It was the best of times this past weekend at Slippery Rock University, where Homecoming Weekend festivities peaked with the 34-13 football victory over Clarion, improving The Rock’s season record to 6-1.

Homecoming is “a fun weekend,” said Kimberly Jones, president of the school’s alumni association. “It’s a celebration of Slippery Rock pride.”

In Grambling, La., it was the worst of times. Grambling State University’s varsity, winless in its past 18 games, refused to play Saturday’s opponent, Jackson State. Players boycotted practices Wednesday and Thursday, complaining the school was neglecting the football program. Their complaints include a mold-infested training complex, aging equipment, insufficient training staff, long bus trips to away games and the unexpected firing of head coach Doug Williams, a Grambling alumnus as well as the NFL’s first black quarterback to win the Superbowl MVP.

“Things are rough, and we understand our players’ frustration,” Grambling spokesman Will Sutton said in a statement to the ESPN sports network. “The president is frustrated, the AD is frustrated, the students are frustrated, the alumni are frustrated, so we fully understand our players’ frustration.”

Most of Grambling’s struggle is financial. Since 2007-08, state funding has decreased from $31.6 million to $13.8 million for the traditionally black school. Grambling raised tuition and made cuts across the board to close the gap. Leon Sanders, Grambling’s vice president for finance, told Sports Illustrated the school has “cut to the bone,” laying off about 127 staff members and furloughing others. Professors have been asked to teach an extra class each semester for free.

Grambling’s initial austerity measures did not affect its athletic programs, largely because athletics was generating about $8 million annually in 2007-08. But the budget ax is falling there now — particularly as athletics revenue has declined by nearly $2 million a year.

The cuts can be seen and felt in virtually every facet of school sports, coaches say, from recruiting to injury rehabilitation, to training meals and long-distance bus trips. There are fewer coaches and trainers, and the ones still employed are spread thin.

The decline for Grambling football has been steep and sudden. The black college national champions in 2008 and the South West Athletic Conference champion in 2009 and 2010, Grambling managed only one win in 2011, no wins in 2012. The school’s proud winning tradition only compounds the agony: Former coach Eddie G. Robinson, who was Williams’ mentor, had an NCAA record 408 career victories.

Why dwell on Grambling’s hardship in the afterglow of Slippery Rock’s homecoming victory? Simply to point out that Slippery Rock stands today where Grambling stood five years ago, contemplating cuts in state funding, rising costs and tough decisions affecting the entire campus community.

There are no easy answers, and none that don’t entail some measure of pain.

But those who took part in this past weekend’s festivities could witness firsthand the value of sustaining traditions that appeal to a sense school spirit — a spirit that radiates to a school’s host community as well as its alumni.

As Slippery Rock University struggles with ongoing financial problems, the university should do whatever is reasonable to preserve its athletic programs. A decline like Grambling’s might tarnish the institution’s reputation far beyond the gridiron.