1987: Task force to study bringing football back to WSU

Wichita State University president Warren B. Armstrong has appointed a task force to study the feasibility of bringing football back to WSU.

“The task force is being asked to conduct a thorough study of all related matters and recommend possible action leading toward either permanent suspension or future reinstatement of the program,” Armstrong said in a statement released by the school. Armstrong was out of town Monday and unavailable for comment.

The WSU football program, founded in 1897, was terminated last December. Armstrong cited mounting financial pressures in the athletic department, caused primarily by football, and lack of broad support in the community as reasons for discontinuing football.

WSU officials estimated the football program lost $839,000 last season.

The Shockers were 3-8 last season.

John Gaston, chairperson of WSU's minority studies department, will head the 14-member task force.

He said the task force would like to have preliminary report on the situation completed by January. He said an in-depth report may take until next May.

“We're going to look at a number of things,” Gaston said. “We have to look at the students. We have to look at the community as a whole. We have to look at the business community to find out what kind of a commitment people want to make, and whether they want a program.”

A Wichita Eagle-Beacon survey of WSU boosters last summer showed minimal support for football.

When asked to choose the three most important goals of the athletic department from a list of 11 options, only 6.6 percent of those surveyed chose having consistent winning seasons in football. Nearly 43 percent ranked it as being one of the least important goals.

Bob Fleeman, a member of the task force, said the intent of the committee is to “exhaust every avenue possible . . . to find out if anyone wants it back.”

“Judging from the past history of Wichita, the chances are slim and none that we will get it back,” said Fleeman, whose son, Brad, played for WSU last season.

Also named to the task force were athletic director Lew Perkins, who was named athletic director at the University of Maryland on Monday; Todd Aikins, president of the Shocker Athletic Scholarship Organization; Martin Bush, vice president for academic resource development at WSU; Dana Fleming, a 1978 WSU alumnus and former member of the Shockettes spirit squad; SASO member Robert Geist; V. Jane Gilchrist, executive director of the YWCA; Gary Greenberg, president of WSU's faculty senate; Reed Hinkel, operations director of WSU's Center for Entrepreneurship; Mike Jenkins, corporate public relations manager for Pizza Hut Inc.; Jerry Mallot, president of the Wichita Area Chamber of Commerce; George Ritchie, president of WSU's Student Government Association; and Donald K. Stephan, president of the WSU Alumni Association.

This story was originally published December 10, 2015 at 12:35 PM with the headline "1987: Task force to study bringing football back to WSU."