Maine football should move to Division I-A

They say that Wyoming will be your new home. Relax Maine coach Jack Cosgrove, it is an old cowboy lament, but the fact is has anybody in the state of Maine stopped to realize what a resource the University of Maine football team is other than some fans? Over these recent years Maine has been very successful with a coach, his family and staff which, unlike the previous frequent flyers, has always called Maine home.

As a forever out-of-stater myself, with four Maine children, I know, too, that Jack, after his migration from Massachusetts in the early 1970s, has given Maine in acres all his best efforts and built a nationally-ranked football team with limited resources. Yet there is a much greater resource available if we seize the opportunity. If not, Maine will languish as a second-tier state with second- tier investments.

A few weeks ago, the University of Wyoming played a perennial power in Division I-A football, the University of Tennessee. Although that day Wyoming was soundly beaten, the fact is, that happens to all teams as the University of Nebraska can attest. Yet Nebraska and Wyoming over the years have had very successful I-A programs in their conferences and, like Nebraska, has been a national champion.

Wyoming has a population of 479,602 and a gross state product of $17.5 billion. Maine has a population of 1,253,040 and a gross state product $32.3 billion.

It is time for Maine to step into I-A football. It has all the benefits to gain and nothing to lose. I-A teams make money, secure significant grants, endowments, and become focal centers of regional pride. What Wyoming has and Maine doesn’t, though, is commitment.

Put Maine into I-A football and the program, and all programs at Maine, will in time benefit. Give children laptops and they will, in the end, still seek jobs out of state because that is where there are jobs. From MIT to Bowdoin, Harvard and Yale, Stanford to UCLA, and the University of Maine, you will hear plaudits of all academia speaking of “the game.”

It does bring the alumni, the fans, and the Mainers, who season after season swell Alfond Arena to exhort the nationally-ranked hockey team. It, too, will cause a swelling of support in an expanded stadium which has twice successfully hosted national (masters) track and field championships.

Like Marshall University and Troy State, Maine will draw upon the fact that Division I-A teams do make money whereas I-AA teams can raise more at yard sales. The stature that Maine gains from such a program will bring business. They will find in Maine a much brighter portrayal and that Maine workers are the best as found by General Electric.

Mainers will find better jobs and our youth will find jobs here to call Maine home. Maine will be “The Way Life Ought To Be,” rather than a shell of that meaning with high taxes and low wages.

I have been an optimist all my life. In unpopular times I saw dreams come true. Coach Cosgrove, through many long hours, good meaningful hours (as when he searches the Home Depot for his daughter’s science fair project) is the Mainer to lead us into the arena and swell our hearts with pride. He is not a bully in the pulpit. He has made Maine work.

Give Maine this opportunity. Coach Cosgrove and his charges can compete. Maine deserves better. All of us will gain. I say again, ALL of us will gain. The relationship of competitive college programs and enterprise are tied together. We may struggle to get there, but with a firm commitment, we can invite the best to become part of Maine.

Gary E. Capehart

Bangor

Accountability needed

My 10-year-old grandson plays soccer for the Helen S. Dunn School in Greenbush. At a recent game, a piece of medical equipment was removed from his sport bag and broken. We know it was removed, as all of the pieces were not in the bag when he arrived home. The problem was brought to the attention of the interim principal, interim superintendent, the coach for the boys, an assistant coach, a school board member and finally the girls coach (the only adult who was on the bus with both the girls and boys teams).

As of this time there has been very limited time spent on this matter and my daughter has basically been told to suck it up and pay out another $200 or $300 to replace this equipment in order to allow this child the right to keep breathing correctly.

As awful as this expense is the message these adults have sent to this team. Someone on this team knows he has done this terrible thing. Quite probably others on the team know as well. However, the actions of the school says that it was not a serious enough prank to warrant their time to try and find out who has done this and that there are no consequences for these actions.

Given these messages and the freedom given to them, I can hardly wait to see what they come up with as their next prank. In the meantime, however, you will have a 10-year-old boy paying the price trying to get enough oxygen to avoid headaches so he can stay in school for the next two to three weeks until he can get a replacement.

I pray for all the children of Greenbush.

Donna Burgess

Olamon

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