This school calls itself a Jesuit institution. That’s some joke.

The words “Development of Personal Potential” are written on one of those bricks in front of the library. That’s some joke, too.

How can Loyola claim to be these things went it refuses to support its athletic program?

In the last few months, the two best coaches at this school were forced to resign.

I say forced because they did not want to leave. They just couldn’t afford to stay.

Snub your nose at Loyola sports if you want – it’s the easy thing to do. But that volleyball team is good. And the cross country team isn’t so bad, either. As a captain of the cross country team, I have seen Loyola defeat NCAA Division I teams.

And those two sports – volleyball and cross country – are the sports from which the two coaches have quit this semester.

Now, I’m sure it’s much more important that we shuttle our drunk students around on some worthless bus, going to and from all the bars in the city.

And I know how important it is to give the Greeks some money. After all, they need to paint graffiti on the roofs of churches.

The fact is that I’ve never seen a Jesuit school be so unsupportive of an organization that is at the crux of its mission.

Three small Jesuit schools just like ours have competed in this month’s NCAA basketball tournament – Marquette, Xavier and Gonzaga.

You might hear about money scandals at universities such as Duke or Michigan; but such financial scandals never seem to happen in the athletic departments of Jesuit schools.

Unless, of course, you count a certain administration’s blatant disregard for its athletic department altogether.

What is happening here is a scandal, of sorts.

Athletics are a staple of Jesuit education, and this school is seriously lacking.

If Loyola doesn’t get its act together soon, what’s left of the athletic department isn’t going to last much longer.

A common argument against a university funding athletics is that the money is wasted on dumb jocks who bring down the school’s academic standing. I’ve heard Loyola students use this one.

But they’re wrong. The average GPA of an athlete at Loyola was 3.08 last Fall. That’s quite a bit higher than the average of the student body.

And yet the administration continues to overlook its athletes, ignoring them as if they were diseased.

Next year the program will have nothing but the handful of wins that the basketball and baseball team bring in – for those of you who take shelter from the storm, that isn’t many wins.

So what can Father Knoth and his people do?

Everyone’s first reaction is athletic scholarships. I, however, would like to avoid that step. This school should be proud of its scholar-athletes.

Instead, hire full time coaches. When athletes have to schedule work around practice, they cannot have a coach who has to do the same.

Second, separate the jobs of athletic director and head basketball coach.

It’s hard enough to coach a team; I’m sure it’s even worse when you have to run the whole show, too.

Finally, build some better facilities. If athletes are going to develop their personal potential, they need a place to do it.

There is a legacy at this school. It’s one that includes Olympic gold in 1932.

In 1927, Loyola football struck fear in the heart of Knute Rockne and his Notre Dame team.

I, for one, refuse to let that history die a second death.

But if the university would rather just be nothing more than an exalted community college – like it was from 1972 till 1991 – then go ahead. It’s already getting close.

It better take that “Loyola” part out of its name, though.

That word tends to imply that the school actually subscribes to the Jesuit ideals outlined by Ignatius Loyola; that it gives more than a passing shrug to the athletic development of its students.

And that, we all know, is a joke.

(Ignacio Chacon)