Another Division I Program is jettisoning its Mens Track and Cross Country Programs
Part of our efforts at "the blog with it all" is making people aware that everyone involved with Track and Cross Country are in a precarious position. Support, both physically and monetarily, happens to be quite essential in these times. And despite what some "experts" might tell you (you know who you are!), things will not be getter better in our lifetimes.
I do partly blame Title IX, and there are true believers out there who disagree with me, sometimes violently. But no purpose is served by enhancing the sports prospects of high school females at the expense of high school males. None at all. Fairness in numbers isn't fairness to individuals. A quota justifies nothing. And with the law, it's extremely difficult to ever cut a Women's Program without first getting rid of the Mens.
But Title IX is only part of the problem. Higher and higher costs for the Big-Time sports means sometimes cuts have to be made. And if it's only the pennies of a Cross Country and Track Program, those pennies become the cause celebre for academic bureaucrats.
I don't know the proper course of action to combat this, other than getting involved as much as possible and giving back to the Program however much you are able to. I'll stop harping again now...
Thanks Brian, my writing skills always need help!
I love the way the authorities always explain this so that at the end the athletes are supposed to thank them for cutting their sport.
ReplyDeleteThe problem isn't Title IX, it's football. Schools like Robert Morris are foolish for fielding consistently non-competitive football teams which chew up the budget and grossly skew the male/female participation numbers.
ReplyDeleteQuotas, as you call them, can sometimes be useful to restore balance when historical and unfair imbalances were the norm for decades.
"Athletics is for education and recreation, nothing else. Winning is important only in that you learn more."
ReplyDelete-Coach Harry Groves, 5/21/2011 at the Alumni "Run".
Title IX: "Somewhere between whale sh*t and the bottom of the ocean." -Coach Harry Groves. USA Today.
ReplyDeleteHarry was wrong about Title IX, and his comment reflects a biased view point which was not supportive of women's athletics.
ReplyDeleteYou can also be idealistic about athletics - but money $$$$ rules the day in collegiate athletics.
Temple football was 2-10 and they're now cutting Men's Indoor/Outdoor track because that horrific Owl football program - decades of subpar results - is leaking money like a sieve.