The University of Wisconsin – River Falls, which competes in men’s and women’s swimming in Division III, is in danger of losing out on their 2013-2014 season if they don’t find a new head coach.
In a memo sent to the team on Friday, Director of Athletics Roger Ternes emailed the team to notify them of a meeting on Monday, September 9th. In his memo, Ternes noted that since losing Ryan Hawke to the Hamline program, the team has spent 6 weeks searching for a new candidate. There were 2 potential candidates (unnamed, but one from Milwaukee and one from Apple Valley, Minnesota) who withdrew their names from consideration.
This comes after the team was notified on August 12th that if the team could not find a head coach prior to the beginning of the academic year, that the program could be suspended for the “foreseeable future.”
“We are aggressively searching for a qualified coach that will be a suitable match for UWRF.,” Ternes’ email said. “However, if we fail to secure a new coach prior to the beginning of the academic year, we may be forced to suspend the program for the foreseeable future.”
At the meeting on Monday, the team was reminded of this possibility. According to Isaac Mikey, who exhausted his eligibility after the 2012-2013 season, the team was told in this meeting that the Athletics Department would have to meet with the Board of Directors before any final decisions are made.
Hawke’s departure for Hamline came after UWRF crushed them head-to-head to close the regular season in 2013 by a margin of 184-106.
UW-RF would go on to place 6th out of 6 teams at the WIAC Championships on the women’s side, and 5th out of 6 teams on the men’s side.
Interested candidates can contact Roger Ternes via email at [email protected] of via phone at 715-425-3246.
why don’t they promote the current assistant?
The assistant might have a FT job that conflicts
Position is now posted at cscaa.org
What kind of profil are they looking for (experience, competences) ? Do they accept cadidacy from other country ?
The University has not been fully committed to this program for the last 5 years. When the pool on campus broke down and had to be closed, the AD at that time (he has since retired) used that as an excuse to recommend suspending the program, even though they had a very viable practice facility at the River Falls High School. The meets had been held at the HS for many years. The original plans for the new building on campus included a new pool, but that was scrapped because they were using the RFHS pool. It took an epic fight to get them to keep the program going then, so it doesn’t surprise me that this is happening again.… Read more »
If they could match my current salary (Which is more than $20,000 but by no means a great deal of money), I’d do it in a heartbeat!
If you could contact our A.D. that would be great. Even if they can’t match your salary, it would further show how little they are trying to keep our program (see post by Former UWRF Swim Mom).
What the job title lacks in facilities and pay it makes up for in the passion and pride of the athletes. These swimmers are up for a 5:15 a.m. practice every morning, even on taper. They are a scrappy group of kids who can do extraordinary things with the very little they are given, something that I bet can’t be said for many other schools. And people want to come swim here from all across the nation and even around the world. So if a isn’t going to take the position that come with kids that want to be there every morning and will bust their ass for someone seriously because the pay isn’t good, then how can you take… Read more »
It does not sound to me like it has anything to do with the commitment of the kids in the program, and probably a job a young coach would have to take that does not have many financial obligations.
I know personally I would be very interested but with a wife and two kids $20,000 just won’t do no matter how committed the young men in the program.
and the fact that it only pays 20,000
I guess that’s why that SWAT guy (the Milw candidate) turned it down
Also of note is that the Hamline job is full time while UWRF is a part-time job.