2/26/08
TO: LC Students, Faculty, Staff, Retirees, and Alumni
FROM: Kenneth Garren, President
RE: Board of Trustees Football Task Force Report
More than a year ago, I asked the Board of Trustees to examine the issue of football at Lynchburg College. Board Chairman Andrew Larsen commissioned a task force, led by trustee Walker Sydnor, to explore all sides of this topic. The task force was comprised of three trustees, former College Dean James Huston, consultant Joe Bush (Athletic Director from Hampden Sydney), several administrative staff and a student.
Group members examined several studies by Division 3 colleges that launched football programs, visited schools to talk about and observe football programs, and spoke via telephone to representatives from other schools about their football programs. Data were also gathered on what it would take to bring football back to the Lynchburg College campus after a hiatus of 75 years.
Last Saturday, February 23rd, at the Board of Trustees’ winter meeting, task force Chair Sydnor delivered his report to the trustees.
While there are many benefits of having a football program at LC, the bottom line from the task force analysis was the high cost of implementing football. Approximately ten million dollars would be required to make the campus upgrades needed to launch a quality program. Given that healthy sum, and the many competing needs campus-wide, the task force recommended the College not institute a football program at this time.
The task force also recommended that as the College moves forward with its plans for growth in coming years, the necessary infrastructure be put in place so that a football program can be implemented at any time when it may prove of significant benefit to the College and thus have the strong support of the College community.
Prior to this report to the Board on February 23rd, I met with Dr. Sydnor and shared this same judgment (given in the previous two paragraphs above) regarding the football question, so I was assured of the recommendations that were presented to the Board last Saturday. Indeed Dr. Sydnor and the Board chair had discussed with me earlier this year that they would not propose a football program to the full Board unless it had the strong support of this administration, which after our meeting together Dr. Sydnor knew it did not. Following my private meeting with him, I presented these same views at a faculty meeting on February 1st and the next week at a staff meeting.
I greatly appreciate Dr. Sydnor and the task force members for the months of work involved in this project, and thank them for their diligence and thorough review of this complex question.