Harper College will be eliminating its football program, following a trend in the Midwest Football Conference, the school announced earlier this week.
The move is in response to the recent elimination of Joliet Junior College in Joliet and Grand Rapids Community College in Grand Rapids, Mich., according to the college. After the elimination of Joliet Junior College, Harper and College of DuPage were the only schools in Illinois for the five-team conference.
With news of the elimination of other teams, Harper President Kenneth Ender said he asked school officials to bump up the periodic review of the football program, which has existed since 1970.
“When that happened, I asked them to speed it up so, if the existing players want to transfer, we can help them if they want to do that,” he said. The program “made perfectly good sense for a long time, but now it doesn’t.”
Since the elimination of other Illinois schools, it meant the team would increasingly have to play teams that are further away, which was a major factor in the decision, Ender said. It was not only an issue of taking Harper students away from classes for long trips, but also that other schools had to make long journeys as well.
“Some school would take 15 hours (on a bus) just to come play us,” he said.
But the scheduling issues were only part of the decision, Ender said. More than 90 percent of Harper football players came from out of the district, and since the college does not have student housing, that caused issues for those playing for the football team, Ender said.
The school had 25 players — only three of whom are actually in Harper district boundaries — scheduled to play for the team in the upcoming season.
Most come from out of district because their grades are not good enough to meet NCAA requirements, Ender said. The goal for such students has been to hone their football skills while trying to boost grades and transfer to another school. However, only about a quarter of first-year players typically return to Harper the following season, according to the school.
The football program brings in no revenue, and costs Harper $300,000 to $350,000 a year. Ender said they will asses the athletics department and see if the money can be used to create new programs to offset the loss of football. That review will take place this year, with new sports possibly being introduced in 2013.
“I can assume we will have new sports at the college,” he said.
Eric Waldstein, who has been the head football coach at Harper for the last three seasons, said he was disappointed when he heard the program was being eliminated and met with players Monday to deliver the bad news.
“They were kind of shocked and just asking ‘Why?’” he said. “When you explain it to them, they understood. It was no big secret when Joliet and Grand Rapids (announced their own eliminations) it just makes sense.”
He said they will start meeting with students individually to come up with plans based on each player’s grades, circumstances and goals. He said it was unfortunate these students will be losing Harper as an outlet to try to advance athletically and educationally.
“Junior college football is an opportunity for these young guys to get their academics straightened out so they can get to a four-year school, and football is their tool to do that,” he said. “With us gone, that’s just one less option.”
Ender, in the end, believed it was the right decision.
“The more I looked at it, the less I found it supported the goal of students being successful and progressing in their education,” he said.
