With the announcement in 2000 by President Gordon B. Hinckley that Ricks College’s intercollegiate activities would terminate with the change to BYU-Idaho, more than just students’ lives were affected — coaches of all the athletic teams suddenly discovered their jobs would no longer exist.

Lori Woodland, the coach for the Ricks College women’s basketball team, which finished fifth in the nation the year of the announcement, was present in the Hart Auditorium when President Hinckley made the announcement.

“Initially, I was stunned and I immediately prayed for understanding and guidance,” Woodland said. But she knew it was inspired, because “when the prophet speaks, the debate is over.”

Fortunately, the university offered her a position to help plan and implement the new Activities Program, which she says is truly inspired. While Ricks College offered the community and students something in common, a team to be loyal to and a place to go on Friday and Saturday nights, the new Activities Program at BYU-I far outweighs the old in benefits, Woodland said.

For example, the Activities Program gives many more students an opportunity to participate. The old intercollegiate program involved the participation of 268 athletes in all the sports combined. This semester, 300 students tried out for basketball alone, she said.

Doug Stutz, the former cross-country and track team coach, has also been through the change and has seen the benefits of President Hinckley’s vision.

Stutz said the thought went through his mind to find another coaching job, but “I have always felt this is where I needed to be.”

Stutz said it’s not the coaching that makes the program successful, it’s that the programs “invite, welcome and function under the Spirit.”

While Ricks College athletes and coaches succeeded in many of its previous athletic programs, “what we achieve [now] is significant in helping to mold people to build the kingdom,” Stutz said.