Few in our region have a more impressive resume or story than Robert Morris University president Dr. Christopher Howard.
The man was a helicopter pilot.
An Air Force reserve lieutenant colonel.
He was an intelligence officer for the elite Joint Special Operations Command.
He was awarded a Bronze Star for efforts in Afghanistan protecting our freedoms.
He holds degrees from the United States Air Force Academy, the University of Oxford and Harvard Business School.
Pretty important stuff, right? You don’t find people like this just walking around every Giant Eagle or getting a workout in at your local gym.
He was a Division I college football player and a member of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. He’s one of the 13 trusted people in this country saddled with that gigantic responsibility of being part of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee.
That’s enough for now. You get it, right? Really impressive guy.
That is why it is so puzzling, baffling and out-and-out odd that he got something so wrong. He got it dead wrong --- missed by a million miles. I’ll explain in a moment …
You see, I’m not here to debate the merits or financial maneuverings of Robert Morris University --- and, by extension Dr. Howard --- electing to eliminate NCAA Division 1 men’s and women’s ice hockey.
Although I don’t agree with the tactic, I’m not even here to debate the merits of the athletic hierarchy keeping it under wraps and then calling men’s coach Derek Schooley and women’s coach Paul Colontino into separate meetings Wednesday and dropping the devastating news on them without warning and after the merry-go-round of the NCAA transfer portal has pretty much slowed to a stop, leaving the student-athletes in quite a predicament.
I get all of that --- tough decisions are just that. Tough. And there is never an easy way or right time to deliver them.
A news release from the school said clipping the two hockey programs will serve to: “position the university to be amongst the most agile and professionally focused schools in the nation.”
Again, I get all of that and respect it.
But you know what, for all I can understand and comprehend here and for all that Dr. Howard is from a my-goodness-this-guy-is-impressive standpoint he got something incredibly wrong in all of this. Dead wrong.
He didn’t face the music.
Not in person.
Not on Zoom.
Not at all.
This man should know better and the program deserves better.
The coaches, staffs and student-athletes deserve better.
Heck, the boosters, fans and people who support Robert Morris athletics and the school as a whole deserve better.
This isn’t about the media getting their chance to chastise, castigate or scold Howard. It isn’t about the media at all, really --- we just serve as the conduit to the general public and people who don’t get afforded a press pass but are impacted and/or interested in topics or decisions.
What this really is about is putting a name to it, putting a face to it and getting very specific answers as to why. And seeing someone ---- Howard in this case because he’s the highest-ranking University administrator ---- deliver those answers.
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Why now?
What were the other alternatives?
Were there any alternatives?
Why was Schooley saying that it was just in the recent past there was talk about a new arena for the hockey program and now this happened?
Who all --- names, please --- were people who were consulted and were part of this decision?
How much money will this save and how much of an expenditure is football comparative to hockey?
All this and maybe some more.
All this needs to be asked --- and an open forum should have been granted for such a seismic decision that impacted so many.
You see, Dr. Howard, I’m not here to tell you the decision you made was wrong.
I simply don’t know if it was or wasn’t.
What I’m here to tell you is that sending out a press release wasn’t and isn’t good enough. It reeks of a hit-and-run.
You should have stood at a podium and faced the music and taken some questions.
Because a lot of people have a lot of them.