As of 8:10am this morning one of the finer programs in the country is lost due to "budgetary" problems.
No one saw it coming and they just recently signed some top level recruits that gave them one of the top 3 recruiting classes in the country.
Athletic departments SHOULD be able to not count football towards their scholarships - just imagine how great that would be. If you take the football scholarships out of the equation things could/would actually match up or be very close. I like the theory of Title IX but in practice it blows.
I am so sorry for the ASU swimmers and their recruits. Think those top coaches were on the phone today trying to get the recruits and current members? OR do you wait a day or two ... hmmmm ....
Football does have a lot of overhead but some of it could easily be removed. For example - THE Ohio State (and I'm sure this happens at other schools) football team stays in a hotel the night before HOME games - they get dinner paid for, too. How much do you think that costs the Athletic Department each home game? I can really only speak to Ohio State but their football team is raking in the bucks big time 100,000 + at each game plus regular bowl game appearances - I think I heard schools get several million for BCS bowls ... amazing ... take a million (or heck half) off of that and spread it around to keep Olympic sports in the schools ...
I'm not a great researcher but from what I can tell, only Vandy in your list above has ever had a men's swimming program. I could be wrong about this. I did not see any of the other above mentioned programs in any SEC results going back to 1937. Wait - Miss State did have a team in 1937 but I don't see them competing again after that. Guess all the water holes dried up in '38.
Fearing some schools haven't been in the SEC since 1937 I have confirmed that Miss and Miss St were charter members back in 1932. Arkansas joined in 1991 from the SWC. I can't find any history of Arkansas men's swimming but that doesn't mean it didn't exist. SWC is a bit hard to dig up info on.
Arkansas had a men's swimming program, I swam there. They dropped it in the early 90's (we were a top 10-20 program by the way) and had a phenomenal training facility. I also spent a semester at Nebraska-Lincoln and they dropped their program also.
It was truly sad when they dropped this, the women's team went down. They are trying to build it back up, but no question it lost a lot of momentum when the men went away. Same for Nebraska and countless other programs where women stayed and men were cut.
That is something indeed. I went to Nationals there in 2003 and that sure is a great place to swim. Of course, they have to keep that aging relic of a giant stadium across the street in working order, which is increasingly costly given the Fiesta Bowl is no longer played there, nor competitive college football, for that matter.
Apparently this is the only program being dropped/cut back...they somehow found $$$ to build new practice facilities for football, track, etc.
No consultation with the coaching staff at all prior to the hammer falling...nice job AD.
Fort, have you ever considered the positive effect those football scholarships can have? How many of those scholarships are going to kids who can just barely get their test scores because the inner city schools are so bad? How many of them are giving kids a college education who otherwise wouldn't have had one? I can't speak for football, but I know for a fact that basketball scholarships have given a whole lot of kids a chance at a college education they would have never gotten were it not for basketball, I would assume that it is similar for the other big revenue sports though.
Also, perhaps girls are smarter and perhaps boys are more inclined to athletics, if we are arbitrarily assigning traits to a sex, might as well tack that one on.
The letter they sent to the athletes looks like a "fill-in-the-blanks" letter. Note how "Men's Swimming" is in all caps, like they just use the same form letter any time they cut a sport:
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Dear MEN'S SWIMMING Student-Athlete,
It is with much sadness that we provide you with this message. Your coach may or may not have had an opportunity to speak with you prior to your reading this email, but because of the timing of these events, we had to contact you directly as well.
Due to economic realities the decision has been made to discontinue your sport at ASU. This decision was not arrived at in a hasty manner as there was much deliberation and searching for alternative solutions.
As you look to the future, I am sure you have many questions. To that end, a meeting has been scheduled for 1:00 pm TODAY in room 35-41 at Wells Fargo Arena. There you will be presented with more information regarding this matter. You can find room 35-41 in the corridor in the lower level of Wells Fargo Arena. Should you not be able to attend, written materials will be sent by overnight mail to your permanent address. You can also contact your coach for this information as well.
Please know that we will do everything we can to assist you through this difficult time.
Respectfully,
Lisa Love
Mr. Jean Boyd
Associate Athletic Director
Student Athlete Development
Arizona State University
No, this is new construction, to be completed in 2009. They broke ground last month.
I meant it in jest. I figured with the naming rights they sold to WF they probably generated enough $$ to build this facility. I guess "Speedo Stadium" would probably generate some giggles.
I prefer to reference the score than the myriad of excuses that OSU fans come up with every year for their futility versus SEC schools.
Since Bowl games have always been and will always be played in either domes or fair weather sites, might I suggest OSU adjust their game so that their embarassing performances come to an end. Who the heck wants to go go Cincy or Cleveland for New Year's? That's like going to the Smith's house for a Title IX fan club meeting.
Along with your silly video of non calls (what a whiner) find the video of the scoreboard. It happened to read 38-24. Or better, yet the video of them squandering a 10-0 lead.
