Wilson can take all the blame

DOUG McCONACHIE

Ross Wilson’s days as director of Huskie Athletics appear to be numbered.

Much to the delight of a number of his coaches, some alumni and people who have tried to work with Wilson, an external review of the University of Saskatchewan’s Huskie Athletics program raises serious questions about whether there’s room for Wilson and the sporting programs to continue together.

The review concludes the future of Huskie Athletics requires the director “to be a visionary leader who understands marketing and business opportunities and community relations.”

That Wilson can be difficult to deal with is not up for debate. The review went so far as to point out: “It is quite clear that a ‘chilly relationship’ exists between some members of the alumni and the current leadership in Huskie Athletics.” That is clearly an understatement. The daily work environment in Huskie Athletics was variously characterized as “functionally dysfunctional, toxic, poisonous and unhealthy.” Many on both sides of the issues spoke of a “lack of trust.”

Some of his coaches can’t stand him. They’ve battled with him for funding, they’ve fought over working hours and working conditions and they’ve argued they can’t do their jobs because of limitations placed on them by him. The report goes so far as to say there’s “an untenable working environment” between the coaches and Wilson.

It adds the current contract for coaches, while implemented originally with the best interests of staff, “demonstrates a lack of understanding of the coaching task and all that it involves.”

When you and your boss don’t see eye-to-eye on what you’re doing, you’re in big trouble.

The Huskie Football Scholarship fundraiser, which just last week raised $100,000, won’t let him within a stone’s throw of the money. He didn’t even attend the fundraising Dogs’ Breakfast that attracted more than 1,600.

And while several fingers are pointed at Wilson in this report, it’s also abundantly clear that Wilson deserves a very strong pat on the back for just keeping the sporting programs functioning. It’s obvious he’s done a hell of a job without much, if any support, from the university or even his immediate bosses — the kinesiology department.

Wilson immediately starts in a hole each year. He has to raise more than 90 per cent of his budget from “outside” sources. Included in that budget is raising every penny of his salary and that of his coaches. The U of S gives him $170,000 for his operating budget, then another $160,000 to help pay the costs of teams going to national championships. But Huskie Athletics is still $750,000 in the red because of the costs of attending championships.

At this rate, one can understand it might be far better if Huskie Athletics was unsuccessful on the national scene, failing to make any playoffs.

The very first recommendation is that the U of S develop an institutional position on Huskie Athletics. Or simply put, does sports belong at the U of S? If so, what does it want, and most importantly, who pays? With those questions at the root of the issue, how is it that Wilson is supposed to know?

The report says the kinesiology department has to be far more open in how it conducts itself, then put the same demands on the director of Huskie Athletics. But, if in the past your boss hasn’t been open, you certainly can’t expect your key employees to be more forthcoming.

The report wants a much higher profile of the Huskie brand. But in order to do that, Wilson has to hire staff. Wilson has been seen selling and collecting tickets and conducting the raffles at many of his team’s games. Does that make him a control freak, or does reality hit home and force him to do it himself because there’s no money to hire help? Or does it mean he’s made so many enemies over the years nobody will volunteer to assist?

Wilson would gladly have burned down Rutherford Rink (which the review committee calls an embarrassment) and erect a new facility and would love to find funds to provide scholarships to all athletes and coaches so that the U of S could at least compete with the University of Regina (which waives tuition fees for its athletes).

He hasn’t been able to get any leadership thoughts on what programs should be included, or not — in particular women’s hockey. He has to live with the Canada West policies in regards to conference play, even though the review committee recommends an east-west split with Manitoba and Saskatchewan on one side and Alberta and B.C. on the other in order to reduce travel and operating costs.

Of course, seeing the University of Manitoba and the University of Regina over and over again and not the Alberta or British Columbia teams, except on odd occasions, would be dull and unexciting and probably unsellable over the long run. So while it might save some money initially, it would probably turn into a disaster in the long run.

In the end, it will be Wilson’s lack of interpersonal skills that will do him in. But if the university doesn’t know what it wants from sporting programs, it’s not fair to say Wilson should