. , a , w 7.- ; v. v.3”; ,. ,, a w». ,<<A§"' . With all of the commotion around this campus in the last week itmaybe thatI amgetting slightly paranoid but it seems strange to me that the Minister of Education and the Premier have declined to get involved in the proposed Academic changes. It makes ne» wonder about the timing of the release of these proposals. If they would have been released before the elections would the Premier have been more interested? It also seems strange that the Minister of Education is not actively involved in what could will be the most important educational issue in the history of P.E.I. the impression that it was his aw. ,4. . ..,, “1, 7 H J M f ’ I have always been under to contact the Student Union with them. Every idea will help the S.U. put together a package of proposals which will be accept— able to both students and administration. Since we have been receiving no ‘ help foam those whose job it is to be involved in this matter, which will affect not only the university but the whole Island, We have to help oursilves. We now have to join together as one and defend our right to education. The best way to start is by ‘ going to the general meeting of the Student Union on Wed. ,Oct.20 at 12:30 in the Student Lounge of the Library where proposals will be discussed. - _-V,4v‘-_,¢.’«; . p‘m‘; _ 3' . M. --,A.»,\, “a Fury-{w . _ *‘ mama "’ There has been a fantastic no real feasible proposals urge those of you who have Dear Editor: I am writing this letter out of sheer concern for 7 our basketball. program at UPEI! It is well known that I, Dave Nutbrown left U.P.E.I. 'and that no basket- ball 'coach was hired to re- place him. It has been my understanding that one and one-half coaching positicns are to exist in total for hockey and Men's‘Bas- ketball at UPEI. Last year, Jack Hynes was part- time hockey coach and Dave Nutbrown was full—time bas- ketball coach, so there were me and axe-half pos- itims. Jack is again back at a part-time basis, but Athletic Director Ed Hilton is the new Men's Basketball (bad'l. In re- ality, mly (me-half a coaching position exists this year, as apposed to me and one—half. I understood the cmtro- versy last year regarding Jack Hynes cnly wanting to be part-time coach because of his job requiretents at Holland College, and this is amount of student concern and participation in this area but have yet been made by the students; I ideas mamas job to get involved in these matters. fine. But still, there should at least be a part- timte basket—Fall- coach for this season. I have absol— utely nothing against Ed Hilton, but I believe he has too much to do al- ready as Athletic Direc— tor and putting this job (11 his shoulders will only make matters worse. Players have been, scrim— maging now for a couple of weeks, and Ed has not been making too,many appear- ances at these scrimmages. He has probably worked a full days work as Athletic Director before scrimmages even start, so maybe he does not feel like going to them. A coad': whose only job is to coach basketball would be there at all scrimmages, as Dave Nutbrown was. , 'Ihese scrimmages were very competitive as all players wanted to impress their coach. 'Ihere is a very slack atmosphere at scrim- mages this year, and that " is why a few high-quality -_ players are not going to try out. 'Ihere are other cmcerns that myself and others have as well:- (1) Not enough recruiting has been dcne. 'mis has been true for years, but having a full-time coach will re- sult in more recruitment because he has more Recruim W a 1m- I of time with often no results. (2) Most a players did not know who .was returning until they arrived in September. . There was an obvious lack of cammmication to the players and this is no good. A full-time coach could do these things. (3) A coach has to spend a lot of time with his players to get to know them and also to get their respect; this also takes time, and our Basketball and Hockey pro— grams both lack in this area. We all know Chris Summer, Skeeter Mower, Vinnie Di— pinto, and Guy McIssac all . left UPEI, and they must sit out a year before they can play at another univer- sity. I would make a large bet that at least three of then would be back if a new head coach was hired in the spring. Instead, they are going to waste a year. Last our Hockey, Soccer, and Basketball teams were all rated in the top ten in Canada during their seasms. Based on this fact, here are some reasms why UPEI .was dtmb - in not hiring a new basketballvcoach. It is much easier to recruit the year after being in the top ten since players will care 1:210}, and it will not cost as much to get them. If the up- coming basketball seasm is poor then I bet one fo the following will be done by UPEI for next year: '(1) Hire a coach who will recruit but who will have to pay to get quality players after a poor 1982/83 season. (2) Continue to do no re- cruiting and have poor or mediocre teams. (3) Drop the Basketball program. ’ The obvious choice we hope for is number one, but if that is their choice then they will look stupid for not getting a coach ‘ this year when our Basket- ball program was starting to get respect fromabroad. I conclude by saying that UPEI has to get its prior- ities straight. I realize mmey is tight, but as far as I am ocncerned, strmg .-sports programs aremore important than an 18% raise to faculty or a music department that costs about $20,000 per yearper student to educate. I wish the , Basketball progranlsuccess this year, and Ed candoajob likehedid. ' when he stopped infunder similar circmstances to ‘ coach the football team in ~the 1970's. I ; y‘:‘ ’ ' Yours sincerely“ V A Concerned Fan