Times quickly change

NEW ULM -- Two years ago, the Mount Senario College mens basketball team was in the Final Four of the NAIA Tournament.

The Fighting Saints, out of Ladysmith, Wis., were the dominant team in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference.

How times can quickly change. Saturday afternoon, the Fighting Saints arrived in New Ulm to take on Martin Luther College in a UMAC battle. The game saw the Saints wearing new gold uniforms, but only seven players were on the team donning the new garb.

Honestly put, the Mount Senario men are only a shell of what they had been.

"The (old) coach left to take a (similar) job at the University of Wisconsin-Stout," said MLC mens basketball coach Jim Unke. "He took some players with him and, right now, the school is in a little bit of disarray. They are scrambling right now. I think that their new coach Kyle Brockmeier will be fine, but he was really left with a mess."

This season, Mount Senario has suited up 28 different players on their team that recorded two wins entering Saturday's game with the Knights.

MLC entered with 11 wins before easily recording their 12th win of the season against the Saints.

"It has been difficult for him to step into that situation," commented Unke of Brockmeier.

While the lack of players hurt Mount Senario, they also had to battle some eligibility problems on the team-specifically one player -- 6-foot-10, 270-pound Daniel Brown.

"He was playing in his fifth season; he should not have been playing this year and because of that use of an ineligible player, they had to forfeit the (UMAC) wins," said Unke, who also doubles as the UMAC Commissioner. "They have to straighten up their house."

Unke admits that wearing two hats has been tough especially with the Mount Senario situation, which was brought to Unke's attention on Wednesday -- just three days prior to his squad meeting the Fighting Saints. "I hope that this (ruling that player ineligible) was not seen as self-serving, but for the credibility of the conference it had to be dealt with."

Unke said that the bookwork on the ineligible player was due to the "change over in coaches. Their athletic director and football coach (who were the same) left and is now at the University of Dubuque. He left the school at Christmas. There have been so many things that have happened (at Mount Senario) that there is no continuity. It is very difficult to know who is in charge."

And Unke is not the only Martin Luther College person who has to deal with this mess.

Dave Pelzl is a professor at MLC and is also the Eligibility Chairman for the UMAC. He became involved when a team (not MLC) questioned the eligibility of Brown.

"I have sent a recommendation to the conference because of the use of that player," said Pelzl, who has held that position since 1997 and has been the faculty athletic representative for 16 years. "The conference will vote on that and then the NAIA will decide on what sanctions to take against Mount Senario. I am assuming that the least thing that would happen is that they will forfeit those games, but beyond that I cannot guess or estimate."

Pelzl commented that Senario "has always had some unusual situations ... that is the best way that I can describe it. I don't want to say that they have done anything illegal, but they have had some unusual situations there."

Pelzl said that six years ago, Mount Senario had a good athletic director. "He was doing a good job but he left to become an offensive coordinator with a pro team on the west coast. And at that point, the football coach was asked to be the acting athletic director with the assumption that it would only be for a year. But it lasted three years. He was doing a good job, but then he also switched to another school."

Senario was also victimized when their head soccer coach left and most of their soccer players at the start of this season. "Their coaching staff -- some of the main ones who put their name in the newspaper -- have disappeared, and it doesn't make for a very settled situation."

Pelzl feels that Mount Senario "was not aware of the NAIA rule about seasons of participation. He (Brockmeier) was not aware of it and had misinterpreted a rule because of some different circumstances. I don't believe that there was an attempt to get by with anything. It is going to be a challenge for their current coaching staff now."

"It has been a little bit of a circus this year (with Mount Senario)," said Unke. "It just hurts the conference when they show up with seven players."

GO TO MLC: If you want to watch some good mens and womens college basketball, you need to go no further than take a trip up Center Street to MLC. Both teams play a hard brand of basketball, with the women having won 10 games and the men 12.

Plus, the students at the game are great -- plain and simple. The short sketches that they do during time outs are hilarious and you have to see the kangaroo.

What is the kangaroo?

You'll have to go see a game to find out -- and you will not be disappointed.

Column by Jim Bastian, Journal sports writer