Robert Morris president leaves little hope for salvaging hockey programs

If men’s and women’s ice hockey players at Robert Morris were hoping to hear a change of heart from university president Dr. Chris Howard, they didn’t get one Tuesday.

During his first public question and answer session with media members since the school’s decision to eliminate those programs last week, Howard stood by his previous statements that RMU needed to eliminate those programs because of “strategic, operational and financial decisions.”

“We don’t have any specific plans to bring the programs back,” Howard said during a video conference.

Howard called ice hockey the school’s “most expensive D-I sport,” blamed $1 million in expenditures (total for both teams) per season, the location and needs for upgrades at the Island Sports Center, limited ticket sales and donations and an inability to offset those costs through conference payouts and television revenues.

“As painful as it is to discontinue the ice hockey programs at RMU, we’ve had little choice,” Howard said.

Supporters of the program have disputed that notion.

As the video conference was taking place, Murry Gunty of Black Bear Sports renewed his offer to buy or lease back Island Sports Center at a team-friendly rate for the Colonials programs.

There also have been reports of the Penguins perhaps working with Robert Morris on an expansion of their facility in Cranberry. But Howard downplayed the idea of such strategies working out because of the greater distance from campus and the need to fund the program for the long term.

Howard said any plan the school came up with to keep the teams afloat was going to cost anywhere from “$5 million to $30 million” to bankroll the programs long-term with facility upgrades.

As he did in a press release when the school announced the dissolution of the programs Wednesday, Howard spoke positively about the state of the university’s financial future while at the same time bemoaning the weight of the operating costs of the hockey teams.

That has led to two repeated questions from the student-athletes who have lost their teams: Where is the money going, and why make this decision so late in the calendar? Neither team has played since March 16.

Howard’s answers will not likely win over those asking the questions.

“The timing is never good,” Howard said. “There is disenchantment and frustration whenever the decision is taken.”

Because of relaxed rules because of lost seasons during the coronavirus pandemic, the transfer portal is backlogged with players in all sports looking for a better opportunity. That was before the RMU hockey players who have no opportunity to play for their current university had to dive in as well.

Howard repeatedly said all scholarships for current players would be honored on a “full-ride” level. That could prove expensive.

Athletic department sources say 55 student-athletes are being affected between the two teams. There are only 18 scholarships per team that often are divided up on a partial basis across the roster.

One quote from a @RMUWHockey/@RMUMHockey player (redacting names, here) to Chris Howard: "You say you know our pain. For your sake, I really hope you don't...and I really don't think you do." #SaveRMUHockey

— Tim Benz (@TimBenzPGH) June 2, 2021

In terms of where the money is going, Howard said, “it’s not a pinpoint number,” but he intimated it likely would be “diffused” through student aid and salary for staff and faculty.

Lastly, per concerns over how the decision was voted on by the board of trustees, Howard said a “straw poll” was taken, and a “consensus was reached.” But a formal vote was never taken.

It is unclear how many board members dissented. Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert — a Robert Morris graduate — decided to resign from the board after the decision was made.