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PETITION
Please
sign our petition to save dropped OU sports. Click
here. If
your current circumstances or position with Ohio University do not require
anonymity, we
request that you sign with your name rather than as "Anonymous"
as some have. Thank you and thanks to the Women's Lacrosse blog
for setting up this petition.
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THE BACKLASH BEGINS
Two OU Greats Deplore Decision to Cut
Illustrious Sports Programs
Please check the online
petition to see how many alums have said they are terminating their
contributions to Ohio University.
STAN
HUNTSMAN
COLLEGES OHIO UNIVERSITY
Former track coach disowns his old school
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Mark Znidar
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Stan Huntsman invested 16 years of his life in Ohio University as a
graduate student and track coach.
Last week, he invested a couple of dollars in postage to mail his
master’s degree diploma in physical education back to his alma mater.
Huntsman is livid that Ohio has eliminated the men’s indoor and outdoor
track and field teams for budgetary reasons and to comply with Title IX.
In protest, he has demanded that a plaque honoring him be taken off the
wall in the university athletic hall of fame. He was a student from 1955 and
’56 and a coach for 14 years until 1969.
"Definitely do that with my plaque," Huntsman said by telephone
from his home in Austin, Texas. "If they don’t tear it down
immediately, I could resort to unlawful methods. I’m not beyond that.
Don’t try me. I doubt if I’d do that myself. I won’t step foot on that
campus unless it’s the Alden Library.
"I’ve completely severed myself from the university. What I’d do
is find somebody to take down that plaque for me. Some people would do that
for free."
Huntsman also is unhappy that Ohio is dropping men’s swimming and diving
and women’s lacrosse.
"I hope the university would reconsider all this," he said.
"I’ve talked to a lot of former athletes and they feel as strongly as I
do. I’m really concerned about what has happened. This is shocking. I
thought Ohio University was above this. At least try to solve the monetary
problems another way. The track team’s budget isn’t even $1 million. The
university could change this. It doesn’t take a great administrator to be a
hangman."
Ohio athletic director Kirby Hocutt said the university would comply with
Huntsman’s wishes regarding the plaque.
"Coach Huntsman has devoted a great deal of his life to Ohio
University, and he’s going to have a negative reaction," Hocutt said.
"I would hope in time he’d reconsider putting his plaque back up. He
means a lot to Ohio."
Huntsman is one of the greatest names in the history of United States track
and field and cross country. He was inducted into the National Track &
Field Hall of Fame in 2004.
In 39 years as coach at Ohio, Tennessee and Texas, Huntsman coached 46
conference champions. He won NCAA titles at Tennessee in cross country (1972)
and outdoor track (1974) and was the U.S. Olympic coach for the 1988 Games and
an assistant in 1976 and ’80.
Elmore Banton, another former Ohio track and field coach, said he’s
"devastated" by the cuts. In a letter to the university, he wrote
that Ohio is guilty of "cut-and-run" tactics. He noted that in
2005-06 the football team ran a $1.9 million deficit and the men’s
basketball team a $331,000 deficit.
"The cows are too big for the barn and the chickens are being thrown
out," he wrote. "I say put the cows on a diet. You’re attacking
the wrong animal."
ELMORE
BANTON
"Dr.
McDavis has said that this action is final. The only thing in life that's final
is when the good Lord calls you home. Anything done by man can be undone. If the
university does not reconsider this position, it means that a university that
once was so proud of its student athletes no longer cares. If indeed, this
action is final, this Bobcat will never bleed green again."
- Coach Elmore
Banton
Elmore Banton is a retired Ohio University track and
cross-country coach. He won the NCAA cross-country title as a Bobcat in 1964.
[Bold type emphasis inserted by
SaveOUSports.Org]
By Elmore Banton
Monday, February 5th, 2007
One of the proudest days of my life was the day I became head coach of the men's
track and field program at Ohio University. By contrast, Jan. 25, 2007 was one
of the saddest days in my life, when the announcement came that the university
was cutting women's lacrosse, men's swimming, and of course, men's track and
field.
As a former athlete and coach, I am devastated over the elimination of these
sports. I know that President Roderick McDavis and athletics director Kirby
Hocutt inherited most of the problems that led to the cuts. My concern is that
steps taken to resolve the situation did not involve enough in-depth problem
solving. To my way of thinking, there are different approaches that could have
been taken to cut the deficit while not harming diversity in the athletics
department and in the university that we prize.
In Mr. Hocutt's statement to the press, he gave the reasons for the cuts as a
need to honor the Title IX directives and to respond to the fiscal deficit. One
way of solving the Title IX issue is to cut men's indoor track (yes, I am
willing to give up indoor track in order to keep outdoor and the other two
sports), and by adding 10-12 roster spots to the women's track, women's swimming
and women's lacrosse. This measure or some tweaking of this idea would get to
the numbers for gender equity. Did the committee ever consider this? The problem
of gender equity can be readily solved.
The financial deficit is a much larger and more complicated problem to solve,
but if we want to keep the prestige of the university and preserve our tradition
of caring about our student athletes, we must spend time working on the problem
rather than using the cut-and-run techniques that have so far been employed.
According to last year's NCAA report, OU spends $491 per track athlete per year,
$10,000 per football athlete per year, and $22,000 per basketball athlete per
year. Central Michigan, winner of this year's MAC in football, spends $4,000 per
football athlete per year. In fact, six schools in the MAC spend less than
$6,000 per football athlete per year.
In addition, the OU football program had a $1.9 million deficit and basketball
had a $331,000 deficit last year. To anyone looking at these figures, it might
appear that we are attacking the wrong animals. The cows have gotten too big for
the barn, so we are throwing out the chickens instead of putting the cows on a
diet.
Did the committee in its long study of the problem of the deficit ever consider
any of the following ways to solve the problem?
* Cut the athletics budget.
* Make use of the Bobcat funds.
* Reach out to all athletic alumni for donations for a set number of years (we
do it for everything else).
* When positions need to be filled in the athletics department, delay hiring for
six months and use the money for the deficit.
* Stop paying replacement staff as much or more than their predecessors.
* Ask for help from the Student Senate (you never know what they can do).
I understand that the athletics department is looking into building a new indoor
facility. It is amazing that we are cutting programs on the one hand and
thinking of building a new facility on the other. I know that private money will
be used, but why not use private money to save these programs!
I am asking the university to delay the action so that the athletics department
can leave no stone unturned in an all-out effort to save these traditional
programs that mean so much to our alumni and student athletes.
Dr. McDavis has said that this action is final. The only thing in life that's
final is when the good Lord calls you home. Anything done by man can be undone.
If the university does not reconsider this position, it means that a university
that once was so proud of its student athletes no longer cares. If indeed, this
action is final, this Bobcat will never bleed green again.
Editor's note: Elmore Banton is a retired Ohio University track and
cross-country coach. He won the NCAA cross-country title as a Bobcat in 1964.
As an alumni of The Graduate School of Ohio University, a former
Graduate Assistant for the OU Track & Field Team, a husband of a member of 5
MAC Team Championships for Cross Country/Track & Field at OU, a
brother-in-law of a graduate of the Medical School of Ohio University, a
son-in-law of an All-Mac football player who played in the Sun Bowl for OU, a
good friend and former college teammate of the current Men's and Women's Head
Cross Country/Track & Field Coach, and a good friend and co-worker of Coach
Elmore Banton - the former Head Coach at Ohio University for twenty-three years
and the 1964 NCAA Cross Country National Champion, I have a vested interest in
the well-being of the OU Track & Field community.
First, I would like to present to you some valuable information that you need to
know, some interesting facts, and some things that need to be done.
On January 25, 2007, Ohio University announced the dissolution of Men's Track
& Field because Today, Ohio University is committed to compliance Title IX.
It is committed to compliance with this federal statute that guarantees equal
rights to everyone regardless of gender. Quite frankly, Ohio University is
taking a step backwards in their compliance with Title IX. In 1995, OU adopted a
gender equity plan calling for the addition of three women's sports. Those three
sports were added by 1999. However, in 2001, to continue with compliance with
Title IX it was determined that a fourth sport needed to be added. That never
happened. In fact, on January 25, OU dropped a woman's sport, Lacrosse. How is
that a continuation of their compliance with Title IX? There is a way for OU to
be compliant with Title IX without dropping ANY sports. There are alternatives
to compliance with the federal statute that do NOT include the dissolution of
sports.
According to the Office for Civil Rights, a federal organization under the US
Department of Education, there is nothing in Title IX that requires the cutting
or reduction of teams in order to demonstrate compliance with Title IX, and that
the elimination of teams is a disfavored practice. It is contrary to the spirit
of Title IX for the government to require or encourage an institution to
eliminate athletic teams. Therefore, even the federal government, who mandates
compliance with Title IX, emphatically disapproves of the elimination of sports
to maintain compliance.
According The Post on January 29, 2007, Ohio University is the state's least
racially diverse college and offers one of the lowest percentages of financial
aid among similar schools in Ohio, according to the Ohio Board of Regents, 2006
Performance Report. Taking that into account, OU is now going to cut a sport,
Men's Track & Field, that historically has around the second or third
highest number of minority athletes. This would clearly further hurt OU's weak
reputation in terms of racial diversity even more. According to the January 25th
press conference, OU is firmly committed to the nearly 100 student-athletes.
These individuals are our first concern. If these athletes were their first
concern, the administration should have found a solution that did not cut their
sport and directly hurt both compliance with Title IX and their commitment to
improving racial diversity. This cut is a clear step back on both fronts.
Quotes taken from various newspapers,
blogs, and message boards
OUParent
After a careful review of the press releases,
news reports, the School of Recreation and Sport Science section on the OU
website, and emails from many concerned students, parents and alums, it appears
that all options were not exhausted before this decision was taken, as
"Eric Bildstein, a senior thrower on the Bobcat track team," noted in
one article.
One option springs to mind immediately: OU is
supposed to have the best graduate Sports Management program in the country.
Were the talented professors and students of that school asked to tackle this
financial problem to find solutions? It doesn't sound like it. The message
implicit in the apparent absence of the Sports Management department's
participation in solving this problem is that there is insufficient expertise
and talent there to make a difference.
How
does the School of Recreation and Sport Science feel about what appears to be
their absence from the process? It might be difficult now to convince
prospective students and donors that Sports Management is a good program when OU
cannot find ways to manage its sports budget sufficiently to avoid this
personal, budgetary, and public relations debacle.
Look at other schools where Sports Management is
offered and see how well they seem to have done. The University of Tennessee
would be a good place to start - 18 successful men's and women's varsity sports
programs. The University of Massachusetts is another example - 21 successful
men's and women's varsity sports programs.
Being a part of a university that has to drop
varsity athletic programs because it cannot manage its budget adequately or
generate enough revenue is lousy advertising for sports-related curricula,
something that those who teach Sports Marketing courses can tell you.
If the talented people of the Sports Management
program were not invited or allowed to offer their services to help prevent this
terrible state of affairs, and if they have any pride in their abilities and the
quality of the degrees they offer, they should demand an opportunity to do so
now.
Suggestions from an alum on how to deal with budget
problems:
Here are a few ideas that could be used to
help save these programs and reduce the athletic dept. deficit at the same
time.
1. Cutting all athletic Budgets by 3%
2.
With the Athletic department being overstaffed! – Propose not to replace empty
staff positions for 6 months and put the money back into the budget. We have a
very capable sports admin program and could use some students to fill in for the
short term.
3. Propose to asking the Bobcat Club for
assistance – they are able re-earmark the money to the athletic department.
They have raised $560,000 since June for the "to provide funding to enhance
the student-athlete experience for all student-athletes that comprise our men's
and women's intercollegiate sport teams." This would seem like a worthy
manner to spend some of that money
4. Propose asking every
alumni who participated in sports for $200 for the next 3 years. (Stating that
the athletic program is in a dyer need for assistance. Letting the alumni know
that their athletic program is in great financial need.)
5.
Propose to the student senate add $10 activity fee for each quarter for the next
3 year, similar to the activity fee for the Ping center
6.
Propose cutting men’s indoor track and field only and cutting back on team
rosters for outdoor track and field to 45, which will cut the total number of 60
male athletes.
Other ideas that I would advocate employing
would be to:
1. Reduce the # of football players on the
squad that are non-essential. We have to have 85 full scholarships for football,
fine. But do we need 120 players on the team. 85 players is already 4 players at
every position. Each player on the team costs the University $10,000 a year. Cut
the roster down to 100 players. Save $200,000 per year. $800,000 over 4 years
BTW, each Track & Field athlete costs the University less than $1,000 per
year. Track and Field actually makes the University money! They give out 7
scholarships, which are usually divided in half and given to 14 or so athletes.
Each of these athletes contributes half of their tuition to attend. The other 40
athletes on the team pay their entire way to the University. Over 4 years these
athletes contribute $800,000 to the school, far more than the cost of running
the program during that time!
2. Spend more responsibly on
Football. Did we really have to bring every single player to Mobile, including
the redshirts? If they didn't contribute during the year to the success in
getting to the GMAC Bowl, then let them go next year when they do play and we
make it there again! Do we have to pay for the players to stay in a hotel room
for HOME GAMES? This is just ludicrous!
3. Schedule more
money games for Football. In our non-conference games for next year, we will
only probably be getting a payout from the Virginia Tech game. Schedule two $
games a year to help football pay for itself and quit being a drag on the
budget. This would bring in $500,000 a year or so
4. If you
don't want an activity fee for student to support the athletic dept, then Charge
the students for tickets to Football and Basketball !! OR charge a nominal fee
for tickets to each game, whether they go or not, like the Ping Center. Each student
contributes $ right now toward that, whether they use it or not. Charge
$1 per home game for football and basketball per student for their tickets.
20,000 students x 16 homes games = $320,000 per year Just some ideas that are
easily achievable!
Other ideas:
1.
Mount a fundraising campaign to erase the deficit and keep all the teams. All
the sports would benefit as well as other programs that are involved with the
varsity teams - athletic training, sports administration.
2.
make it a project for students in the sports ad program to examine the budget
and spending patterns and come up with solutions.
3. Do a
better job or marketing and selling sponsorships. Surely, we can raise more with
some creative thinking.
4. Bring back the PAW on
merchandise! All profits on selling PAW merchandise for the next 3 years will be
donated to erasing the deficit and keeping these 4 teams.
From
Mark McClure,
John Carroll University Cross Country/Track & Field Coach
Our athletics budget was in the bottom half of the conference, the Athletic
Director said in his January 25 press conference. According to the Office of
Postsecondary Education's website, http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/main.asp, OU
Athletics has the HIGHEST operating expenses in the MAC meaning that they
have the most money to work with for their athletic programs.
The AD also said
that the women's programs were near the bottom of the conference in terms of
operating expenses that's his fault for budgeting that way. Cutting the
three sports will save the department around $685,000. Of that $685,000, over
$400,000 of that is from the Women's Lacrosse Team. Therefore, this cut is
hurting the women's programs even more by taking more money away from them.
Before the cuts, the women received 32.7% of the operating expenses. After the
cut, the women will receive 31% of the operating expenses. Again, these cuts in
the name of gender equity are further hurting the women's programs and
compliance with Title IX. The two men's sports being cut have the lowest
operating expenses per athlete of the men's sports.
Why would you cut the lowest
budgeted sports to save money? Football has higher operating expenses than all
the women's sports combined it is number two in the MAC in terms of football
operating expenses. Football has operating expenses of $1,082,469. The women's
operating expenses for ALL women's sports are $859,298.
To take this one step
further, the operating expenses Per Participant for Track & Field is about
$1000, Football is $10,117, for Men's Basketball $22,964, and for Men's Swimming
and Diving $2,325.
Considering all of this information, I want to advise you on some things that
YOU can personally do to help save your Track & Field team at Ohio
University.
1. Get some information and facts together like this. Do some research at some
websites like some of the above listed. Put some numbers together and find
facts. You need to get this information together to give to the Board of
Trustees. This decision IS NOT FINAL! The Board of Trustees does actually have
the power to undo this decision. They have the power to assist you in this more
than any other group.
2. This needs to be done NOW. You will need even more information than this and
it needs to be done quickly before it is too late. Try to keep emotions out of
it. Give them information. Give them facts that will make them rethink their
decision and to open up dialogue on this issue.
3. The Faculty Senate Meeting is February 12th. Try your best to get the
information to each member and ask them to put this decision on the agenda. Find
out when the Board of Trustees meets and get this information to them before
they meet.
4. Release your information to the news media beyond The Post in Athens. This is
powerful information and a powerful story that can help gain support. Go to
papers recognized in the state or even nationally.
5. Letters to the President and to the Athletic Director may not be effective.
They are prepared for this and are expecting a wave of criticism.
6. Get the members of the Men's Swimming and Diving and the Women's Lacrosse
Team to join you in your efforts. The Athletic Director said that YOU are their
PRIMARY CONCERN. He asked you to SUPPORT EACH OTHER. This decision affects the
lives of each and every one of you. You are in this together. Help each other.
Be aware that THERE ARE WAYS TO BE COMPLIANT without cutting sports. This is not
a necessary recourse for compliance with Title IX and solving budget issues. It
is a CLEAR step back as far as compliance with Title IX and racial diversity is
concerned. These are just some of the glaring facts that need to be made known
to everyone. It just takes a few of the right people to understand your point of
view for a change to be made. Good luck.
Sincerely,
Mark McClure
John Carroll University Cross Country/Track & Field Coach
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DROPPED
TEAMS
2006
Women's Lacrosse Team
Swimming
and Diving
and
Track
and Field
|
