Northern Iowa may have to cut sports

Northern Iowa became the darlings of college basketball last season, making a memorable run to the Sweet 16, capped off by an unforgettable shot by The Sultan of Swish, Ali Farokhmanesh, that helped the Panthers eliminate Kansas.

But according to an article from Friday's Des Moines Register, the Panthers may be forced to drop their status as a member of Division I athletics.

The recession has hit a lot of schools hard. The University of New Orleans, for example, will be dropping all of their athletic programs from the D-I level to D-III. UNI is getting hurt as well, as they have already cut their century old baseball team, and that could just be the beginning.

This is one of the lasting images of the 2010 NCAA Tournament.
(photo credit: ESPN)

Right now, the UNI athletics program receives $4.45 million of their $11.6 million -- or 38% -- budget from the University's general fund, a number that the school wants reduced to 30-35% by 2015. If the contributions the athletics department receives from the general fund dips much lower than it is right now, the results could be disappointing for athletes at the school. Colleges and Universities, at their core, are businesses, and business can only operate for so long in the red.

What's interesting, however, is that this article comes out just a month and a half after Dana O'Neil wrote this splendid piece on how beneficial the Farokhmanesh shot and the Panther's upset was for the University.

Look, going to college is not about partying or going to sporting events or trying to bring home as many sorority girls as possible. Its about getting an education, and getting the best one possible given your circumstances, monetary and academic. I get that.

But, when everything else is equal, for a very large population of high school seniors, the determining factor for picking a institution of higher learning will be the place with the more desirable extra-curriculars. Perfect example is a friend of mine who was picking law schools. His choices came down to Georgetown and Texas. The two schools both have very good law schools, and tuition for law school is never cheap. He picked Texas because of the nightlife in Austin and the Longhorn football and basketball games. And I guarantee he's not the only kid whose decision is made based on something as inconsequential to the real world as a school's athletics program.

I have no clue how to run a college or university, but that's the point that the UNI folks seem to be missing.

Farokhmanesh hit his game-winner on a Saturday night. How many students do you think had their best night on the semester on that Saturday? How many of those students do you think told all their friends about how great that night was? How many younger brothers and younger sisters, and the friends of those younger brothers and younger sisters, heard about how much fun that night was and immediately considered Northern Iowa as a school to get an education and to, for lack of a better term, party your ass off?

As O'Neil's article indicated, Farokhmanesh's shot and UNI's run to the Sweet 16 piqued interest in the school. In all likelihood, it will increase the number of kids that want to go to the school. Simply put, athletics that are competitive on a national level, especially for sports like basketball and football, are a way to increase the number and quality of students that want to enroll in your university.

Northern Iowa has one of the better basketball programs in the Missouri Valley, which is routinely one of the most competitive mid-major leagues. They also have a football program that is routinely one of the best in the country at the I-AA level.

It would be a shame to see them lose their sports programs.