Expect more changes to come from U of S athletic
program
 |
| The Huskies football team storms out to the field for a game in September. |
The winds of change are blowing through the University of
Saskatchewan Huskies athletic program, and an educated guess makes one suspect
the changes haven’t finished just yet.
In stepping back to take a look at the bigger picture, it
appears the wheels were in motion to make changes at the storied Huskie Athletics
program long before high profile departures were announced this month. The
departures include the retirement announcement by athletic director Basil
Hughton on Dec. 5 that becomes effective June 30, 2017 and the announcement
that after 33 years Brian Towriss was stepping down as the head coach of the
football team on Dec. 19.
News of Towriss’s departure was taken with quite a bit
emotion from alums, current coaches, current players and supporters of the
football program. The shock was also felt from alums and current players from
the other Huskies teams as well.
The overriding emotion was one of being upset because of a
feeling that Towriss was being pushed out. I know for myself my gut tells me it
was a force out too.
Signs that the Huskies were heading in a new direction
appeared five years ago, when the Sheaf – the student newspaper at the
University of Saskatchewan - produced a feature in October of 2011 questioning the
association local businessman, philanthropist and Huskies football alumnus
David Dube had with the football program.
In a well-constructed piece, the
Sheaf story explores the question of Dube’s influence going beyond being a
sponsor and having influence on the team’s direction.
Fast forward to April 1 of this year, the Huskies were
celebrating a very successful 2015-16 campaign during the Huskie Salute annual
awards night. During the 2015-16 campaign, the Huskies claimed Canada West
titles in men’s track and field, men’s wrestling, men’s hockey, women’s
basketball and a national championship from women’s basketball.
The whole night felt very warm, cozy and inviting. It seemed
like everything was in a state of being great.
 |
| Basil Hughton, right, announced he will retire as Huskies athletic director. |
Then in July, two of the program’s elite coaches announced
they were taking a professional leave of absence for the 2016-17 campaign first
in men’s volleyball head coach Brian Gavlas followed by women’s hockey head coach
Steve Kook. The announcements were made within six days of each other.
Joel Dyck is the interim head coach of the men’s volleyball
program, while Robin Ulrich is the interim head coach of the women’s hockey
team. Both are former players and had been assistant coaches for their
respective teams.
Normally if one head coach goes on a leave of absence for a
season, no one blinks. It is a bit unusual for two coaches to depart at
relatively the same time and during a period that is getting a little late in
the off-season and makes you slightly feel like something is up. With that
said, Kook has attended a few women’s hockey games and has been present at
announcements for the Home Ice Campaign, which is raising funds for a new
hockey arena on campus.
The big news came down on Sept. 13, which Huskie Athletics
entitled a “New Direction For Huskie Athletics At U of S” on a website release.
It was announced that on Nov. 1 a Board of Trustees will advise and guide
Huskie Athletics.
The board consists of six community members and five
representatives from the university. Dube, who is also a member of the U of S
Board of Governors, was appointed as the chairperson. The board reports to U of
S president Peter Stoicheff.
When the board was announced, Dube made it clear change was
overdue when he said, “Do you have the same cellphone as 20 years ago? I doubt
it. I’m sure you don’t fly in a 100-year-old airplane, or a 100-year-old car.
This was a 100-year-old governance model.”
Usually, something like the creation of the Huskies board of
trustees is a process that comes over a period of a number of months. When you
consider when the board was announced and remember the mandate for change, you
start connecting the dots regarding the moves that were made in July and the
ones that came in December along with the formation of the board.
 |
| Brian Towriss’s resignation shocked the majority of Huskies backers. |
You start to wonder how much influence the Board of Trustees
or a single person on that board really has.
Will Gavlas and Kook be back? Only time will truly answer
that question.
Greg Jockims took his professional leave of absence after
leading the Huskies men’s basketball team to Canada West and national titles in
2010. A year later, he resigned his post in order to spend more time to help
raise his young family.
Will other aspects in Gavlas’s and Kook’s lives move them to
consider a similar choice?
For now, you start to wonder what will be the next major
move made by Huskie Athletics?
The next move might be delayed given the fallout from when Towriss
stepped down. The vocal minority that sat in the one corner of Griffiths
Stadium heaping criticism on Towriss in recent years seems really small these
days.
The amount of alums that have come forward saying how
important the veteran bench boss has meant to their lives has been staggering.
A few fans are suggesting they won’t renew their season tickets for the
football team.
Even when I went shopping on Boxing Day just a week after
Towriss resigned, I had three people come up to talk to me about him. It even
distracted me on a visit I had with a family member.
Overall, the prestige of Huskie Athletics on the national
stage did take a negative hit with how Towriss’s situation played out. The
athletic department overall is successful, so how much change does one want
to make?
I am sure there members of the university’s communications
department who are choked that the company message track that it was Towriss’s
choice to step down was widely rejected. When Towriss fumbled a bit with that
question at his departure news conference, the optics showed something else was
going on due to the fact Towriss had a long standing tell it like it is
reputation.
There are some, who seem like the minority, who agree with
the moves that have been made on the Huskies front. On the football front,
there are some that say the Towriss move was the right one looking at the team’s
eight straight post-season losses.
Some want the Huskies to make moves like a professional team
or a WHL one if wins or not enough wins are coming. You make a change to go in
a different direction and move on.
 |
| The Huskies have won a lot of recent trophies and championship banners. |
When the Huskies teams that are still in action resume play
in the new year, all of this will be a slight distraction. Due to the pressures
of managing basically two full time jobs of being a university student and a
university level athlete, players are used to taking things day by day. If
romantic relationships are happening, that just increases the day-to-day focus.
When each team reaches the end of its season, then the
future will be more of a distraction.
At the end of 2016, the Huskies are looking different from
the start of the year. Change might be the only consistent as the 2017 calendar
year plays out. If the Huskies pile up the championship banners after the
changes are made, a lot of the hurt feelings will likely go away.
NOTES – Saskatoon
Express editor Cam Hutchinson was at the press conference when Towriss
announced his resignation. Hutchinson’s piece on the matter can be found right
here.
The Sheaf’s 2011 story on Dube’s influence on the football
program can be found here.
Message from Stoicheff and Towriss
It is likely a coincidence, but a message was posted from
Stoicheff and Towriss on the Huskies website and communicated along Facebook
and Twitter lines about an hour after this blog was originally posted.
In the joint statement, Stoicheff publicly apologized for
how the news regarding Towriss’s resignation was handled. In an eloquently written
comment, Towriss said he appreciated the apology from the university president.
Huskie Athletics has taken heat from a number of different
sources about how Towriss’s departure was handled since the news came down on
Dec. 19.
My initial reaction is this will help heal things over time. Initially,
there have been some immediate disappointment reactions on social media. With
that said, the statement was a step in the right direction and the best course
of action the U of S could take at this time.
The statement from the Huskie Athletics site can be found
right here.
If you have any
comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them
to stankssports@gmail.com.
