LANE ON THE LINE.

Byline: Chris Hansen The Register-Guard

HIS LANE Community College men's basketball team is in a battle for first place and attendance - however meager - has never been better, and yet Jim Boutin is as frustrated as he has ever been in his 36 years as a college coach.

Remember the Titans? Boutin, as well as the Lane athletic department, is hoping you'll never have to forget.

Despite having two of the best basketball teams in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges - the women's team is the Southern Region leader - Lane is faced with an uncertain future.

However remote, there is even a chance that both teams could win the conference championships this season, then be eliminated before they get a chance to defend their titles because LCC is faced with a grim financial future that is making those within the athletic department squirm with uncertainty.

The athletic department took a 30 percent hit to its approximately $300,000 yearly budget already this year, as the college was forced to make campuswide cuts to account for a $3.1 million shortfall. That was actually a reprieve for the athletic department, which the LCC executive committee had suggested last winter be eliminated altogether with a three-year phase-out plan. The LCC Board opted instead for a one-year cut that trimmed the athletic budget to about $200,000.

It probably won't end there, though, as the failure of Measure 28 on Feb. 5 turned away much-needed relief funds, and Gov. Ted Kulongoski's budget proposal for 2003-05 cuts community colleges' take from the state's general fund to $414 million, down from $475 million in 2001-03.

In the end, Lane will have to trim another $5.9 million for 2003-04 school year.

What this means to the Lane athletic department won't be known until the executive team announces its recommendations in April. Until then, the athletic department is bracing for another cut to its budget or another call for its elimination.

"I go back and forth," said Patrick Lanning, the health and physical education department chairman. "When I think about how dire the situation is, it's hard to be optimistic," that the athletic department will come out unscathed.

"I'm a naturally optimistic person," said Boutin, who is in his 12th season at Lane. "I'm hopeful we'll have a program again. But this has been extremely frustrating. If you let it get you down, it can be detrimental to your team's morale."

The department's already-slim budget has to be parceled out among four sports - men's and women's basketball and men's and women's track and field - 130 athletes and staff. Volleyball, baseball and men's and women's cross country are supported by a $5 incidental fee charge paid by each full-time student, but it's the athletic department that provides administrative guidance, so the future of those sports is uncertain as well.

The trainer position already has been cut to 10-12 hours a week, only 16 terms' worth of scholarship money can be handed out per team - well below the 24-term limit imposed by the NWAACC and utilized by most schools - and coaches have to teach more classes per term, as the current budget can pay only for travel and some equipment and supplies.

Therefore, Lane, which according to Lanning already had a reputation for raising more money than any school in the state has had to do more.

"If (the cuts) go much deeper, then we become full-time fund-raisers," Lanning said.

A notion generally accepted by both players and coaches is the idea that a greater fan base could possibly cure a lot of the athletic department's problems.

Lane's next home date is Wednesday against Southwestern Oregon Community College. The women will play at 5:30 p.m., and the men will follow at 7:30.

Playing back-to-back games one night a week, the two-game total attendance average has been roughly 350. It's not a bad number, but far from great.

"We're drawing the best local crowds that we ever have," Boutin said. "But attendance has always been a problem and a big part of that is location - we are a commuter college."

If attendance jumped closer to four figures, the added money from the gate and concessions would go a long way, as would the perception that the the community has more interest in the athletic department than previously suspected.

"I think it would play a role," Lanning said. "One of the things an athletic program does is connect us with the community. The stronger the connection, the stronger the support."

May 1 is the day member schools have to officially inform the NWAACC whether they will be playing winter sports next season. The deadline for sports being played next fall was Jan. 1, and according to NWAACC executive director Dick McClain, Lane hasn't been heard from. However, interim athletic director Sean Mondragon indicated that this might just have been an oversight, a deadline lost in the shuffle as he moved into the position the first week of the year, replacing the now-retired Harland Yriarte.

Mondragon said the school would look into the fall filing and expected the school to file with the NWAACC soon.

"I'm not aware they're looking to drop anything yet," McClain said. "The issue with Measure 28 and how it's going to impact our schools, it's quite possible they haven't made all the decisions yet and we have to be sensitive to that."

Despite the school's budget crisis and the tenuous financial future of the athletic department, the men's and women's basketball teams are having banner seasons.

The women, for years a forgettable member of the Southern Region, are the conference's fourth-ranked team with an 18-4 record and are tied with No. 1 Chemeketa for the division lead at 8-1.

It's the first time in school history that the Titans have led the division this late in the season, and sets them up for only their fourth appearance in the NWAACC tournament since Lane joined the conference in 1983.

"The kids right now believe in themselves and what we are doing," said fourth-year coach Greg Sheley, who guided Lane to school-best 24-8 record last season. "We're not as deep or as talented as other teams, but we play hard and get after it."

The Titans are led by former Willamette High School standout Lindsay Admire, who scores 14.8 points per game. Talisha Rath, from Springfield, adds 13.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 4.8 steals.

Lane's four losses have all come against Southern Region opponents. The Titans lost twice to Chemeketa and once to No. 6 Clackamas in early-season tournaments, and their only loss in the league season came against No. 5 Umpqua.

The Titans also beat Clackamas when it was the top-ranked team in the conference, and then-No. 2 Chemeketa. A road game against both schools is still on the schedule, and Lane will play Umpqua at home on Feb. 19.

On the men's side, the sixth-ranked Titans are 16-6 overall, 6-3 in the region, one game behind Mount Hood for first place.

"We are real pleased with how things have gone," Boutin said. "We have lots of young players, but we've been able to win a bunch of close games. "

Led by freshmen Jered Alsup (19 points) and Joel Worcester (10), both from Churchill, Lane is well on its way to its fourth postseason trip in five seasons.

"We know next year is up in the air, but we can't worry about it right now," Worcester said. "We can't worry about whether the program is going to be around next year. But I'd sure like to know."

Said Alsup: "The coaching staff does a good job of keeping us focused on basketball. They've kept us excited."

Same for the women, Rath said: "We can play through anything. No matter what the future holds, we take advantage of the present."

The freshmen on both teams were well-informed during the recruiting process about the situation at Lane by the Lane coaches, as well as from other schools recruiting against the Titans.

Still, both teams were able to bring in a talented group of first-year players.

"Let's be honest, the reason (the freshmen) came here is because they wanted to be a part of this basketball team," Sheley said. "I don't think any of them are worried, because we honestly think we will have a program next year."

If that happens, it would be Lane's most significant win.

CAPTION(S):

Above: The Lane men's basketball team is 16-6 and one game out of first in the Southern Region, but a budget crisis has put the future of the athletic department in question. Right: Lane women's basketball coach Greg Sheley has his team in a tie for first in its region. The college's executive team will announce its budget recommendations in April.