ARRRRRRGGHHHH!!!  It looks like the only Chicago-area division I men's
hockey program is going to be trampled in a wave of politics and basketball.
 
I can't officially confirm the report that the UIC Flames will fold, but
it certainly looks that way.
 
<sigh> It's a long story, but here's a brief background: Lou Henson, the
well-known basketball coach at the University of Illinois (which is in
Urbana-Champaign, a couple of hours south of Chicago), retired as of the
end of this season.  His long-time assistant, Doug Collins, was thought
by many to be the obvious choice as Lou's replacement, but he was passed
over in favor of Florida's Lon Kruger.  Apparently, a lot of trustees got
upset about this decision, and as a result Collins was offered the job of
coach of the UIC Flames basketball team.  The current coach, Bob Hallberg,
was "reassigned" unexpectedly to an administrative position last Friday.
 
Today's Chicago Tribune sports section has an article detailing a lot of
this information.  It may or may not be online at www.chicago.tribune.com,
I haven't checked (I get the old-style paper version).  The article quotes
Collins as saying he is "weighing the options" between assistant at Illinois
and head at UIC.
 
In an effort to attract Collins, and perhaps as part of an overall desire,
UIC is talking about upgrading its basketball facilities.  I'll quote directly
from the Trib article (authors: Andrew Gottesman and Teddy Greenstein):
 
--begin quoted material--
[UIC Athletic Director James] Schmidt added that questions about improvements
to UIC's Pavilion and practice facility had been resolved.  Such considerations
were being debated as part of the discussion with Collins, sources said.
...
"We've been discussing our athletic program for a while on a number of
levels," Schmidt said.  "We're going to look at a lot of different things
relative to what we need to do to get this to another level."
--end quoted material--
 
Clearly, this is consistent with what Jack Berenzweig heard on the radio;
that UIC is going to try to take their basketball team to a higher level
at the expense of the hockey team.
 
This has an additional personal note for me, as my hockey club plays
every Thursday at the UIC practice ice rink.  Or should I say, used to play
there.  <sniff>
 
I am saddened to hear that Chicago will lose its only Div I hockey program
just to get a better basketball team.  It is a real travesty.
 
Jeff Benensohn
 
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