Geese your president really sucks. Just lump him in with the other presidents from Maryland, Delaware, Millersville, JMU, Townson, and all the other programs I forgot that were cut.
On a side note, that girl at the end of the video was drop dead beautiful
Title IX Sucks wrote:
On a side note, that girl at the end of the video was drop dead beautiful
Yes and twice on Sunday.
seems like Ed Ayers is completely out of touch with the student body. Why is this man a university president again?
A very disappointing evening, for sure. Lots of circular talk, no real discussion of any alternative options that came up in the many confidential meetings that led to the decision.
Here's what I took away from it:
1. They couldn't have just added an additional women's sport because: a.) It requires somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 million dollar endowment to do that, and b.) For it's size, the school has enough athletic programs already.
2. The decision to cut track really only effects the 6 "track-only" athletes, not those who also run cross country. Cross country/track athletes are the only athletes on campus that occupy three roster spots over a year, and the sacrifice of indoor and outdoor track (which will free up roster spots and sports funding) will be a benefit for not only lacrosse, but the other remaining sports teams.
3. Elevating the lacrosse program will secure a "pipeline" with many prep schools in the mid-atlantic region. It was not discussed whether this meant only lacrosse players or whether the presence of a D-1 lacrosse program at Richmond would attract non-athletes from these same schools.
4. The decision to move forward with this plan was made before the money existed to make it feasible.
A lot was said, but I doubt anyone left satisfied. I hope that the movement continues.
Read through this message board. Why wouldn't you hate runners? A bunch of douche bags as a whole, really!
spoken as a true laxbro. Good work bra.
Jeff Gordon wrote:
Read through this message board. Why wouldn't you hate runners? A bunch of douche bags as a whole, really!
+1
Wah wah wah...
Transfer and shutup
Of course the president doesn't give a sh1t. And he shouldn't. XC and T&F don't bring in money.
Here is the bottom line little darlings. Lacrosse is a growing sport and its fans and supporters throw money at the game.
Does track ? No they don't. Heck Nike is ripped in here day and night. Lacrosse equitment companies throw money at the support. Former players give money and time to the sport. Lacrosse fans buy from lacrosse advertisers. Lacrosse fits perfectly at Richmond. All these schools are looking at what Loyola did on espn winning the national championship.
Why do you think Furman is dumping millions into the sport ?
The question isn't why Richmond is doing it now,it's why did Richmond wait this long to add lacrosse ?
You hear guys on LetsRun complain about fees all the time. Lacrosse people love spending money on good lacrosse. What percentage of people in would you guess contribute money to their favorite track or xcountry program ?
Your response is a petition ? Really thats what your response ?
Neither does Lacrosse.
That President may be the worst public speaker and communicator I have ever witnessed. I feel sorry for the student-athletes who had to deal with him that evening. I probably would have srating heckling the guy, just to get him to get even more flustered and off track than he already was in his attmepts to read his prepared remarks.
I for one don't want a sport that's all about bringing in money or spending money. Nor do I think part of the educational mission of colleges in providing sports should be in looking for revenue generation (in fact, probably the opposite).
Lenny Leonard wrote:
A very disappointing evening, for sure. Lots of circular talk, no real discussion of any alternative options that came up in the many confidential meetings that led to the decision.
Here's what I took away from it:
1. They couldn't have just added an additional women's sport because: a.) It requires somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 million dollar endowment to do that, and b.) For it's size, the school has enough athletic programs already.
2. The decision to cut track really only effects the 6 "track-only" athletes, not those who also run cross country. Cross country/track athletes are the only athletes on campus that occupy three roster spots over a year, and the sacrifice of indoor and outdoor track (which will free up roster spots and sports funding) will be a benefit for not only lacrosse, but the other remaining sports teams.
right, because not being able to run track doesn't hurt distance athletes at all...
a sport might cost 20 million if you're flying to the west coast every other week for a game or you build a new uneccessary stadium, otherwise I'm not so sure you're numbers are right
cash rules wrote:
I for one don't want a sport that's all about bringing in money or spending money. Nor do I think part of the educational mission of colleges in providing sports should be in looking for revenue generation (in fact, probably the opposite).
agreed
its so sad that so many think college sports should be a business or at least run like one. this is college, not a pro sport. College should be about providing opportunity to as many as possible to enhance their education, which athletics does.
Title IX Sucks wrote:
On a side note, that girl at the end of the video was drop dead beautiful
Man, you ain't kidding. One of the hottest chicks I've seen in quite a long time.
Jillian Prentice - A-10 cross country champ last year, 4:32/16:39 15/5K
Agreed, beautiful girl - then again, most of them are.
I've been spouting this for years and it looks like the ax will be the proximate cause of the move but here goes..
Eventually most "non-revenue" sports will be cut and will have to exist as club level sports i.e. the European model.
I'm sure some schools will still offer scholarships but they will only be the top tier T&F schools that produce Olympians and such. The rest will go away.
The consequences could be bad. It could keep a lot of kids from going to college, it would no longer provide a big goal for competing in HS (no chance for a scholarship might as well play soccer.)
The other side would be that as a club sport you would no longer be under Title IX or NCAA regulations so it may free up the sport some what.
virginia runner wrote:
a sport might cost 20 million if you're flying to the west coast every other week for a game or you build a new uneccessary stadium, otherwise I'm not so sure you're numbers are right
He said $20 million endowment, dumby. That's different than a $20 million budget. An endowment is typically invested, and the money it generates is what's actually used... but the actual fund is usually left intact. So, even if it generated, say, 5%/yr return, that'd be a $1 million dollar budget, which is very realistic.
virginia runner wrote:
seems like Ed Ayers is completely out of touch with the student body. Why is this man a university president again?
Ed Ayers is an extremely smart man with a long and distinguished history both as a scholar (read his The Promise of the New South), as a teacher, and as a University Administrator (He was previously Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at UVa).
To be fair to him, this video is chopped up in its editing. He was also facing the most vocal critics of this decision (and here at Letsrun.com is virtually facing a similar crowd). There is no way he is going to look good in that setting. Don't underestimate him, though.
I am more surprised UR is cutting soccer than track and field, as Ed was a fan and frequent attender at Soccer games. That said, Lacrosse really does fit in perfectly with the Richmond student body, which has tons of upper class prep school students from the Mid-Atlantic.