Winkin relieved funds not cut

University of Maine baseball coach John Winkin said he was “relieved” by the news that his program won’t lose $40,000 in scholarship dollars that University of Maine President Fred Hutchinson had outlined in his initial budget plan.

A misunderstanding between Hutchinson and Maine Athletic Director Mike Ploszek resulted in Ploszek cutting more out of his program than necessary. The misunderstanding had to do with employee benefits. The problem was cleared up the day after the initial budget was outlined.

That initial budget cut $333,000 out of the athletic program.

“I’m glad everything has worked out,” said Winkin, who has the full complement of scholarships (11.7) allowed by the NCAA. “We’re free from being completely crippled.

The $40,000 cut was the equivalent of four full scholarships.

“This (the $40,000) leaves us in a posture to compete for the best kids in the state of Maine and for a few real good players out of state,” added Winkin, who is in his 19th year at Maine. “If we had lost that scholarship money, it would have been very difficult to compete for good players, even within our own state. It would have put us in a very vulnerable position.”

Winkin said he doesn’t give full scholarships to players. He augments the players’ financial aid packages with the scholarship money.

“We’ve signed four Maine kids for next year and we wouldn’t have been able to get them if we hadn’t been able to help their financial aid packages (with scholarship money),” said Winkin. “Being able to augment the financial aid packages with scholarship money makes our overall package attractive and competitive.”