VolUME XIX, NllMbER ?
ORTS
isnops noops
Season
Opens With
Exhibition
Against
Canadians
On Friday November 14*'^ The North
Carolina Wesleyan Battling Bishops
tipped of the 2003-2004 Season with
a 90 to- 69 Victory, in an exhibition
game against Sheridan College Bruins
(Oakville, Ontario, Canada). The
Bishops who are the USA Southern
Conference # 1 preseason pick and
ranked # 14 nationally by the Basketball
Times, were led in scoring by Senior
Ryan Sinclair, with 23 points including
a devastating long range performance,
going 5 of 6 from the three-point line.
All-South Region performer Keith
Sudler and Preseason All-American
Bradley Blue had 15 points apiece.
Bobby Jenkins dished out 10 assists
while Donta Jenkins pulled down 12
boards to go with his eight points.
Sheridan came south with a storied
tradition in men’s basketball. The
Bruins who have won their conference
tournament four of the last five years
have won their league’s regular season
five consecutive years. They were the
National Champions in 1985 and 1990.
Sheridan, who has already played
eight games stand 6-2 on the season,
including their own Bash Tournament
Championship.
Source: Renny Taylor, North Carolina
Wesleyan Sports
All-American Bradley Blue
“Football” from page 1
For the record, who was the driving
force behind the introduction of football
here?
IN - Well, its a bit of all of them.
Certainly when I came, I had heard
that there was some desire for
a football program. I at first was
skeptical about it. I thought football
was something that was going to cost
a lot of money. I began to talk to the
other Presidents that I met. Presidents
in our conference, and from other
schools and they all explained to me
how Division III football works. Far
from being something that cost money,
it brings in a lot of revenue. I looked
at the school and saw that athletics
played an important role here as it
does at most small schools. Division
III schools. Students like to come here
because of athletics. If it weren’t for
the students that come here on two
or three of our athletics programs, this
college wouldn’t exist. The athletes, I
discovered, are students that come and
stay far more than our other students.
We have retention issues, the students
on the teams tend to stay around, they
tend to do academically better here, all
in all it seemed like a good idea, so I
became a real supporter for it, and I
became a driving force.
RF - How long and extensive of an
investigating process went into making
the decision to go ahead with the
program?
IN - We looked at a number of other
schools, we put a study together of the
other schools that had done it, we were
the last school in our conference. I
talked to two or three of the Presidents
to get information as to what they did
to prepare, what was there business
plan, among other things. I talked to
other schools with athletics programs,
Division III schools, why they had
done it, what were the issues, what
were the advantages, were there any
disadvantages? The study took quite
a bit of time because the board wasn’t
going to approve it unless they were
convinced. In the past the board had
been sold a number of “good stories”
that turned out to be disasters. They
made us do our homework. We put
together a full study based on other
schools experiences, and it took
several months. There was a lot of
information and made the decision,
based on that, to move forward.
RF - Where are the funds coming from
to field the team?
IN - The initial funding is coming from
external fundraising. We have thus
far a little over $200,000. We hope to
have at least $250,000 for this year.
It’s all coming from externally raised
money. There’s been a great deal of
support from the community for this.
Football is the most expensive sport
that we will have, but its nothing like
what people think. This is something
we had to discuss with the board, we
had to put all the numbers together.
Football will cost, to operate, roughly
$300,000 a year, something up to
$300,000, probably less actually,
somewhere between $250,000 and
$300,000. These are figures we put
together as well as received from
other schools. We will get 100 new
students we wouldn’t otherwise have.
That provides quite a large surplus.
Revenue from 100 students, afteV
discounts and so on and so forth,
is $1,000,000. That’s 100 times
$10,000. Football will cost $250,000
to $300,000, there’s $700,000 above
and beyond.
RF - What justification is there for a
football team, when many students are
concerned with shortages in areas like
increased technology in classrooms,
increasing class offerings, adding new
faculty conditions of residence halls,
library renovations and so on?
IN - It provides quite a large surplus.
So when we see that students are
concerned with shortages and faculty
are concerned with shortages, this
is one of the ways we can help deal
with those shortages. Like most small
colleges we are enrollment driven. Half
of our students are in the Adult Degree
Program on campus, fully half of our
students. Those students are really
subsidizing the cost of on campus
programs. The on campus program
here at Wesleyan College does not
come close to paying for itself. Without
the extra revenue from the ADP, the
campus would close. We have to find
ways to bring students in, we have to
find ways to bring revenue in. With
the revenue from football, you can
appoint more faculty members, you
can put more money into the library,
you can put more money into support
staff, you can do those things that are
necessary. You can provide funds to
help this campus sustain itself.
RF - What long- term effects are
expected on campus from the football
program?
IN - It depends on how you want to
look at it. There are those who say
you get big “football thugs”. There are
those who say it will create a wonderful
atmosphere, a Saturday atmosphere
that will help provide activities to help
students to stay here on the weekends.
I keep saying if we bring in thugs, its
because we bring in thugs. I have no
expectation of that. The issue isn’t, will
we have more testosterone in, yes.
Are there ways to deal with it, yes. I’d
like to see further expansion beyond
football; Women’s field hockey or
lacrosse, things like that to attract more
students. Coaches want student’s who
can succeed. That’s the history of this
college. Our students who succeed
here, the overwhelming majority are
adults in the off campus program and
athletes in the on campus program.
RF - One of the rumors around campus
is that many students did not return
this year and others plan to transfer
because they believe that the school
is moving away from an academic
focus and toward athletics. Would you
comment on that?
IN - I think that’s 120% unfounded,
students who did not come back this
year, did not come back because they
flunked out. I have not heard of one
such student and I don’t believe it for
a moment. Somebody might want to
float any rumor around but I would be
very surprised if that were the case.
Colleges are nothing but rumor mills.
There are always naysayers, there are
always those who don’t want athletics.
You’ll never satisfy all the naysayers
but I think those who will actually look
at this, 1 think there’s a lot of excitement
on campus.
RF - //■ you could say something
that might ease the concerns some
have about he inclusion of football at
Wesleyan, what would it be?
IN -1 have never heard one student say
anything to me. I’ve never heard one
fear and I don’t know what those fears
are. All I have heard, from students, is
this is going to be great! I’ve heard it
from some faculty members. I’ve been
in Universities all my life and I’ve never
seen a situation where there aren’t
faculty who oppose athletics. All I can
say to allay the fears of those is to
watch and see what happens. When
I came here two years ago, this college
was in very difficult shape. We are
now beyond that. We are now in the
planning for growth in size and quality,
so for those who fear cjiange, all I can
say is just observe what’s going on.
Some will applaud it, some will oppose
it, most will soldier on. That’s the
nature of people and that’s the nature
of colleges.
IATTLIN6 BISHOW
AIM Interview with
Drew IVIartin
By Forget Carter
With this being only my second
personal interview, sophomore Drew
Martin - who’s a Forward on the soccer
team - and I talked quite impersonally.
Talking on the wonderful invention of
AOL Instant Messenger, Drew and
I began our question and answer
session.
FC - In your opinion how do you think
this year’s team compares to last years
team?
DM - Well earlier in the season ij
looked as if we were going to be too
young to compete and wouldn’t be able
to be as good as last year, but the team
has come together and we made it into
the conference tournament which was
something we didn’t do last season.
FC - Coach Jason Kilby said that he
selected the players not only based on
skill but also their ability to play well
with the others on field...do you think
that this strategy has helped you out?
DM - Yes, he has brought in a lot of
talent, we are starting to play better as
a team and a lot of the freshmen are
stepping up and playing well.
FC - Speaking of the freshman, you
have lot of people on your team this
year, much more than last and all of
them didn’t get playing time, how do
you justify the reasons for this?
DM - Coach wants to win, he puts the
players on the field that play hard in
practice and want to win in the games.
NortIh CARoliNA WesIeyan CollEqE Rocky Mount, NortIh CaroIIna 27804