Adrian College Hockey

Anyone in the Adrian area may know that the new administartion has decided that it will be a very useful addition to the college to add Ice hockey as a sport. As an alumni of Adrian College I cant see this idea making sense in any way. The coach which Adrian sought out and hired, Ron Fogarty who no doubt is an excellent coach, with a Division I pedigree does not seem to have any intention of playing DIII hockey for very long, but rather leads one to believe that it is only a 2-3 year bandaid before the program can go Divison I. This is an issue in and of itself as the new adminstrations big puish is for enrollment and the money that comes with. Hockey is all well and good but it is simply attracting canadian students who at most will pay half the tuition since there is a 14,000.00 Canadian scholarship. Thats right a scholarship just for being canadian that covers of half the tuition of the college. Right off the bat it wont bring in nearly as much money in terms of tuition as other sports, but it is already being treated as the crown jewel of the college. The new president is no doubt a hockey fan and makes no secret of it, thus the addition of the program. If and when this program goes to an actual athletic scholarship level it will make even less sense. Instead of bringing in even half tuition , they will pay students to come here, thus making a negative dent in the schools budget. Not to mention that they are building a 6 million dollar ice arena, which everyone knows is the most expensive facility to build, and also maintain. All for a seasonal sport that doesnt even last all that long. Not to mention the fact that Adrian has joined a conference that plays teams in minnesot and wisconsin, they wont be bussing, they will be flying and dont think for a second that wont cause the budget to soar. This is not a good idea for the college or the area. Hockey is not that big of a sport is southeastern michigan not to mention the fact that Adrians student body can best be described as "apathetic" when it comes to sports. With pour turn outs for all athletic events and even when they show up they do nothing. This has all the makings of a failed investment for the college, one that it cant afford to make. Just go two hours down the road and ask Findlay how hockey worked out for them. In this alumnis eyes, I just cant comprehend why so much money and time is being devoted to hockey when so many other facilities are lacking. Look at the academic buildings on campus, they are in sore need of repair. A science building would help, as would any other number of academic services. This school needs to look at the needs of the student before it looks at the wants of the president.