Bill Danenhauer didn't mince words.
“One of the five worst days of my life,'' he said.
The Dana athletic director spent Thursday in Blair, talking to stunned students and coaches about what the future holds one day after the private liberal arts school was closed after 126 years.
“It was like a doggone funeral today. To see the kids and the coaches, that was the hardest,'' Danenhauer said. “You build such a bond with all those kids, and the coaches do such a good job working with those young people. You see a lot of hurt hearts today.''
In March, an outside investment group called the Dana Education Corporation announced it would buy the school, which has been on shaky financial ground, in a for-profit venture.
But this week, the Higher Learning Commission said it wouldn't extend accreditation if Dana were sold to the group. Without accreditation, Dana students wouldn't be able to obtain basic things like federal financial aid. Thus, school officials announced Wednesday night that Dana was closing.
“It's absolutely heartbreaking,'' said Corey Westra, commissioner of the Great Plains Athletic Conference, of which Dana has been a charter member. “I can't imagine what they're going through. That's the one thing about this league. We go tooth and nail, but we're really good friends. They're like brothers and sisters.
“You just feel horrible that 126 years has come to an end. That's just hard to comprehend. It's a sad day on the hill.''
Since Dana has closed, Westra said, its athletes are free to transfer anywhere within the GPAC without penalty. They would be eligible immediately. Small-college coaches were busy contacting Dana athletes Wednesday night and Thursday.
“Our coaches are going to try to help kids out for the right reasons,'' Westra said. “I truly believe that.''
Many area colleges have formulated plans to allow Dana students to transfer to their schools with minimal headaches while retaining scholarship money.
After speaking with several football players Thursday, Danenhauer said many of the seniors likely will transfer to the University of Nebraska at Omaha and finish their class requirements, thus ending their athletic careers. Dana was 0-11 last season.
“You saw a lot of seniors up there today upset, because they went there three years,'' he said. “Now they're not going to be able to graduate from the school they've been for three years.''
Danenhauer said several younger players likely will transfer to other small colleges and attempt to restart their careers.
The GPAC is now reduced from 13 to 12 schools. After the coming school year, Sioux Falls will leave to join NCAA Division II, dropping the membership to 11.
Football is the primary concern this year. Mount Marty doesn't play football, so each of the 12 football-playing schools had been playing 10 of the other 11 conference schools each season. (For instance, Dana wasn't scheduled to play Northwestern this year.)
Now, each school except Northwestern will have two open dates this season instead of one.
Westra said the GPAC is considering its options. One would be to completely rework the football schedule, but that would be difficult with things like homecoming dates having been set.
Some schools might be able to fill one of their open dates, even at this late juncture, although it might cost them some money to do so. Another option, he said, would be to schedule a nearby school twice this season. Other small schools in the Midwest play twice a year.
Regardless of how the schedules are altered, all of that took a back seat Thursday to the hundreds of displaced lives now searching for direction.
“It's a sad day for private education,'' Danenhauer said.
Contact the writer:
444-1055, kevin.white@owh.com
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
