We, the undersigned, would like to go on record in protest of the firing of Coach Jim Rosborough. The athletic administration has pulled the rug out from under a young and rapidly developing basketball team at the worst possible time. The departure of John McDougal three years ago wreaked havoc on this university’s basketball program, and now, just as that turmoil is finally buried, it is begun anew. Another coach will be forced to play with a team he did not recruit, and another recruiting year will be entirely lost. Northern Illinois University will once again enter the Chicago-area recruiting wars as a virtual unknown. Why was this done? The 1988-1989 Huskies made tremendous strides during the course of the season. Their performance, with one of the youngest starting line-ups in the country, certainly earned Coach Rosborough one more year to make a breakthrough. In fact, the breakthrough has probably been made. The last three games the Huskies proved to be a team that knew what they had to do to win a game.

The next logical question, unfortunately, is who will be hired as the next basketball coach? This being Northern Illinois University, one has to wonder if any consideration has been given to that question. “Look before you leap” is a caveat virtually unheard of at this university. Of course, the possibility exists that this change was made for purely parochial reasons. Mr. Gerald O’Dell has yet to flex his muscles in a major sport; perhaps he has finally decided to give the appearance of progress, even at the expense of the basketball program. Perhaps he even has a successor in mind, a true “O’Dell man,” groomed and ready to fill the void. More likely the basketball program has once again been set adrift without direction or focus to wander through two more years of “rebuilding.” The team and the fans both deserve better.

Matthew J. Chamberlain

graduate

secondary education

Bruce M. Archer

junior

theatre arts

Brad Walinder

senior

graphic arts

Kevin W. Helmick

junior

math

John Garvey

senior

political science