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Summarized by Kent Larsen
Winners and Losers In Ricks/BYU-Idaho Changes
Casper WY Tribune (AP) 22Jun00 D3
BYU will also see a decrease in the number of students transferring
REXBURG, IDAHO -- The changes at Ricks College, soon to be four-year
school BYU-Idaho, caught both the local community and educators by
surprise, and left even academics and administrators at the school
uncertain about exactly what the changes will mean. But the little
that is known already heralds big changes in the school, the
community and in education elsewhere.
Most of the campus has questions about exactly what the changes will
mean. Will the students attending BYU-Idaho in their third and fourth
years increase the number of students attending Ricks? Will the new
bachelor's degree programs mean additional faculty at the school, as
well as accompanying staff and administrators?
In making the announcement of the changes, LDS Church President
Gordon B. Hinckley did indicate one of the changes that will happen,
however. He announced that the highly-ranked intercollegiate athletic
teams would be phased out. "It's too much money," he explained.
That change alone shocked the college. Football coach Ron Haun was
caught entirely by surprise, "It was like I got blindsided. We had no
inkling. There was no professional courtesy that this was going to
happen and we haven't had any comment since," Haun said. "I have no
details. The kids don't know. Parents don't know. Kids on missions
are calling."
Former Orem Utah high school student Luke Chatwin was also caught by
surprise. He was ready to sign a letter of intent to play basketball
at Ricks, and now doesn't know if the program will be there for the
two years he had planned to attend. "I wonder why it happened," he
mused in confusion. "Everything was going good - and it was going
good for a lot of athletes."
Even Athletic Director Garth Hall was caught off guard by the
announcement, and returned to his desk Wednesday afternoon to face 50
messages from students and players wondering what to expect. "This
is the biggest misunderstanding that's gone out. There's a couple of
press releases out right now that have indicated that we will be
phased out after next year, and I think there is a lot of reaction
that we won't be in the business next year. Both of those are
probably incorrect," he said. "It's a phaseout. We have various
obligations and commitments to the league, other institutions, to our
student-athletes that we plan on honoring and fulfilling."
The announcement also didn't have specifics about what academic
changes the college would have to make. While the announcement said
that the school will add bachelor's degree programs, but which
departments will have the degrees has not yet been determined. And
the departments that do get the degrees may have to add faculty and
staff to support the degrees.
Community leaders in Rexburg assume that the changes will mean an
increase in faculty and staff for the town's largest employer. "I
think it will have a tremendous impact on the city," said Rexburg
Mayor Bruce Sutherland. Chamber of Commerce Executive Director says
the additional faculty and staff will make the community grow, "Those
people will need new homes, and new homes need new lawnmowers, rakes,
shovels and hoes," said Benfield, who also owns the Rexburg True
Value store.
The school's current president David Bednar, said that the school's
enrollment will rise, and Mayor Sutherland speculates that the school
could eventually have as many as 15,000 students at the end of five
years.
In addition to the affect on Rexburg, the change will also affect
other colleges and universities. Because students currently can't get
a bachelor's degree from Ricks, many students move on to other
colleges and universities, including those in Idaho and Utah State
and BYU. Presumably fewer students would transfer to these schools
after two years at the new BYU-Idaho.
Currently, about 140 Ricks students go to Boise State University
every fall and 37 transfer to the University of Idaho. Another 272
transferred to Idaho State University last year. However, Idaho State
vice president Kent Tingey expects that while the number of
undergraduates will decline significantly, his school will see an
upswing in the number of incoming graduate students.
BYU will also see a decrease in the number of students transferring
from Ricks, as Board of Trustees for the schools expects. Again, the
sports programs may be the hardest hit, because the players BYU was
getting from Ricks will no longer be in Rexburg. "Over the years, we
recruited a lot of good players from Ricks," said Ken Schmidt, BYU's
defensive coordinator and former head football coach at Ricks. "It's
been a good place for late-bloomers. We'll still be able to find the
best LDS athletes, we'll just have to do more hunting for them."
BYU graduate assistant Aaron Roderick, a former receiver at Ricks and
BYU, agrees, "It's not going to kill our program, but it doesn't help
us. We had only four or five guys on the team from Ricks this past
year, but that's more than any other (junior college)." Roderick
worries that the without Ricks' athletic program, LDS athletes will
have fewer opportunities. "A lot of schools don't want guys who go
on missions," Roderick said. "There are so many players coming out of
Ricks who didn't get much publicity in high school. Ricks is the
ticket to get noticed."
BYU has benefited from a number of former Ricks players on all of its
sports teams. Among football players that played at Ricks and later
at BYU are NFL defensive lineman Jason Buck, Ben Cahoon, who
currently plays in the Canadian Football League, and Matt Johnson,
who was drafted by the NFL's Indianapolis Colts.
In addition, the change could affect a source of coaches for BYU, "It
will affect our coaching pool,"said BYU's Mens Athletic Director Val
Hale. "In many ways, Ricks was a mini-BYU. I'm sure those people will
still be available. We just have to look other places to find them."
BYU will miss Ricks recruiting pipeline
Deseret News 22Jun00 S3
http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,175014129,00.html
By Jeff Call: Deseret News sports writer
Idaho school churned out many good players
The Ricks-BYU pipeline
Deseret News 22Jun00 S3
http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,175014127,00.html
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