BILLINGS — Earlier this week the Montana State Billings men’s soccer program had the rug unceremoniously ripped from underneath it.
The Yellowjacket athletic department on Tuesday announced it was cutting the program, and according to head coach Paul Cuevas he was given just five minutes notice before the press release publication.
“It is what it is, but there are a lot of people that support this program and are shocked,” Cuevas said. “We’re still going out there to see what we can do. There’s always hope.”
The reason given to Cuevas? Financials, though the university has not made those available for Cuevas to see.
“Basically, everything you know, I know, and that’s it,” Cuevas said. “There’s a lot of stuff going on in the background that we just don’t have access to, and I think that's a problem, especially coming from a public school. That’s why everyone is so frustrated.
“As far as I know, there is enough money to go on for at least a year or two. They just want to get ahead of things, so cutting it early is the result everyone felt.”
MTN Sports has reached out to MSU Billings' administration for comment, but it has only been referred back to Tuesday’s press release, which states the decision “comes following an analysis to align the department’s expenses and resources.”
A general lack of communication regarding the situation has former players and coaches up in arms, as they say there was no warning of this coming and no opportunity for alumni or anyone else to try to keep the program alive.
“We’ll go to any lengths to make sure this program is rectified and back and running. This program made me who I am today. The people around it, the staff around it, the teachers that I had made me who I am today and it allows me to do what I’m doing today. It makes me a man of integrity," said Julien Dragomir, who played for the Yellowjackets in 2016 and is now the CEO/Director at Playmaker Futbol Academy.
“We really would have liked to be involved in this conversation, in this discussion, to chip in. There’s no guarantee we would have been able to make this work, but over the years we built so many connections in the city, in the state that at least we would have been able to put up a fight," former MSUB coach Alex Balog told MTN Sports via Zoom.
Balog was with MSUB for eight seasons before joining Villanova in 2019 where he is the associate head coach.
MTN Sports also talked with former head coach Dan McNally, who led the program from 2005-12. McNally is the program’s winningest coach and brought in a national player of the year.
He is currently the Vice President and Soccer in the Community & Club Ambassador of FC Cincinnati of the MLS.
“We have high-level educators, business leaders, lawyers — we have the capacity and resources to provide a solution,” McNally said. “We have the resources in our alumni group to correct this mistake, this decision. If they had come to us six months ago, I am certain we could have had a solution.”
McNally also stated that he found out just two minutes before the publishing of the press release from a friend at the university.
People close to the situation believe the decision to cut the program had been made before a Nov. 10 scouting camp, where high schoolers from Utah, Colorado, Washington and Oregon made their way to Billings with the hope of unlocking a potential roster spot.
Less than 10 days later, the decision to discontinue the program was made.
MSUB did say in its initial press release that it would honor all current men's soccer athletic scholarships through degree completion or their anticipated exhaust of eligibility, whichever comes first, provided a student-athlete is enrolled as a full-time student each term.
"This decision is in no way a reflection on the men's soccer program itself," athletic director Mike Bazemore stated in the release.
