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Craig Virgin has something to say

Posted by: Tony Bleill

Thursday, May 15, 2008 12:59 PM

Craig Virgin is the type of person that we media types love to interview. The former UI great has thoughtful opinions and isn't afraid to express them. The world needs more folks like him.

So when I interviewed Virgin last week for a track and field story that appeared in Sunday's paper, he was typically frank. And he said some things that, in my opinion, were right on the money. A few of those sentiments didn't fit into the crux of my story, but I'll relate them here, as the UI prepares to host the Big Ten Outdoor Championships starting Friday.

"I'm embarrassed as hell that my alma mater doesn't have a brick-and-mortar structure around its track," Virgin said. "It is embarrassing to be in one of the top three states in the country annually in terms of high school cross-country and track and field, and to have an outdoor track facility that is a makeshift situation and has been for 20-some years.

"That may irritate a few people in the administration at Illinois, and I hope that it does. The fact we're getting a hand-me-down used press box from softball to put in the track stadium (for the Big Ten Championships) to me says it all. We're getting hand-me-downs from softball."

I completely agree. There is absolutely no way that a university like Illinois should have anything less than a first-class track and field stadium, and what it has now is anything but that.

Virgin added, "I don't have a problem with it being a joint facility with soccer. You have to make them multi-purpose." But there's no reason Illinois shouldn't have a better setup for spectators. A couple blocks of steel bleachers do not comprise a stadium.

Ron Guenther is often credited with being the instigator for the upgrades of many athletic facilities on campus. And when he speaks publicly, Guenther is quick to mention that Illinois is such a wonderful university that it need not take a back seat to anyone. So if that's the case, why does the UI continue to have a second-rate outdoor track and field facility -- one that can't even stack up with Eastern Illinois?

The Armory, aged as it is, is great. But it is not enough, and the UI's track and field athletes deserve better.