As we approach the end of pre-conference season, most college basketball teams will be focused on getting resume wins and winning their respective conferences once league play begins. For the Chicago State basketball program, it’s a win to just keep playing. “Survive and advance” is a mantra of the NCAA Tournament, but the ideal applies to Chicago State basketball, not just on the team level, but the program level.
That’s because Chicago State basketball is dealing with massive issues, long term, on the university level.
The school, which has recently been threatened with a shut down, has seen an alarmingly severe drop in attendance. CSU has also laid off hundreds of workers.
Chicago State is also dealing with a major budget crisis and doing whatever they can to change the public narrative about their severe funding issues.
Via a CBS 2 investigative report:
From 7,300 students in 2010 to 3,500 currently. Things are believed to be in dire shape at the university.
“I think we are in real trouble,” said Dr. Robery Bionaz, Chicago State University professor and faculty union head.
“This is a lot of money,” Bionaz said. “And what did it get us?”
CBS 2’s Brad Edwards showed him a list of expenditures. CBS 2 investigators found the school spent $1.9 million in less than three years on lawyers, lobbyists and PR pros.
Now pretty much all universities engage in these kinds of practices, this is not “scandalous” at all. It’s just that the public funding the school receives is going right back out the door to try and lobby to get more money. It has the potential to be a vicious cycle on the road to nowhere.
The taxpayer money coming in to the school, really needs to stay within the school so that they can rebuild infrastructure, but it’s just not going to happen when enrollment is going in the wrong direction, and just keeps getting worse.
Total number of freshman enrollment at the institution has dropped from 523 in 2010 to just 86 this year.
Emergency funding from the state is on the way though, according to the Chicago Tribune:
Members of the Illinois Board of Higher Education voted unanimously Wednesday to approve the last-minute cash for Western Illinois, Eastern Illinois and Chicago State universities. Under the agreement, Western would receive about $8.4 million, Eastern about $5.6 million and Chicago State just more than $3 million.
A week after the lobbying news was revealed, Chicago State ventured to Evanston to take on Northwestern. They lost 68-64, and in the postgame press conference, Chicago State basketball Coach Tracy Dildy made a statement about the big picture, long term status of the program.
“It’s looking great,” Dildy said.
“We’ve withstood some challenges…We’ve had some tough times, but those are behind us. Everything is moving forward and moving up. It’s a great time to be a Chicago State Cougar. ”
We then asked Dildy, who is almost always a fantastic soundbite by the way, to elaborate on the big picture health of Chicago State basketball, in the context of the university issues, as Western Athletic Conference play commences in the new year.
“We’re excited, we’re celebrating our 150th year, and we’re looking forward to the next 150 years.”
Dildy also said at the same press conference that Northwestern, right now is a top five or six team in the B1G, and that once they become healthy, will be a top one or two in the power five league.
He also has the Wildcats as a mortal lock to make the NCAA Tournament. He doesn’t just believe that they will earn their first ever invite to the big dance, he’s absolutely positively certain.
Dildy also said that NU Coach Chris Collins told him that his Chicago State basketball team was more together, played harder and deserved to win the contest that evening.
“That’s our takeaway, because that’s the biggest compliment,” said Dildy who’s been an assistant at Ole Miss, Auburn and DePaul among others.
“I’ve been coaching 27 years and I’ve never seen a coach say that to the coach of a team that he just played.”
Chicago State basketball, currently 3-9 on the season, will take on Southeast Missouri State tonight. They open WAC play against UT Rio Grande January 5th. If Chicago State University, founded September 2nd, 1867, does persists for another century and a half, it will certainly be against long odds.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.