The price of keeping up

It was about 11 years ago when EWU alum and Tennessee Titan lineman Michael Roos donated $500,000 to fund a red turf project at the EWU football field. Woodward Stadium would become Roos Field because of the donation. The nickname for Roos Field and the red turf would become known as ‘The Inferno.’

The red turf is a sight to behold if you are an Eagle fan. More than one person has commented to me that they have a hard time watching the game on TV because to them it is too red. My comment has always been, “That is why it is better to watch the game live in Cheney. The TV cameras are ruining the vision!”

After ten years of abuse by large offensive and defensive lineman, bruising linebackers, pinpoint passing quarterbacks, dashing running backs and gazelle-like wide receivers, the field was returfed with a replacement red carpet. Unfortunately there was no football played in Cheney in the fall of 2020. We are now in the modified season of football that will conclude after a six-game schedule with a FCS playoff. This tournament will have 16 teams instead of 24. The 24-team tournament will hopefully be back this fall.

At this point, EWU athletics are in need of money since the budget, like the football field, is in the red; which for budgets is not a good thing. The powers that be are looking into ways of keeping sports as is and hope for help from donors or start making cuts. The cuts could be drastic as in cutting football altogether or dropping back to Division II and competing with Central Washington University and the league they are in.

Because of C-19 protocols a football game between EWU and the University of Florida was cancelled in September 2020. This game would have added money to Eagle athletics to the tune of $750,000. But the season was scrapped and there were no revenue-generating games or TV money.

It is difficult keeping up with programs that can build beautiful facilities and weight rooms and locker rooms and provide all the cushiness some of these kids desire. But it comes with a huge price tag. And if a big-time recruit that coaches hope will help the team win a National Championship as a Junior or Senior decides to transfer after a year or two because this other team has some really cool Taj Mahal weight rooms, it makes it tough.

Eastern has been lucky on getting EKG (Eastern Kinda Guys) athletes over the years. They have also seen some players transfer in from bigger programs because they were not getting much playing time and they like what they see in Cheney in player development and team success, as well as fitting in with the rest of the team.

One thing that has happened is that coaches have moved on to bigger programs and bigger paychecks. But the Eagles always seem to come up with some quality replacements with Eagle ties or real success elsewhere. Coaches love Cheney, but at some point in time they realize that EWU will not be able to write large coaching checks to assistant coaches.

So let’s get back to the problem at hand. We know that there are a fair amount of faculty members who could care less about athletics in general. That is not the reason they came to teach at Cheney. But what about the students? What do they want? They want an affordable education and would also like to enjoy campus life. If there is a football or basketball game on any given Saturday, it would be a lot more fun to attend the game in Cheney rather than drive all the way to Pullman to watch the Cougars play.

When things were normal the ‘Roos’ was sold out for each game and when Montana was in town there were more temporary bleacher seats available that would increase attendance by 1000-2000. This, of course is very helpful to the coffers.

I would hope that the people in charge of making these decisions would hold off slashing sports and especially football since it is the main sport that can generate more money. Big money games can be tough on a FCS opponent but if an Eagle athlete can brag about playing in front of 90,000 people at a SEC school it might also help recruiting those EKG ballplayers. After all, it really is the price of just keeping up with the rest of the league.