BENTONVILLE -- The future of sanctioned sports at Northwest Arkansas Community College rests with college administrators after a community committee delivered their report.
The committee researched other community college sports programs and presented a plan to college trustees Monday for adding three years of women's volleyball and softball and men's baseball at an estimated cost of $431,519.
Other business
Fees may increase at Northwest Arkansas Community College this fall. Administrators noted that while they are trying to hold down costs and keep tuition stable, fees may be on the rise this year. A board of trustees meeting to decide any increases has not been scheduled yet. Administrators asked that any changes be approved before enrollment begins in April.
Source: Staff report
"We felt like we were very strong in our accuracy," Dwight Power, committee member, said during his presentation.
The three sports selected had the higher participation interest in a student survey. Track and field for women also scored high, but local facilities available don't meet National Junior College Athletic Association standards, Power said. Title IX requirements call for a 58 percent female, 42 percent male ratio for sports programs because of the college makeup, he said.
The proposed budget included a $15,000 annual stipend for coaches at the three programs and money for travel and equipment costs. One of the coaches could serve as an athletic director and assistant coaches could be students earning their coaching stripes, Powers suggested. The college would rent facilities and there would be some equipment costs the first year.
Scholarships are not available for Division 3 sports by rule, but committee members said they would help put together scholarships for the foundation to distribute to benefit the school's general population.
Committee members said their goal was that the program be entirely supported by private money. Todd Schwartz, board trustee and committee member, said they planned to raise 150 percent of the cost. The college's promise 25 years ago was, in essence, that no public money would be used to support sports, Schwartz said.
Daniel Shewmaker, board trustee, asked if they had pledges to cover the program.
Power said they had stuck to a fact-finding mission and the committee would need another meeting to create a deadline to raise money. Sports programs will draw students, he said.
Enrollment at the community college has been declining, Schwartz said.
"Sanctioned sports is a method to increase enrollment at no cost," he said.
The opposition to sports at the college has been vocal, Schwartz said, noting he'd asked fellow committee members not to contact media, or rally support, but to look at facts.
Students who come to play sports are students the college is losing now to other places, committee members told the board.
If a student isn't good enough for Division 1 or Division 2 sports they can build skills in Division 3 and move up, said Hal Roberts, intramural volleyball coach at the school. The college is different because the team already travels for scrimmages, Roberts said. Volleyball has had 66 wins and 12 losses in three years. He has 30 students -- double the number he can take -- who want to play, Roberts said. He requires them to be full-time students to get on the team.
Sanctioned sports would require a minimum enrollment hours, minimum grade point average and require a path to graduation, said Joe Spivey, board trustee and committee member.
Shewmaker suggested beefing up existing programs to attract students.
That won't be good enough, said Jack Koelbl, former softball coach at the school and committee member. Some students just won't come to a school with club sports.
"They want to play and they want to play on a real team," he said.
Power said coaches at other community colleges told him student athletes take 14 to 15 credit hours a semester. He estimates $250,000 in tuition a year from new students.
"That an aggressive assumption," said Ric Clifford, board chairman.
The increase would be a base number, Power said. Data proving his point is subjective, he said. Committee members said club sports don't have the same effect as sanctioned ones.
Organized sports are a school draw, Roberts said. One student athlete can bring several friends.
"That's a magnet. That's a huge magnet," he said.
Scott Grigsby, board trustee and committee member, said if the college adopted the program they would need to continue it past the initial three years. The program would also need to compete outside Arkansas with border programs in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, Grigsby said.
Clifford accepted the committees report and announced that they were disbanded. Board bylaws place programming decisions in the hands of administrators he said
"This is programming at this time," he said.
The committee research will be used by administrators to reach a decision.
Evelyn Jorgenson, college president, said after the meeting that administrators will research the idea further, but they are not prepared to make an immediate decision.
Amye Buckley can be reached at abuckley@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWAAmye.
NW News on 03/10/2015