NIC Trustees Vote For League Switch

They’re going regional. North Idaho College trustees decided Thursday that for all sports except wrestling, the college will part ways with the National Junior College Athletics Association and realign itself with the Northwest Athletics Association of Community Colleges. The five-member board voted 3-1 in favor of moving forward with the conference change. Christie Wood cast the dissenting vote and Todd Banducci was present, but abstained. “I believe the process is severely flawed,” Wood said, during a discussion before the vote. President Joe Dunlap and Athletics Director Al Williams recommended to the board on Feb. 26 that the conference change was the best way the college could address a pending budget shortfall of $2.3 million/ Maureen Dolan , Coeur d’Alene Press. More here.

Don Sausser (last night): I just left an NIC Trustees meeting that voted to demote athletics from the National Champion chasing NJCAA to the wanna bees NWAACC, a conference mostly consisting of Oregon and Washington. This action was disguised as a budget crisis but results from a new president flexing his Spokane CC roots to bring NIC down to their level. NIC’s once proud tradition of athletic excellence has come to an end. Sad.

Question: What do you make of Trustee Wood’s comment that the process in reaching this decision was “severely flawed”?