Michigan Tech head coach Bernie Anderson and his assistants came into the gym at 6:30 a.m. on March 18, 2003. The Huskies coaching staff arrived later than usual for its morning conditioning practice because they had trouble coming to grips with what they found out the previous evening.

And now, Anderson had to deliver the bad news to 90 young souls.

‘The program has been dropped,’ Anderson told his team. ‘The opportunity to play at Michigan Tech is over.’

Understandably, many of the players drew tears. Some called their parents. Others just sat there, realizing they no longer could play Division-II football.

‘It was absolute dead silence,’ senior wide receiver Brad Ruhanen said. ‘A lot of guys emotionally broke down. We all lost our job. We didn’t know what awaited us.’

The decision stemmed from Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm making cuts in state school appropriations. Michigan has struggled financially due to depleted tax revenue. Making the cuts served as one way to balance the budget. Bill Steele, Michigan Tech’s coordinator for development for football and fundraising, said the university then made the cut in football and saved $400,000 in operational costs.

Although devastating to the players, the university’s decision to cut funding for the football team hurt the coaches – who earned a living coaching – the most.

While the coaches obviously sought other job openings, Anderson said he and his staff also kept the possibility of trying to keep the program alive. Some of the players bought the idea while others jumped ship, looking for opportunities elsewhere.

As soon as people realized the then-80-year-old program ended, supporters from 12 different countries and 30 different states flooded Anderson’s e-mail account with more than 1,400 letters in a matter of three to four days. They all asked the same question: What can we do to help?

‘When our alumni realized the program was in jeopardy, they were pretty generous in opening their wallets,’ Anderson said. ‘My gut reaction was I couldn’t imagine an 80-year-old program not play anymore. That was my motivation: not being able to see an 80-year-old tradition just go down the drain.’

Anderson and Steele worked the phones, mapped out alumni from the past 21 years and created calling trees. Both shared duties in calling representatives from each class dating back to 1984, the first year Anderson became an assistant coach. Anderson and Steele called others through the graduates’ connections. People like Denny Euers and Jay Dishnow, members of the Football Advisory Council (FAC) and former football players in the 1960s for Michigan Tech, helped reach out to the alumni base as well as the local community.

Anderson, Steele and Euers said former Michigan Tech president Curt Thomkin wanted a football program but felt he had to take some action to the budget problem. But Anderson and Euers said Thomkin showed initial skepticism on a proposal for a program backed financially by alumni. Thomkin supported the idea in theory, they said, but wanted a plan that would work.

Before meeting with Thomkin in San Francisco on March 27, 2003, Euers said he met with key players from the Michigan Tech Fund, an alumni-based group Euers said ‘had strung political capital’ with Thomkin. Euers said the group pressed Thomkin and told him that there was overwhelming alumni support to revitalize the football program.

‘We had to keep people above the frustration of the decision,’ Dishnow said. ‘That didn’t matter anymore. (What mattered was) what are we going to do about it? People like to vent and it’s human nature. There was enough of that going on.

‘The real key was to stay ahead and above all that. Just challenging the decision got us nowhere. We had to understand why the decision was made.’

The initiative said the FAC would fund the program if the university still provided the athletic scholarships and coaching salaries. The FAC proposal promised to raise $300,000 by July 1, 2003 for the operational costs while also bringing in $1.4 million in gifts and pledges. Anderson backed the proposal with specific reasons to keep the football program. He listed the near-100 percent graduation rate and the team’s GPA, which was above the 3.1 school average.

On March 28, 2003, the program officially revitalized. The longest two weeks one could imagine took place – a time of overlapped confusion, uncertainty, negotiation and optimism.

The fundraising efforts and the team’s performance the following season went off without a hitch. Tech sold $25,000 worth of tickets, including VIP packages. Steele and the FAC started five-year pledges to promote consistent contributions from alumni. Another project – the Champions Club – has people donate $1,000 a year for 10 years. In the Verdie Cox Honorarium, named after a coaching legend who coached Tech basketball, golf and tennis, people can make donations to strengthen the coaching staff’s budget.

The big bang came at the end of the 2004 season against Grand Valley State. Both Division-II schools played at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., a ‘Bash at the Big House’ event that Steele and Anderson said raised $750,000 and a $250,000 net profit.

The program is self-funded for the next few years, Steele said. He and Euers said the next initiative is to repeat all the steps they did before to continue receiving donations consistently. Although there are no specifics, they also said the football team is seeking more university support and hopes it increases once state funding improves.

To top it off, the Huskies finished the 2004 season with the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference championship, a 9-2 record and the first appearance in the NCAA playoffs in its 83-year history. Michigan Tech hasn’t missed a beat in 2005, despite losing 21 seniors. The Huskies started off 4-0, including a 17-14 win over Ashland on Saturday.

‘It was pretty much us saying, ‘Hey this is what you get for trying to get rid of us,’ Ruhanen said of the championship year. ‘We had so much talent and we brought so much recognition. It was almost a good thing for this situation to happen. With the success of the football team and feel-good story we had, it has brought more attention to the university.’

Syracuse (+21) at No. 6 Florida State Saturday 3:30 p.m. ABCSyracuse comes off a bye week with the notion it can hold its own against good teams. On Sept. 17th against Virginia, the Orange showed that the Greg Robinson era is bringing new changes that will help later down the road. Just like against the Cavaliers and in its homecoming match-up with the Seminoles last year, SU will make Florida State work for its win. But just like last year and two weeks ago, SU won’t be able to finish in the end.Pick: Florida State 28, Syracuse 14

No. 13 Notre Dame (+3) at No. 22 PurdueSaturday 7:45 p.m. ESPNNotre Dame’s play two weeks ago and Purdue’s performance last week indicates what to expect when the two meet. Michigan State upended the Fighting Irish two weeks ago, but it took overtime after blowing a 14-point lead. Saturday, the Boilermakers held an eight-point lead with less than six minutes remaining against Minnesota, only to fall in the Big Ten matchup in double overtime. The Boilermakers will add another tally to the loss column in this close affair with the Irish.Pick: Notre Dame 32, Purdue 28

Michigan (+4) at No. 11 Michigan StateSaturday Noon ABCThe Wolverines and Spartans come into their in-state rivalry to compete for the Paul Bunyan trophy with completely different backgrounds. Michigan State is now 4-0, jumping from unranked status to a No. 11 ranking in the AP poll this week. Michigan, on the other hand, started the year at No. 4, but with losses to Notre Dame and Wisconsin, is unranked this week. You can bet both teams will continue to go their separate ways.Pick: Michigan State 20, Michigan 17

No. 5 Florida (-5) at No. 15 AlabamaSaturday 3:30 p.m. CBSTwo up-and-coming teams with undefeated records square off in arguably the biggest game of the week. After adjusting to Urban Meyer’s spread offense in the first three weeks, QB Chris Leak and the Gators showed the new system in perfect form at Kentucky. Leak threw four touchdowns on 537 yards in the 49-28 win over UK. This time Florida has to test its offense against the seventh best defense in the nation. Look for the Gators to pass it. Pick: Florida 24, Alabama 21

No. 1 USC (-17) at No. 14 Arizona StateSaturday 3:30 p.m. ABCTrojan quarterback and Heisman candidate Matt Leinart surprisingly struggled in the first half of Southern California’s 45-13 win over Oregon. Before finishing 23-of-39 for 315 yards, Leinart started off only 12-of-25 and blamed the bad throwing on the football being too dry. Leinart rebounded in the second half and will continue his usual solid performances against the No. 94 pass defense.Pick: USC 38, Arizona State 21

Published on September 26, 2005 at 12:00 pm