When Mike Riley was hired by IVCC as its athletic director, it was clear he wanted to change things. And thankfully, he has made some changes.

The women’s tennis team returned from a one-year absence this year with new head coach Steve Crick at the helm. Crick’s chicks, also known as the women’s basketball team, have also returned with a vengeance this season after an 0-14 mark and out last year.

Although it is currently struggling with a lack of depth because of ineligibility and injuries, the men’s basketball team has also made a triumphant return after winning only five games last season.

But while it may seem as if all problems with IVCC athletics have been solved, such isn’t the case. The college is now faced with trying to repair the white elephant that is IVCC’s baseball field.

If the field isn’t deemed fit for play before the Apaches’ home opener March 19, it will mark the third year the somewhat flat terrain that halfway resembles a baseball field has been dormant.

Baseball coach Bob Koopman and Mike Riley have already prepared for the worst, and have been shopping around the area for a place to play.

No one should point fingers as to who is responsible for the field’s poor upkeep, and so far no one has. But there is a solution to the public relations nightmare that the field has become. If the college can’t keep up a baseball field, what kind of impression does that give to high school students that are considering attending IVCC.

Students might think that if IVCC can’t keep a baseball field in tip-top shape, how can it provide a quality education?

Believe it or not, sports are free publicity for colleges and high schools. Even when a team loses, a story in a local newspaper or a report on a radio station about the game will report highlights from both sides, including the team that lost. When a team wins, the school’s name is usually plastered in huge bold headlines on the front of the next day’s sports section.

It may be more than just a coincidence that the same year IVCC begins to offer athletic and academic tuition waivers to students enrollment reaches an all time high.

Although those waivers exist and athletics at the college have made huge strides this year, sports still take a back seat at IVCC. The baseball field isn’t the only thing that has remained dormant on campus in the spring for the past few years.

IVCC has a state-of-the-art track that’s only purpose is to give track team members at La Salle-Peru High School a place to play. The area has a lot of talented athletes that could put that track to good use at IVCC, but a track team hasn’t been around for years.

IVCC is a beautiful place for athletes to run, as the 75^th anniversary 7.5 K run proved, but yet there isn’t a cross country team at the college.

Although it is a trend amongst community colleges throughout the nation, IVCC has also dropped what once had been a successful football program.