Jonathan Says

ON CAMPUS

For the past few months I have joked with friends and co-workers that university President Eugene P. Trani’s decision to step down in 2009 would immediately spawn the creation of a VCU football team. You can imagine my surprise after reading about such a topic in Monday’s edition of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. I suppose catching up with the rest of the conference in terms of athletic programs would be a good thing, but unfortunately, I still think we are short on answers in a few areas. For starters, we know that the most logical place for a potential team to play would be City Stadium, where the University of Richmond currently plays and will be vacating after this season. However, the team will need a practice facility. Where will it go? Economically, can the school support the large load of developing a football program (and a few new women’s sports because of Title IX) while adjunct professors get the ax? Will students be OK with a big raise of student activity fees? I’ll be waiting patiently for these answers in the coming months.

Also .

With Richmond’s plans for a downtown baseball stadium now revealed, questions regarding the future home of VCU baseball, soccer and track and field now come into play. Will the team that eventually inhabits the new stadium be OK with sharing it with a collegiate baseball team? If the plans for a Shockoe Bottom stadium succeed, The Diamond, Sports Backers Stadium and the Arthur Ashe Center would all be leveled? Where will the soccer team play and the track teams practice? Will City Stadium be available for the teams or will track and field have to fend for itself while the soccer teams get relegated back to Cary Street Field? Unfortunately for VCU athletics, there appears to be more questions than answers at this point.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

It wasn’t a surprise when the University of Washington decided to fire Tyrone Willingham this past weekend (the CT Fire-O-Meter strikes again), but it continues an increasingly frightening trend in college football. Dating back to two seasons ago when North Carolina fired John Bunting mid-season, more and more programs are giving coaches the ax before the season ends. Some sort of line needs to be drawn in order to separate the professional and college coaching professions. However, I must say that I respect the administration at Washington for allowing Willingham to finish the season. It gives Willingham enough time to prepare his players for a transition and allows him to finish the year with dignity.