all about his summer adventures, I was a little apprehensive because I know how dangerous he can be on a bike. (And I'm not talking about dangerous crashing. I'm talking about dangerous power output.) But when it was clear that Toom was going to be on his mountain bike - for a road bike ride - I thought maybe my suffering might not be so bad after all if I would be riding my fourteen pounds of aero carbon fiber and he would be on knobby tires. 

Over the course of a fifty mile ride around town, we discussed everything there is to discuss regarding the 20/21 Seawolf Ski Team. The 'Wolves should be coming back to town over the next couple of weeks, and we are pretty excited to get started. Toom and I are pretty fired up. We are ready! 
There's only so aero you can get on a bike with handlebars as wide as a pair of skis is long
There's a limit to how aero you can get on the downhills when your handlebars are as wide as a pair of skis is long.
We had a really nice ride today.  It was so nice to reconnect with Toom again!  And I was even able to keep up... on the downhills.