Equity nonexistent, rural/semi rural educational needs and cultural investments outside Prescott go unmet while millions poured into developing athletic programs on Prescott Campus
OPINION
Bloated Athletic Program
Editor: Robert Oliphant
Yavapai Community College’s athletic department has grown into a costly enterprise, with head coaches and their assistants overseeing women’s softball, volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, women’s soccer, men’s soccer, baseball, and E-sports. This program consumes millions of dollars annually and involves over 160 athletes, 20 coaches and assistants, and three athletic trainers. Most of these athletes are housed in residence halls on the Prescott campus, with many receiving scholarships funded either by the College’s Foundation or directly from the General Fund. The Foundation has even dedicated at least one staff member to focus almost exclusively on raising funds for athlete scholarships. There are large travel budgets along with maintenance costs for upkeep of offices, training facilities, and related matters. It is a bloated program for a Community College!
Concentration of Resources on or near Prescott Campus
All athletic facilities are located on or near the Prescott side of Yavapai County, and with few exceptions, nearly every game and match take place there. This concentration effectively alienates residents from the east side of the County, who rarely attend these events. The east side’s local newspapers offer little to no coverage for the teams, and there is no public or private transportation available for those east side residents who might want to attend an event. This setup not only isolates a significant portion of the County but also demonstrates how the small Community College caters almost exclusively to the Prescott area.
Ignored Recruitment Mandate
In a Verde Independent commentary published September 7, 2022, Yavapai Community College District Governing Board Chair Deb McCasland revealed that the athletic department was directed five years earlier to prioritize recruiting local talent. A mandate was imposed requiring that 25% of athletes be recruited from local high schools. Coaches were also told that the College would reduce support for out-of-state and international athletes while increasing scholarships for local students. McCasland noted that three coaches left the College, apparently blatantly ignoring this directive.
The problem is that even now, the Community College continues to defy its own mandate. Out of about 160 athletes on the most current rosters, a mere 20 are from Yavapai County—just 13%. Shockingly, only one of these local athletes is from the east side of the County (1-160). Meanwhile, the number of foreign athletes has increased. The mandate has been all but abandoned, with little accountability for those now responsible.
Staggering costs and Misplaced Priorities
The costs of maintaining Yavapai Community College’s athletic programs are staggering. Millions of dollars are funneled into facilities, equipment, coaching salaries, scholarships, and travel, all while vital academic programs on the east side of the County are underfunded or never developed. This reckless expenditure diverts essential resources away from the College’s core mission: education. In an institution with a constrained budget, athletics should not consume such a disproportionate share of funds. More money must be funneled toward academic programs, student services, and workforce training—particularly in rural and economically struggling areas of the county.
Betrayal of the Educational Mission
Yavapai Community College was founded to provide affordable education and vocational training, offering students a stepping stone to four-year institutions. Yet the inflated focus on athletics undermines this purpose. Rather than striving for academic and vocational excellence, the College has opted to imitate large universities’ commercialized athletic programs. This approach is a blatant misalignment of priorities. As a community college, Yavapai should focus on programs and capital development that directly benefit students’ educational and career goals, not on a bloated athletic department that serves only a fraction of the student body.
Minimal Impact on Student Success
While a small group of student-athletes may benefit from the College’s athletic programs, the vast majority of students see no direct return. Yavapai Community College is not a residential university; many of its students are part-time, commuting, and balancing work and family responsibilities. For these students, athletics are largely irrelevant. The enormous financial investment in athletics does little to improve their educational experience or future career prospects, raising serious questions about the program’s overall value. Simply put, the return on investment for the broader student population is negligible.
Equity and Accessibility Issues
Yavapai Community College’s athletics program disproportionately benefits a privileged few—student-athletes—while the majority of the student population County-wide is neglected. This creates glaring equity and accessibility issues. In a time of limited resources, the College should be focusing on inclusive programs that serve a broader cross-section of students, such as expanding tutoring, career counseling, job placement services, and vocational training. Instead, resources are being squandered on athletics, which cater to only a small, select group of students.
Neglect of Rural and Semi-Urban Communities
The College’s fixation on athletics has led to the neglect of the rural and semi-urban areas of the County, particularly the east side. Yavapai has failed to invest meaningfully in the Sedona Center, which was once poised to become a thriving film institute before being gutted by the College’s leadership. Only two cooking courses a semester are being offered at the Sedona culinary school. The Sedona Center is now a shadow of what it could have been. Most recently, the administration has diverted crucial funds to build a student residence facility on the Verde Valley campus, listed by its own experts as a priority, while scrapping other projects that could have made a real impact in the Sedona and Verde Valley areas. Simultaneously, it has been pumping millions into further development on the west side of the County. Among abandoned east side initiatives are the development of a major distillery training program and a commercial truck driving school—both of which were identified as critical needs by experts hired by the College. The leadership’s disregard for the needs of rural/semi-urban communities is nothing short of a betrayal.
Conclusion
While supporters claim that athletics promote student engagement, provide scholarships, build life skills, foster community, and enhance student health, these supposed benefits are confined to the Prescott side of the County. The overwhelming focus on athletics on the Prescott Campus not only strains the College’s already-limited budget but also misaligns with its core mission of providing affordable, high-quality education to the entire County. Most disturbingly, the College’s devotion to sports actively detracts from its responsibility to serve all Yavapai County residents—not just those in Prescott. It is time for Yavapai Community College to realign its priorities and focus on what truly matters: education, opportunity, serious capital development outside the Prescott area, and equity for every student, not just a select few.
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The Yavapai Community College 2024 baseball team had a discouraging season, and was forced to forfeit 24 games due to an ineligible player on its roster. Additionally, the team fell far short of its goal to recruit 25% of its players from Yavapai County, a target set in 2020.
The firing of Dennis Howard in March deeply disturbed the local tennis community. Howard, a revered coach at Yavapai Community College, was dismissed for reportedly breaching a College policy. He had gone to the College’s tennis complex on snow days to check its condition while the Campus was officially closed. As a result of this infraction, the dedicated coach was fired and also prohibited from accessing the College’s tennis courts for several months
During the Yavapai Community College District Governing Board meeting held on October 16, 2023, it was revealed that a substantial gift was made to the Athletic Department a year earlier. In 2022, a benefactor generously established an endowment of $1.2 million to support the Department.
Yavapai Community College has set the stage for an exciting season as it welcomes 18 talented student-athletes to its 2023 Volleyball team. This is the second year for head coach Chelsey Lucas and assistant coach Zaquae Downtown.
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