By Adam Johnson
D3football.com

I thought when Macalester decided to drop out of the MIAC to an independent football schedule in 2002 it would be a wake-up call for other struggling teams across the nation.

I guess it wasn’t.

As I read the announcement from Lewis & Clark president Tom Hochstettler, I felt like I was sitting in the Macalester auditorium in 2001 as a current player, listening to former Macalester president Michael McPherson give a similar announcement.

The announcements were eerily similar, as if there is a Micrsoft Word template for how to give up on your institution’s football team by making it sound like you have their best interests in mind.

McPherson’s letter said,

“Our concerns included not only the difficulty of competing effectively against teams with so many players, but also about the risks to health and safety that might be imposed by this imbalance.”

Hochstettler’s letter said,

“…come to the difficult conclusion that having too few players on the Pioneer football team puts our players at undue risk for injury, to the point of constituting an actual endangerment to their well-being.”

So, the two main concerns appear to be roster size and fear of injury.

Macalester’s roster has hovered around 40 players for as long as I have been associated with the program. With injuries, there were times when we dipped down around 30 players throughout a season. When we went 5-5 in 2002 we had 35 guys on the team. Don’t let any administrator tell you that you can’t compete or win with 35 players. They just have to be the right players.

Currently, the 2005 Macalester roster has 40 players on it. This independent experience, which was supposed to help improve the team and increase the roster, has not helped to increase our roster size at all. Yet, rosters of the teams we are playing are in the 70-80 range. Carleton, our MIAC academic foe, has nearly 90 players on their team — the most since WWII.

The concern for injury is the second reason for the actions these school presidents have taken. Injuries are a part of football that every player who straps on a helmet accepts. Injuries tend to occur in blowouts when players on opposite sides of the ball are likely moving at different speeds.

In 2004, Macalester lost by more points per game (36 ppg) than they did in their last season in the MIAC in 2001 (29 ppg). Yet, the concern for injury has not been mentioned.

So, what am I trying to say here? These schools who are struggling need more than a temporary fix. They need people who care and a concrete plan for improvement.

Macalester now has a new president and new athletic director who both seem to have the passion and energy to turn around the Macalester program. If the Scots’ 21-10 defeat in Week 1 is any indication, the team is already starting to improve.

It’s a shame that Lewis & Clark chose the forfeiture route but what will be an even bigger shame is if they don’t put the time and effort into making a plan to turn the program around.