Show Page 6 January 27 1994 half men court to “better Eagle hope boil over and emotions would get as Snow Pride valor shown were rolled in crutial free sports editor on were confidence As the Scenic Western Athletic and throws in the final the As line the players Conference season reaches its seconds each other woofed at half-wa- y After the game the point the College of almost were fights Eastern Utah Golden Eagles teams confronted each unavoidable 3 team basketball men's other outside the With a loose ball on the arc looking for their “better half' locker rooms where and Jason floor Young to make a run for a higher seeding more talk was spewed Justin Snow guard in the upcoming playoffs including racial slurs collided for Englcbright the On Jan 22 the first half of from the Snow players in front the of the ball The ended season conference “You have got to have rt table scorers at to to went class" head coach Ephraim play Eagles’ the floor off the turkey farmin’ smack talkin' Getting Ronnie Stubbs said “I tried to Englebright fist throwin' no brain thinkin’ just told them (CEU ball the from wrestle farm away racial slur usin’ ref payin’ playcrs)lct’s get out then He proceeded Young Snow of here” College boys from to swing his elbows at In a volatile arena CEU was The previous night face Y Nothing oung's able to come off a CEU doors were unbenches as called was blowout to Dixie to scare the hinged by the Dixie no but cleared 74-6- 9 punches The atmosphere Dixie Rebels 115-7- 0 Badgers thrown were with was tense as the game began went on an early 17-- 1 The game goes down to fans from both sides providing run and never looked the wire with EU down the recipe to gel the juices back Having freshman when Snow by two floWinga players you arc going Arthur Mac forward Barry In the game of and down RomH Ellis drives bssellns and dunks on tha Salt play up offensive an commited Eastern Utah fans got the first jab Lonnia Behunin Stubbs said “Dixie Laka Community1 Collage team the When foul Eagles ball the Ellis stoic when Roscll just had loo many were unable to tie the game KC and raced 75 feet for an earthputting Snow up six athletes” rim bender Tebbs made a bucket followed 5 Eagle swingman Toby Bush The previous weekend Jan quaking reverse a from spinning tough drained a throe to cut the lead to by As the score EU hosted the SLCC Bruins three That was as close as EU CEU managed to jump shot by Jason Torgcrson and the Utah Valley Wolverines lead As Snow take a seven-poiclosed the lead tensions started to by Randall Harrington (8-1- 2-- 7) mid-cou- 45-poi- two-hand- nt ed 14-1- yo-yo- ed tcam-to-tca- m CmA nt '§ strides since football was dropped CEU athletics: making A few words about the front page article published in the January 13 1994 edition of The Eagle entitled 'Dropping CEU's program was questionable in ensuring success of competitive athletic teams” The article addressed the issue of whether or not dropping CEU’s football program had an over-a- ll positive effect upon the quality and success of CEU's other athletic teams The article presented both sides of the issue but contained some errors and a few statements that I would like to comment on First of all four of the women's over-al- l records were incorrect and one of the men's The correct scores were found after further research and arc presented here in this article in order to set the record straight The mistake made in the mens' record is small (during the 87-8- 8 6 not and docs not change season they were win-lorecord over the past eight the outlook of their seasons However when the correct season records arc posted for the womens program it makes a considerable difference (sec box) This is where the next statement comes into play in the Jan 13 article “But even with additional recruiting money neither the men's or women's teams have shown great overall season records” In regards to the men's basketball program nothing could be farther from the truth! Coach Ronnie Stubbs took over midway through the 86-8- 7 season (football was abolished in 1987) and in three short years transformed the men’s program from a mcdkcrc 500 team into a conference powerhouse while 18-1- 17-1- posting three straight 1991-9225- -7 1992-9323- 20-w- in seasons: 1990-9- 1 23-- 9 -9 With incorrect records and generalized statements one could get the impression that there has been no change in the quality of the women's basketball program but this is not true At the same time football was done away with CEU moved from the 1CAC conference and into a much tougher Region 18 The move to Region 18 added Northern Idaho CSI Treasure Valley SLCC and Colorado North Western to CEU's conference schedule CSI was and always has been a force Besides CSI Northern Idaho had Season Records another strong 7) program to add power to the confer- ss ence The addition of these teams took a toll on the Lady Eagles During the 85-8- 6 season the Eagles posted a 4 record The very next year after the and continued move to Region 18 they dropped to this dismal pace through the 88-8- 9 season Coach Paur took over the women's basketball team in 1989 and in four years was able to deliver a season record of 7 for 10-1- 5-- 17 14-1- 99 to try and jump start themselves in the conference standings The Bruins currently third in the conference came to Price and held on for a 7 victory press the Eagles Using a were able to gain a advantage in the First half but were unable to hold on in the second Down by four Shalayo Williams was fouled with :14 seconds left on a three point try He converted all three foul shots and cut the lead to one However SLCC hit 3- -4 free throws to seal the game Ellis Bush and Cory Jones all fouled oul The following night Utah Valley was leading by 18 when Stubbs was forced to a small lineup because of foul trouble CEU went on an 18-- 2 run to but that was cut the lead to 63-6- 1 as close as they could come Eventually the Wolverines won 87-7- 4 by hitting foul shots down the stretch 71-6- 2-2- -1 10-poi- nt The Eagles have lost seven out of nine games but have been competitive lately In three of the (see Better Half on page 8) the 92-9- 3 season The 14 victories are the most ever for CEU women’s team and I guarantee that this year’s team (already at 12-- 9 with nine games left) will break that record and have the First winning season in over eight years The bottom line is that it takes time to change a program around and even though football was eliminated CEU athletics still operate on a small budget in comparison to the other schools in the conference In fact even today especially in the women's programs they must fund many of their players through academic scholarships and Financial aid while schools such as CSI arc able to give e all of their players scholarships and operate with unlimited funds for men’s basketball Also because more money is added to a athletic budget docs not guarantee instant success Those players who are talented enough to choose whichever school they please will choose to go where programs have a history of winning and success This is what the CEU athletic program has started to establish and it is starting to pick-u- p steam Instead of arguing whether or not football should be at CEU and making negative statements without the proper records posted or consideration for the changing of conferences budgets or the time and effort it takes to get a program headed in a new direction we need to lend support to these programs In truth most CEU students could care less about a football program What we need to do is enjoy and support what we have look at them with a positive attitude and use the newspaper and other sources to try and help build support and conFidcncc in our athletic full-rid- programs |