Mr. Ben Allen and Mr.

Troy Dannen,

I wanted to pass a few thoughts on as just the two of you celebrate the first anniversary of
dropping U.N.I. Baseball.

Your decision has dispersed these student athletes to approximately nine different states
to continue to play college baseball, while almost all of them are from Iowa high schools.
Unfortunately none of these student athletes are nearly as happy today as they were a year ago
while playing for a first class program in their home state. However, that is minor in comparison
to the student athletes who decided to stay at U.N.I. to finish their education, and have all of their
hard work and dreams of playing division I baseball stripped away.
I wish the both of you could have had a son with one year of eligibility left on the team
who had committed the last fifteen years of his life to get to this level only to have their senior
year taken away. Obviously there are not NCAA rules stating a specific time frame to keep a
program after a decision has been made to ultimately drop the sport. That being said, the NCAA
probably assumes that university officials have enough common sense to let a program
consisting of twenty-two new players (17 junior college transfers) play through their senior
year. Will we ever know why Mr. Dannen shook Coach Heller’s hand when he demanded to
know if the baseball future was safe before signing all of these athletes knowing the negative
impact that dropping the program would have on them and their families?
U.N.I. provided the premier division I baseball program for athletes who wanted to play
in their home state. We all know (yourselves included) that U.N.I. is not and never will be the
premier attraction for wrestlers. Everyone is still very confused as to why they were chosen over
baseball, especially when they consistently under achieve on the mat, in the classroom, and
especially in the community.
With the tremendous support shown by the private and business sector to save the
program, it became very obvious your decision was not about being able to successfully fund the
program. Baseball supporters and the team were willing to keep their sport going with extremely
minimal university funding, but were still denied.
It is all very disturbing because these athletes came to U.N.I. excited to represent their
university with pride working hard on and off of the field. They did all of the right things,
formed as a team, as a family, and as good role models. However, you were able to tear apart
tremendous friendships and lifelong irreplaceable dreams.
-Your decision will never be forgotten
-You will never be forgiven
-U.N.I. will never be considered when the check book is in hand