It took awhile, but it appears that the University of Alaska Anchorage might finally be at least giving lip service about  listening to the people. The Anchorage Daily News reported that on Thursday, the university is suspending a search for a new hockey coach pending a reevaluation of the search criteria. (Read more about the hockey fiasco that here and here).

This is how UAA Chancellor Tom Case explained the decision:

“There was tremendous interest in the process, in the future of Seawolf hockey and in the coach selection. We had a search process that was good, but there was so much interest in the process we decided to open it up to further input and ideas.”

That’s one way of putting it. What he doesn’t mention is that those “interested in the process” included a plethora of noisy, alienated hockey fans, some of whom contacted their state legislators to tell them so.  In turn, some of those state legislators contacted the university to ask them if the university understands that times will soon be lean and that community support is vital when funding decisions are going to be made?

It took awhile, but it appears that if the hockey fans can’t get the attention of the university, then legislators who hold the university’s purse strings can.

In any event, it appears that Case is still missing the point: both the Alaska State Hockey Association and the UAA Hockey Alumni Association has called on the university to find a new athletic director, one who won’t, as the current one has done, let UAA’s hockey team continue to flounder.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com