Former ISU Athletes Threaten to Pull $80k From Athletic Dept.
A group of 10 former Idaho State University athletes and Hall of Fame football players are asking for ISU President Arthur Vailas and ISU Athletic Director Jeff Tingey to be removed from their positions, or they intend to pull roughly $80,000 in donations intended for the department.
In June, it was announced Tingey signed another two-year contract, which prompted several members from the ISU Football Alumni Team (FAT) to voice their concern over the decision.
In an editorial piece this past week, 10 of the FAT members wrote:
“In truth, we believe the state of ISU athletics is at an all-time low. When comparing ISU to its Big Sky peers, it’s easy to see that ISU is at the bottom of the league in facilities. Coaches’ pay, fundraising efforts and competitive records for revenue sports are also among the worst in the Big Sky Conference.”
However, on Tuesday, some members of FAT who wanted to remain anonymous said the decision to withhold the $80,000 donation was made without the consent of every member of the club. Others, who also want to remain anonymous, who helped donate into that pot said they want their money re-allocated.
The ten authors of the editorial are: Jason Whitmer (Football Alumni Team board member, ISU class of 1991, ISU Football Hall of Fame 2008); Phil Meador (longtime ISU booster, owner of local car dealerships); Mike Machurek (ISU class of 1981, ISU Football Hall of Fame 1991); Tom Jewell (Football Alumni Team board member, ISU class of 1987); LD Barthlome (Football Alumni Team board member, ISU class of 1988); Dave Mattson (Football Alumni Team board member, ISU class of 1973); Joe Haber (Football Alumni Team board member, ISU class of 1989); John Kalivas (Football Alumni Team board member, ISU class of 1980); Dave Vandergriff (Football Alumni Team board member, ISU class of 1981); and Don Neves (Football Alumni Team board member, ISU class of 1967, ISU Football Hall of Fame 2010).
Tingey said he had been closely working wtih the members of the FAT club to help meet their expectations of the program, and this donation cut had come as a surprise.
“Withholding this money hurts the student athletes and only the student athletes, and that’s the disappointing thing,” Tingey said.
The group said it would like to see the university step-up when it comes to providing better facilities for the athletes.
However, Tingey said within the past five years, roughly $4 million in renovation projects have been completed, with more along the way, including: adding a new practice field outside of Holt Arena, installing a new video board, repaving the parking lot, adding new lights inside Holt Arena, and the plan to widen the track and put in new seating at Davis Field.
The group of alumni also said said the high academic standards are unparalleled to other competitive schools. They write:
“The APR issue was corrected by creating academic standards higher than our Big Sky peers and higher than that of the general ISU student population.
This is an ISU self-imposed standard that has put our programs at a competitive disadvantage. The budget shortfall was not recovered through raising additional funds, rather by requiring the football team to play two top-tier Division I schools every year, which generated approximately $1.5 million annually.”
Tingey said that’s just not true.
“There are a handful of schools across the Big Sky that have higher academic standards than us. But, we’re also an institution of higher education. Higher learning – this is what we do,” Tingey said.
He added, last year the FAT booster club donated roughly $15,000 which was used to help purchase apparel for the football team along with practice sleds, backpacks, and tackling dummies. The donations are not calculated into the budget.
