In front of a packed lecture hall full of students and members of the local media, President Michael McPherson announced on Tuesday that Macalester will keep its varsity football program.

The team will play its 109th season next year but will withdraw from competition in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAC) and play an independent schedule

McPherson sent a letter to the Macalester community on Sept. 18 in which he suggested that Macalester needed to rethink its commitment to football or else eliminate the program entirely.

Today’s decision ended nearly three months of an emotional debate that included students, faculty and alumni. Upon learning of the decision, members of the team-wearing Macalester football sweatshirts-cheered and clapped along with the crowd that had gathered in the lecture hall.

As an independent program, the team will not compete in conference play but will attempt to focus its schedule on other small liberal arts colleges as well as its traditional rivals. Colorado College, Grinnell College, Lawrence University and the University of Chicago are among the schools that have expressed interest in playing Macalester as a non-conference opponent.

All other varsity athletic programs at Macalester will continue to participate in the MIAC.

Declaring a “rebirth of football at Macalester,” McPherson described the new effort to revitalize the program, which has not had a winning season since 1986 and had a roster of only 38 players this past season.

“We need a more robust football program at Mac, but we also need to provide a more level playing field for our players,” McPherson said.

The players on the football team expressed their delight that the program would continue play in 2002, but admitted that the new setup will present challenges.

“It’s a mixed feeling because I’m happy that we’re keeping football, but not in the MIAC, which is a very good conference,” said offensive lineman Jesse Batty ’04.

“I’m relieved that we will continue to play football,” said offensive lineman Clark Wohlferd ’03. “I had hoped that we would stay in the MIAC, but I’m also excited to help take Division III academic and athletic values to the forefront of the Macalester community.”

“It doesn’t really affect me one way or the other so I don’t really care about it. I don’t see why the issue was brought up in the first place. I think the decision was kind of a cop out,” said Susannah Hansen ’04.

McPherson had expressed concerns about recruiting new players and maintaining Macalester’s high academic standards.

“The positive case for football needs to be grounded in the value that it has for our students’ educational experiences,” he said.

The football team’s head coach, Dennis Czech ’83, met with McPherson at 11 a.m. and was informed of the decision.

“I was ecstatic this morning,” Czech said. “Up until this morning at 11 o’clock, I thought it was 50-50.”

Czech, a running back for the team when it enjoyed its last period of considerable success in the early 1980s, said that he felt relief after hearing the decision “more so as an alum.” He said he “couldn’t imagine the school without football.”

Since McPherson announced that Macalester would rethink the future of its football team, there has been an overwhelming support in favor of continuing the program. A recent poll the student government-who themselves passed a resolution requesting that the college continue the football program-showed that students supported keeping the football program by more than two to one.

At the request of McPherson, Irv Cross will add the position of Senior Advisor to the Football Program to his existing duties as Macalester’s athletic director. The football committee commissioned by McPherson recommended that a new full-time staff member be added to the program.

Cross hopes to use his football expertise and reputation to spark the revitalization of Macalester football. Cross, himself a former Pro Bowl halfback, played nine seasons in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles and Los Angeles Rams and was later a sportscaster for CBS, where he worked for 22 years.

“I gave it a lot of thought,” Cross said, “but we realize that we have a situation where we all need help. We need help from alumni, staff, faculty and students to make this thing happen, and my involvement is only going to help make the program stronger.”

“It should be exciting,” Czech said about working with Cross. “He’ll give us some input, and hopefully he will be a good recruiting tool.”

“Since I’ve come here, I’ve been waiting for [Cross] to take a more active role with the team,” Wohlferd said. “I’m glad he decided to accept the offer. He understands the game very well and he could be a great tool for recruiting.”

Along with compiling an adequate schedule, the football program must also address its depth problems. Only 38 players were on the roster to begin the season, and only 29 players were healthy enough to suit up for the final game at Hamline on Nov. 10.

Many are worried that this task will be made even more difficult as the shadows of doubt that were cast over the program hampered this year’s recruiting process.

“We’ve got a new story to tell, and I think this will be a positive thing,” Czech said about the new approach to football at Macalester and how it will affect recruiting, “but we are behind.”

“We’re probably two or three contacts behind right now. We typically have local and regional kids come out to our games and interact with our team, but we didn’t do that this year because ethically, we didn’t think it was the right thing to do until we got a commitment from our own school.”

Inspired by this decision, McPherson, Cross and Czech feel that the school will be able to improve its recruiting performance and ultimately bring the squad size to a more reasonable level

“The first thing we need to do is get players-getting qualified kids here is our main priority,” Czech said.

Although travel costs will increase-the football committee estimated next year’s costs to increase by about $25,000-the football program is hoping that increased travelling will produce a signifigant return by helping the recruiting efforts. By playing in regions where the football team rarely is seen, the college and the football program will be given more exposure.

“We have students from all over the world, and the advantage we have is that we can recruit that way,” Cross said. “We can go anywhere to find students who are interested in coming to Macalester, so we have a lot of ground to cover and the opportunity’s out there-we just have to get in front of people and let them know we’re here.”

The despair that many faced just a few days earlier has now been replaced by optimism, however.

“Realistically, it’s probably the best move right now,” Czech said. “We’ll get out there and play schools that are our size, we’ll get the program on solid footing and we can go on from there.”