Posted: Monday, November 27, 2006 6:00 pm
“Like sands through an hourglass … so are the days of our lives.”
Thus began the long-running soap opera, otherwise known as the University of Nebraska at Omaha athletic department.
The saga started with a summer of disclosures that showed part of the UNO athletic department debt was on a personal expense account.
A former vice chancellor was tapping athletic funds for wining and dining, country clubbing and elbow rubbing with the rich and famous.
The saga continued with revelations that the UNO chancellor had tried to cover the vice chancellor’s spending athletic department funds, while the athletic department searched for ways to cut spending.
There were other problems, too.
The school’s Division I hockey team was stuck in a high-cost, long-term lease with Qwest Center Omaha. After years of selling out Civic Auditorium, interest seemed to wane when fans were able to find plenty of room in the new arena.
Meanwhile, the free-spending vice chancellor, Jim Buck, resigned. The chancellor, Nancy Belck, resigned.
Now, athletic director David Herbster, who at one time last summer was left dangling in the wind by the chancellor, has resigned.
Somehow, football and the other athletic programs at UNO survived.
UNO football is and often has been a dunk tank target of some critics and some University of Nebraska regents.
In 1996, regent Chuck Hassebrook suggested that UNO phase out football since it was starting a Division I hockey program. Some state senators agreed. “Can’t have everything,” they argued.
That argument blossomed again this summer when an audit revealed that student fees and other university funds were helping to service the athletic department debt.
The message echoed in the football locker room.
“We got through a very difficult time when people were saying they should dump the football program,” said UNO football coach Pat Behrns. “It bothered the coaches. It was disconcerting to the players. Yet, we came together, got through some big injuries and made it to the playoffs again.”
UNO lost to 11-1 North Dakota, a perennial power, 38-35 in a wild Division II first-round playoff game Saturday in Omaha. UNO was in the playoffs for the seventh time since 1996.
“I’m proud of this team,” Behrns said. “We kept coming back and we kept fighting what was going on behind the scenes and on the field.”
The football team did its best to get the focus back on athletics. Despite injuries and negative press, the Mavs thrived as they survived.
Quarterback Zach Miller said the Mavs banded together in an “us versus them” camp.
“There was talk we weren’t needed to be around as a team,” Miller said. “We decided we’d do what we could to prove those people wrong.”
Miller, a junior from Wahoo (Bishop Neumann) almost single-handedly carried UNO this season with his stunning ability to make would-be tacklers miss and to drag tacklers yard after yard.
There is still a big annual debt in the UNO athletic department. It is said to be shrinking from its $1 million-plus annual overrun. Winning hockey games can help. The football team averaged about 6,000 fans and can draw more. The wrestling team is seeking its fourth consecutive national title and the women’s soccer team won the NCAA title in 2005. The team reached the quarterfinals this season and the semifinals in 2003 and 2004.
Obviously, given the chance, UNO’s athletic program will succeed. The more success, the more likely the school will raise the funds needed to balance the $6.8 million athletic budget. About 65 percent must come from fundraising, sponsorships, concessions and ticket sales.
But cut the programs, eliminate the chances for student-athletes such as Miller and his teammates, and everybody loses.
“I’d like the chance to keep trying,” Behrns said.
Reach Ken Hambleton at 473-7313 or at khambleton@journalstar.com.