'A Fort Lewis College trustee criticized the athletics director Friday for "pigskin prostitution" in sending the football team to get walloped by a Division I university.

Peter Decker, one of seven members of the Board of Trustees, said the NCAA Division II Skyhawks' 49-0 loss at Montana two weeks ago was "humiliating."

"Why do we do this?" Decker said, noting the 17-hour bus ride players endured en route to Missoula, Mont.

Athletics Director Kent Stanley said the game was essential to keep the football program afloat.

"We play these games out of necessity, not because we want to," Stanley said. "It's really a matter of economics."

Stanley said Fort Lewis received $50,000 for the game. The average contract for such "guarantee games" in the Big Sky conference, of which Montana is a member, is $15,000 to $25,000, Stanley said.

Stanley said the football program needs such high-paying, early-season games to stay afloat. Without them, he said, "our football program wouldn't have the funds to play our conference schedule."

Schools throughout the NCAA play guarantee games, usually early in the season. Major programs use the early games as warm-ups before they face conference opponents..

..."Our budget has traditionally been built on including those kinds of games," Stanley said. "I think that most institutions on our level would probably prefer not to play guarantee games, but it's both an economic necessity and a unique experience for the young men unlike anything you'd get in Division II."

Stanley noted that Fort Lewis players endured nearly as long a bus ride to lose 61-0 on Sept. 15 at University of Nebraska-Kearney, a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opponent. Stanley said that loss was more worrisome.

The exchange between Decker and Stanley came during a presentation by the athletic director about the athletic department's progress....'