Trying to level the playing field in the ICCAC

First in a Series

By RICK DEINES, TIMES-REPUBLICAN
It is obvious from the conference standings each year that all is not equal in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference, the group that comprises 13 junior colleges in the state.

Kirkwood Community College, for instance, just won its second straight women’s Division II national basketball championship. Also for the second year in a row, it wasn’t even close. Only Community College of Rhode Island got within 11 points of the Eagles in the tournament.

The Kirkwood men, incidentally, finished third in their national tourney.

Marshalltown Community College finished fourth in the ICCAC women’s Division II basketball race, winning its first tournament game but losing to Kirkwood, 96-52. In Division I, the Tiger men won a single game in the conference, that against Region XI champion Indian Hills.

Is the answer scholarship money?

Is it enrollment?

Is it recruiting?

Is it coaching?

Why is Marshalltown in Division I in some sports and Division II in others?

How can the Marshalltown men’s soccer team come within an eyelash of a national title when it doesn’t even have its own pitch on which to practice?

The Times-Republican sent a survey to all the schools in the ICCAC asking for information about scholarships, coaching salaries and any administrative or academic duties coaches perform in addition to coaching.

For lack of a better starting point, the Times-Republican thought it would begin with the money.

The response so far is an overwhelming — nothing. Except for Iowa Valley (Marshalltown and Ellsworth), the only answer was from Iowa Central CC. Their reply said we had two choices: (1) travel to Fort Dodge and the information would be made available, or (2) have an Iowa Central employee gather the material and send it at the cost of paying a pro rata portion of the employee’s daily or hourly wage, plus copying and mailing.

To his credit, Dr. Tim Wynes, the chancellor of Iowa Valley, readily agreed to make the information available, saying it was in the computer system and easily accessible.Not so the other schools. None has refused to provide the information but neither have they responded to a polite request.

All the information requested by the Times-Republican is public and readily available and most has been provided to sites such as the Office of Post-Secondary Education of the U. S. Department of Education. The agency has a web site, Equity in Athletics, that lists much of the information but not all that the Times-Republican requested.

Nonetheless, our request under the Freedom of Information Act has been largely ignored.

What information we have been able to gather provides lots of numbers but few answers.

Kirkwood, by far, has the largest enrollment — 15,902, larger by half than the University of Northern Iowa. Still, only so many players can play on any one team and those players can only receive so much aid for playing a sport or sports.

Marshalltown, which has the second-smallest enrollment — 717 — still was third in the national championship tournament.

The following information is a starting point. It probably provides no answers and may raise more questions but, if our inquiry raises awareness as well as questions, that in itself may be a benefit.

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Contact Rick Deines at 641-753-6611 or rdeines@timesrepublican.com