U-Maryland may lose XC and Track

good riddance.

It doesn't matter how bad a team or teams are, no kid deserves to lose his or her chance to compete.

is there some way to stop this? Small liberal arts colleges cutting track and xc is one thing (and a terrible one at that), but this is a major flagship university.

There is a lot of money that has been poorly invested in the athletic department, most on football related items (that aren't the players). From what I read, their contract with Comcast expires this year which is a huge revenue loss. Doesn't look like this deficit really snuck up on them.

Of course the logical step for a struggling athletic department would be to cut cheap sports instead of stopping the exuberant spending of football/basketball programs.

It's sad to see sports go, but how does something like this happen?

According to the financial report that Maryland filed to the NCAA for fiscal year 2009-10, women’s swimming recorded the largest net loss ($973,706) among varsity sports; men’s swimming lost $620,889.

A million dollars loss seems pretty high to me.

Pretty sure they could have funded the entire XC team and saved a lot of face by just wearing normal uniforms for their football game against Miami this year.

Go Eagles wrote:

It doesn't matter how bad a team or teams are, no kid deserves to lose his or her chance to compete.

Sure they do. This is D1 athletics, not cozy fun league.

NCAA D1 athletics is devolving into corporate football and basketball. Hell, even UNC is rumored to have considered moving to the SEC for football reasons. WTF?

I often get sick watching NCAA football games. How are these companies allowed to make so much money off these kids?

If the athletic departments were getting the money, I would understand. Most of it goes to fatcats with "The ACC" and "The SEC" who eat steaks and drink bourbon with each other.

I was told by someone who pays way more attention to these things than I do that they get the uniforms free from Under Armour. I don't know if that's correct but if so the uniforms aren't a problem.

Renaldo Ne-a-fu@kin-miah ran here and they are gonna give it up? BAD BAD BAD prescident.

Even if you call it a business, a business should learn how to manage its money. When they dropped $40 million a press tower and box seats that fail to sell year after year, can you really say it is fair to take it out on the student athletes? Can you say it is fair to pay the lowest assistant coaches of a bottom of the barrel (this season at least) ACC team 150k a year? Didn't think so.

No way will women's track be dropped. It probably has the largest roster of women of all sports and is necessary for title IX reasons.

Shut down Lets Run forums and let people get their frustrations out somewhere else.

HRE wrote:

I was told by someone who pays way more attention to these things than I do that they get the uniforms free from Under Armour. I don't know if that's correct but if so the uniforms aren't a problem.

Correct, the guy(s) who started under armour are Maryland alums. I believe they played on the football team, and since hook up the team.

That would be a greater tragedy than when The 'Vous was shuttered.

I was just posting on faceook about this. I dont think they will get rid of all the track and xc program. Swimming and diving is 2, golf is 2 more that is an expensive per capita sport with almost noone in it. Water polo is also def gone from what ive seen. Also baseball is apparently in line. Im surprised they still have wrestling but maybe the gymnastics and tumbling? teams make that possible. I could see either all the mens teams getting cut- gulp- or both indoor tracks.

XC costs basically nothing compared to most sports and they need to keep that to stay div 1 in the fall i think. They go to like one meet outside of Maryland- this year it was Paul Short which is prac still in Maryland.

The real question is how are thye this far in debt at a BCS school. Apparently they have some unusual way of accounting that doesnt come from the state but still.

Two major problems- they are paying Fridgen's salary this year and forking over 2 mill to Edsall. So paying 2 football coaches for the results of zero football coaches- not good. Also the mens bball team will suck bigtime. AT least the new bball coach doesnt seem like such an arrogant jerk and he admits theyre going to suck. Youre getting things turned around all right Randy 9-4 to 2-7 thats a move in the right direction.

Another one that i was shocked at during the Delaware cuts that totally gets a pass is LACROSSE. This is a NONREVENUE sport but at Delaware had 60(sixty) men's scholarships. That is 6-0 or ten times as much as six. Coincidentally its prob about ten(or more) times as much as the track team at Maryland has. This from a sport that has 4 ACC teams. If you win three games you win the ACC title. That is competitive alright. Why not cut that down a little? I mean I know its a great sport to let the inferior athletes get scholarships that they couldnt get in any other sport and all but if money is that big of a problem maybe that should come up.

I am also skeptical of those numbers for the teams- if they really are losing that much money- which i doubt- what counts? honestly I dont see how the xc team could lose 500000 dollars- that is impossible. They go to 6 meets a year and stay overnight at like 1-2. Also how much did the football team LOSE. They conviently leave out football and both bball programs in the post article. I am sick and tired of hearing about football supporting the other sports when in reality at the vast majority of the schools it loses more money than anyone. I know when they went to the Orange Bowl at the beginning of Fridgens time they spent more on the trip than they made since every hanger on and schmoozer had to have a hotel room etc etc.4 million in salary for head coaches alone doesnt help balance the books too well.

Thats all for now on this stream of consciousness rant- and trust me i could go on for pages more but it will just be aggravating and probably not productive. Just from the Delaware cuts last year(where you knew- and later was disclosed- that the AD and university financial officer basically worked together and were lying the whole time) to this where I know a good number of people on the team its pretty annoying.

This should never happen at a BCS school its an embarrassment. pathetic. they can blame the economy all they want but its just mismanagement, bad decisions and overspending on nothing.

I blame football. You knows it's their "fault" since 2/3 the athletics budget is spent on them

Perhaps they could use those god-awful football uniforms as singlets and save money.

Maryland is not a football school, never has been. I went to Maryland in the mid-80s, when they actually had a great team, Boomer Esiason, Coach Bobby Ross, then they said no to Bobby to expand the stadium and build that press box, and guess what? 1. They build one anyway; and 2. Bobby Ross goes to GA Tech and wins a national title. Oops!

I played soccer at Marlyand, and had numerous friends on the Cross Country and Track teams.

Maryland is a basketball school first; soccer has been highly successful since Sasho arrived; and lacrosse has had its ups and downs. I feel for track and xc. Like I have said here in the past, we produced some great runners, like Coogan, Nehemiah, Rincon, to name a few, but we go through major lapses in producing quality.

Although it is my alma mater, we have always been very proficient at underachieving as an overall sports program. To top it off, with all the colleges, pro sports, and other forms of entertainment in the Baltimore-Wash area, we have always struggled to get people to commit to attending football games.