one of the toughest things i ever did as a ncaa division i director of athletics was recommend that we eliminate sports to my president, chancellor, and board of regents.
at towson university, the reasons behind our proposed cuts of baseball and men’s soccer were rooted in a long history of non-compliance with title ix and gender equity regulations. then towson president robert caret told me on september 20, 2010 in one of our last one on one interviews for the ad position that these cuts would likely have to be made, and asked me if i had the courage to accept the rolE knowing the firestorm i would be stepping into. i responded in the affirmative, and WHAT FOLLOWED IS where this blog’s motivation comes from.
I spent 28 years in college athletics management, and THE BEST PART was dealing with the student-athletes. They are truly the reason you get up in the morning and go to work.
The first time I was involved with sports being cut was while I was on executive staff at the University of Cincinnati (2006-2010). Being the External Operations lead, I was in meetings while others talked about these issues, and I grew to become more engaged in the process as these discussions intensified. Early in my UC days, the first issue on this front was whether we would maintain the Women’s Rowing Team. This was more of a financial decision by the Director of Athletics, and he made the choice to eliminate Rowing and bring in Women’s Lacrosse, a growing sport. Smart choice.
Later on, as our financial issues became more prevalent, The Athletic Director recommended that we eliminate scholarship funding for a variety of men’s sports, namely Men’s Track & Field / Cross Country and Men’s Swimming & Diving, a sport which I was the daily oversight. When time came to share the news with the impacted student-athletes, I was given the task to deliver the news to the athletes along with the head coach. I will never forget the look on their faces. We did not take away the program, which at least gave them the opportunity to compete, but we took away their funding in a move to further to cover up a variety of other weak decisions elsewhere in the management of athletics which were made as a trade off. These types of impactful transactions take place everyday, on most every campus.
Fast forward to where we are in 2020. When cash flush Stanford University announced on July 8, 2020 that they were cutting 11 programs in response to a $25 million dollar projected deficit in the athletic department effective after the 2020-21 academic year.
The Cardinal will be cutting men’s and women’s fencing, field hockey, lightweight rowing, men’s rowing, co-ed and women’s sailing, squash, synchronized swimming, men’s volleyball and wrestling. Two hundred and forty 240 student-athletes will see their programs cut, and 20 support staffers will also see their jobs cut.
Stanford has been well known in collegiate athletics as the gold standard in excellence. While the football programs and men’s basketball programs haven’t been competing for championships (though those programs certainly more than hold their own) seemingly every Stanford program has achieved nothing short of excellence year in and year out both in success on the field and in the amount of resources that are generated and put into the programs.
In the end, it’s not about the athlete experience, and it’s not about winning championships or the positive impact of sports and life lessons learned. Those cliches have long poorly concealed what is obvious. CASH IS KING.
If Stanford is cutting sports, the floodgates will most certainly open in the months to come. Since January 1, 2020, more than 100 NCAA/NAIA teams have been eliminated, under the guise of COVID-19. In my opinion, it’s not the virus that is the root cause of these financial troubles, it’s the true mismanagement of these athletics departments and the broken model which is in play.
In USA Today’s USA TODAY's annual look inside college athletics finances,88 schools out of 230 are taking in 70% or more of their operating funds from their institution. That’s 38.2% of NCAA Division I Athletics Departments requiring welfare from their campus to operate their departments, something is terribly wrong. I have worked at two of these schools: Towson University (87.17%) and the University of Akron (70.2%).
Somehow, somewhere along the line, these schools have lost their ability to make sound decisions when it comes to intercollegiate athletics. I AM NOT POINTING THE FINGER AT THE PEOPLE WORKING IN ATHLETICS, as they are only the people doing the day to day. THE RESPONSIBILITY HERE LAY SQUARELY ON THE SHOULDERS OF THE CHANCELLORS, PRESIDENTS, AND CONTROLLING BOARDS who love to be around the photo ops when championships are won, when bowl trips are being booked, and when rings and other spoils are shared about.
When fiscal and operational mismanagement become so bloated that the model begins to implode, cuts are often made. These are band-aids and not solutions. The sports which are impacted are so called “OLYMPIC SPORTS” or a more pejorative tag like “NON-REVENUE SPORTS”. Talk about making kids and coaches feel lesser than, go around calling them NON anything and it’s a kick to the gut. Even more stinging when Football programs at many of these schools are overspending and swimming in, or rather drowning in the red.
Something has to change. Be it COVID-19, the American Economy, or god forbid someone simply chooses to exercise some common sense, a new model for intercollegiate athletics must emerge.
Prior to the virus, the big push for NIL (Name Image and Likeness) was the talk of college athletics circles. How, When, What… a perplexing mix of challenges.
At the same time, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee is undergoing a reformation of sorts, rooted in large part to recurring scandals at least in part connected to NCAA intercollegiate athletics.
Thus, the two largest ecosystems of amateur sport in the United States: The NCAA and the USOPC, are in need of a true reformation. Being a True Lutheran, I offer the following as a thought generation, a provocation with the intent of SERVING THE ATHLETE first and foremost. Whatever happens to the others involved, coaches, administrators, staffers, sponsors, etc. is truly far down the road in terms of what should be important.
THE PREMISE
Impact of COVID-19 has been devastating across the board in the United States & the World as a whole
Mismanagement in the current model of intercollegiate athletics has long been bleeding resources from campus needs more in line with the mission of higher education
The budget ramifications are being felt throughout the economy, with campuses having to reimagine what their overall model will be, with athletics following suit
Intercollegiate Athletics is going through a major shake-up, from budgets, to sport sponsorship, to the pending Name, Image & Likeness implementation
Many schools have already announced that they are eliminating sports in 2020-21;
Research by The Associated Press found a total of 97 teams eliminated at four-year schools through the end of May. The count includes only teams cut with the coronavirus outbreak and its impacts cited as all or part of the reason.
Of the 78 teams lost in Divisions II and III and the NAIA, 44 were from three schools that closed at least in part because of financial fallout from the pandemic.
Olympic Sports are being eliminated at an alarming rate https://www.si.com/college/2020/06/11/college-sports-program-cuts-ncaa-olympics
The NCAA is run by member institutions, and is making its own cutbacks, reviewing their by-laws and overall structure.
The Various D1 Conferences are also making cuts, and changing the very definition of what they are in terms of championship sponsorship and overall structure
The MAC has eliminated all but four (4) postseason championships for sports
https://www.si.com/college/2020/05/12/mac-eliminate-postseason-several-sports#:~:text=MAC%20to%20Eliminate%20Postseason%20Tournaments%20for%20Several%20Sports&text=The%20Mid%2DAmerican%20Conference%20will,Ohio%20based%20WTOL%20on%20Tuesday.
Likewise, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is already in the midst of an announced restructuring as of Spring 2019 now faces deep cuts https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/national/story/2020-05-07/cost-cutting-more-than-30-at-usopc-take-severance
With the demise of Olympic Sports Programs within the NCAA, the future success of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Teams will be compromised, and many students will leave higher education without the opportunity to compete at the college level
Men’s Gymnastics at the NCAA Division I level cannot absorb teams being cut, as their overall numbers are already dangerously low
THE REFORMATION PROPOSAL
The NCAA Division I Level would cease to provide oversight of, or sponsorship of championships of the following (26) sports, with future oversight transferring to USOPC National Governing Bodies, with club locations placed on college campuses where there is sufficient interest. Teams would operate as part of the campus CLUB SPORTS system, completely outside of any association with NCAA Sports or Conference Affiliation.
FALL - 4
Cross Country (M&W)
Field Hockey (W)
Water Polo (M)
WINTER - 13
Bowling (Co-Ed)
Fencing (Co-Ed)
Gymnastics (M&W)
Rifle (M&W)
Skiing (M&W)
Swimming & Diving (M&W)
Indoor Track & Field (M&W)
Wrestling (M)
SPRING - 9
Golf (M&W)
Rowing (M&W)
Tennis (M&W)
Outdoor Track & Field (M&W)
Water Polo (W)
*Reduces overall scope of NCAA Oversight
*Gives more opportunities to NGB’s to truly develop the best athletes under NGB scope
*Club Sport mentality on campus gives more opportunities to athletes to have regular lives, free of NCAA influence and restrictions
*Eligibility for more kinds of financial aid and revenue generation opportunities
*Keeps these students engaged in sport, many times at the same school, but truly focused on the elite level athlete’s moving up in NGB world, while the non-elite still remains in competitive environment
The New NCAA Division I Level would provide oversight of, or sponsorship of championships of the following twelve (12) sports;
FALL (2 women’s sports / 2 men’s sports)
Football
Soccer
Volleyball
WINTER (2 women’s sports / 2 men’s sports)
Basketball
Ice Hockey
SPRING (2 women’s sports / 2 men’s sports)
Baseball
Softball
Lacrosse
*Greatly reduces scope of what VARSITY SPORTS are on campus
*Costs are drastically reduced across the board, for NCAA, Conferences and Campuses
*Reduced number of athletes, coaches, staff means less burden on University to appropriate institutional resources towards intercollegiate athletics
*Varsity Sports will yield vast majority of potential professional athlete pool, and thus their regular and oversight by NCAA and Campus can be tailored to their unique needs
•NCAA Championships can be bundled into more manageable segments and marketed accordingly
•NIL oversight becomes more manageable, along with any other NCAA responsibility
As we shared above, this is only a 1.0 concept that we are sharing as a means of starting a conversation. We look forward to your comments below and moving college athletics and USOPC development forward.
For more ideas on this subject, please check out our friend, Steve Dittmore’s article below from Athletic Director U…
The Ramifications Of
Olympic Sports Elimination
Due To Covid-19
BY STEVE DITTMORE, PHD - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS