JJC board votes 6-1 to kill football program

• Reprints

The Joliet Junior College is ending its football program after 61 years. The schools board of trustees voted 6 to 1 on Nov. 8, 2011 to eliminate the program due to cost considerations. File photo | Sun-Times Media

Updated: December 10, 2011 10:02AM

JOLIET — The Joliet Junior College board voted 6 to 1 on Tuesday night to eliminate its football program after 61 years.

The program, one of only three community college football programs in the state, was too costly to operate, school officials said.

JJC Athletic Director Wayne King said after the vote that he planned to meet with football players later Tuesday night to break the news to them.

“I’m a rational person,” King said. “I can understand the decision. Am I happy about it? No. I’m not going to be happy about it but I understand how things work. The school is trying to run a cost-efficient institution.”

The football team made the school’s sports program lopsided in favor of male athletes, which went against Title IX requirements, King added. Title IX was enacted in 1972 to eliminate sexual discrimination in educational programs.

Before the football program was cut, there were more than twice as many male athletes as female athletes at JJC, said JJC spokeswoman Kelly Rohder. With the program’s elimination, the numbers are roughly equal, Rohder said.

Operating expenses for the football team totaled $250,000 and included salaries, referees, travel, supplies and facility rentals. With instructional costs factored in, the total was $476,000.

King said the program’s possible elimination was discussed for about a year, so Tuesday’s vote was not a surprise to him.

Trustee Michael O’Connell, who was the JJC football team’s quarterback in 1969 and 1970, said it was tough to vote to eliminate the program, but the money could be better used elsewhere.

The team had to travel farther and farther for games — including Iowa, Michigan and Arkansas — because there were so few community college teams left in the state, added Trustee Robert Wunderlich.

Student Trustee Kayla Randolph-Clark, whose vote is advisory, agreed that cutting the team was the right thing to do. She said the program wasn’t generating much enthusiasm among students on campus.

Football Coach Jeremy Richardson and seven part-time coaches will lose their positions as a result of the vote, Rohder said.

Forty-two freshman players, who were expecting to play football next year, also will be affected by the cut.

That bothered Trustee Susan Klen, who was the only board member to vote in favor of saving the program.

She said JJC’s team offered a valuable opportunity for area football players who couldn’t go straight to a four-year school.

“I’m just afraid we’re closing a door where that might be their only opportunity,” she said.