Craig Ellingson Quotations

My goal is to not have to cut anything at any level. I'd rather do it on the income side. I'd really like to have a bigger piece of the (budgetary) pie.

I think overall that the pros outweigh the cons. As a coach, it was just different. Instead of playing at 7 you were playing at 5:30. You have to change your little routines. It's a little change, really.

We had it set that way, but we went away from it. The Salem ADs talked Bob and I out of it because they did it and their crowd got up and left (after the boys' game). Some parents will leave no matter what, but they said the students got up and left.

As user fees go up, we'll see less participation and I think it encourages specialization. A kid that may want to try another sport, that's just the start of the expense. They have to buy shoes, have to fund-raise and fund-raise to go to tournaments. I'd like to take it the other way and make it less expensive.

Take softball, for instance. They have to fund-raise for softballs. We don't give them any softballs. All the maintenance is done by one of the parents. Even the chalk, we don't pay for that. We don't pay for anything except the salaries, transportation and officials and we don't have enough to cover that.

So far, it makes a lot of sense how they do it. I was pleased with it; for the first year it went very well. Next year we'll have a better understanding of how it works and it'll go even better.