Yes, I've seen Mount Union play more times than I'd care to admit and they are great in their own little universe, but that's about it. Sadly enough, we'll never be able to see them be obliterated by at least 2/3 of the MAC because of Divisional cross over rules in football.
At the rate we're going, we aren't going to see MAC schools compete with Mounts Men's track teams either.
OU's situtation is just horrible and that President and AD ought to be ashamed of themselves!!
NY runner wrote:
If you think Ohio U or any MAC has a legit shot at a BCS game you're crazy. Thats the message in my post. Ohio isn't competing with Ohio State. Wisco, Arkansas, WV, Vtech all non-BSC teams would take the MAC out behind the woodshead.
Secondly only the great ND keeps all the 14mil. The other schools have to share some of it with the conference.
Once again mid-major football sucks - competively and economically. I'd rather see them assemble a foreign all-star XC team and whoop up on Oregon and Standford.
BTW if think the Prez of Ohio U is going to take back the 300k bonus so you can run track there youre nuts too. Writing letters of that effect is like voting. If it makes you feel good do it, but don't expect it to make a difference.
I never said anything about OU making it to a BCS game--nor do I think they EVER will. All I said is that because OU DID make a bowl, they were paid "X" amount of dollars...which I believe would be enough to pay the bonus of Solich and the travel expenses of the team.
I just looked it up. OU was paid $750k to accept a bid to the GMAC bowl game...
Which was PLENTY of money to pay Solich's bonus as well as the entire team and city of Athens to fly to Mobile, AL.
not so fast my friend....you're forgetting that the money is all shared within the conference. all of it is evenly split. so if you got $750K, that is split between 12(maybe? not sure how many teams in the MAC) teams. that's why it is a huge advantage to be a bcs conference and if you can get two teams in to the bcs...yowaza.
america is a free country and people choose to watch football and go to football games, so AD's are going to try enhance the most popular sports. title IX on the other hand belongs in a communist country.
Well, OU was not the only MAC team to make a bowl game this year, so that number is much larger than $750 split between the conference.
Mount's Men's track team is unreal. I think they can run w/ most MAC schools.
You need to put down the crack pipe Purple Rump Raider
Seven MAC schools have now dropped mens' track and field and two of those XC as well. Those that kept XC (at least their foot is still in the door) evidentally don't realize that XC will never be any good without track. BG and Toledo are now always last and next to last in MAC XC. The conference has been ruined in wrestling, swimming, track, etc. by the unscrupulous acts of various AD's, trying to show that they were cutting costs, by dropping things like that, when, in reality, they were escalating FB expenditures in the hopeless quest to be big-time in FB. They even subsidize three of the four bowl games they participated in. When the NCAA went to a 16 sport requirement, with at least six being in each gender, they basically sealed the fate of many Olympic sports. Can Buffalo be far behind OU in dropping of track? The remaining schools are all pretty good at track, EMU, CMU, Miami (outdoor only), Kent, Akron, but probably all are at risk, except Central Michigan, which is down to 16, of which six are M/W indoor, outdoor, XC. It is a sad state of affairs and they hide behind Title IX, but the issue really is money and the amount of it that they spend on MAC FB. Everyone should rise up on this issue. The minority people are having one of their three main sports taken away and the women enjoy having a male counterpart team at their school. Northern Illinois, Bowling Green, Toledo, Ball State, Western Michigan, Marshall (now gone from MAC), and now Ohio University make the TRACK HATERS HALL OF FAME, for what they have done. Perhaps their alumni should rise up and demand the firing of their Presidents and AD's. The WMU track alums played a big role in the recent demise of their former President, who was the one who dropped track & field and cross country in Dec. 2003. The Broncos had won 33 MAC titles and two NCAA titles, but she ignored that and dropped them anyway. Elmore Banton won the 1964 NCAA XC title and his team was 3rd. Bob Bertelson won the 1973 NCAA 6mile title. The Bobcats have had many great track & field and cross country athletes through the years. Banton was also their long-time coach, as was Stan Huntsman, who moved on to Tennessee and then Texas, and was also USA head Olympic track and field coach.
Bob, Nice post.
Perhaps this should be discussed at the Ohio Association Track and Cross Country Coaches Clinic this weekend at the Columbus Hilton. There will be 1500 junior high, high school and college coaches there. -
http://www.runohio.com/news/01-18-07Coaches_clinic.html
Matt McGowan
For those of you who don't know, Bob Parks is the Legandary, Hall of Fame former coach of Eastern Michigan University Track and Field program. He is a BIG voice against schools who drop the great sport of T&F. He makes good points about the short sightedness of administrators who are out to save the all mighty dollar.
How many good football players are schools like Ohio (and the rest of the schools that dropped the program) not going to get because these athletes also want to run track.
I personally looked forward to the early April trips down to Athens to compete in the what was then called the OU relays. I set EMU's freshman record in the Pole Vault (16'6") at OU. I have jumped in snow, rain, sun.... but it was always a quality meet.
Keep up the fight to save your Traditions and keep your family togeather. You can expect to get support from everywhere, even outside of the OU family and especially inside of the Track and Field family.
Mark Smith
EMU Track and Field ('87-'92)
Excellent posts, all of them! Just a note to keep this from going off of the front page……..I would really say that it is high time that all track and field fans and athletes get together and do something! Do not think it will not happen at your school! It could happen at EVERY mid size conference because of the football team sucking the monetary life out of the university! Let’s get this straight:
85 football scholarships for at best 25 positions of both sides of the ball. Have a second string and now you are up to 50 players, Hell, throw in a 3rd string and now you are at 75- still 10 more than needed at a D1 level.
Now take those 85 scholarships and multiply them by roughly $20,000 (tuition+ room and board…). I get $1.7 million…Throw in around another $300,000- $500,000 for the coaches and other “chuckleheads” that hang around the program, etc and now you are up around $2.5 million……..This means that the university would have to fill a 50,000 seat stadium with a $50.00 ticket for one game just to cover the expenses of just scholarships and salary of the football team. We KNOW that isn’t happening at a MAC School!
That does not include the day to day football expenses, uniforms, etc., I’d say you are around $4 million……..Football in the Mid American Conference just is not and WILL NEVER be able to cover those expenses, so tell me how football “supports” everything else at the University Athletic Department as those damn money grubbing football coaches would like to have you believe! Maybe at the “top 25 football” schools, this happens, but the rest of the schools that have football, it is like breasts on a male…Good for only getting cancer. Got to get rid of the cancer- or football!
legis wrote:
...in order to pay the bonuses of Solich, they were out of compliance with Title IX, which is why track and swimming are gone.
Some may not like this question, but did football generate revenue that previously kept T&F alive? If so, despite our disdain for what's going on, it needs to be mentioned. In any event, I feel for the guys losing out on this and realize how fortunate I was to not worry about it during my collegiate running. What I hope comes out of this is maybe an alternate club-running type of organization that's very competitive (versus the recreational Joe runner clubs). Even then, coaches, meets, etc.. would be hard to generate.
ttc wrote:
legis wrote:...in order to pay the bonuses of Solich, they were out of compliance with Title IX, which is why track and swimming are gone.
Some may not like this question, but did football generate revenue that previously kept T&F alive? If so, despite our disdain for what's going on, it needs to be mentioned. In any event, I feel for the guys losing out on this and realize how fortunate I was to not worry about it during my collegiate running. What I hope comes out of this is maybe an alternate club-running type of organization that's very competitive (versus the recreational Joe runner clubs). Even then, coaches, meets, etc.. would be hard to generate.
Football making money at Ohio University? Are you kidding?
The most recent data from the Office of Postsecondary Education…
Ohio University
Football Revenue - $2,353,407
Football Expenses - $4,265,821
That looks like football is operating at a deficit of just over $1.9 million! That Solich is sure helping the bottom-line at OU!!!
Could you list the cost for football for the other MAC schools in Ohio or a link to find info...Thanks..
At the bottom you can search for a particular university. Not sure what year the number are from. Have fun.
Bob - glad to see you on here still fighting the good fight.
I know the alumni are rallying, and they are doing a very good job of it - at least for beginnners. This is going to take a lot more than boohooing and finger pointing though.
As a Miami grad I'm scared to death that we're next. We could fall victim to the same pressures in a heartbeat.
Did OU football ever keep track alive? Absolutely not! There are perhaps 10 football teams in the country that actually make money. Take a good look at the budgets sometimes. Its insane.
Olympic sports are in jeopardy, and like Bob said, if we don't rise up now, then we could lose everything.
Fred,
Perhaps we can get something started at the clinic this weekend...by getting the high school coaches and former runners at all MAC school involved.
Kieser wrote:
There are perhaps 10 football teams in the country that actually make money.
WOW! That statement right there may be more dumb than my "Ohio State will beat Florida" statement.
Cha-Ching: Football revenues by conference
Andy saw our Top Ten Football Revenues list and asked for the college football revenues by conference (& Notre Dame).
SEC $350,193,187
Big Ten $276,809,402
Big XII $258,812,765
ACC $180,171,498
Pac 10 $176,744,243
Big East $84,659,903
Conference USA $62,565,804
WAC $34,756,625
Mountain West $53,061,049*
Notre Dame $38,596,090
MAC $25,297,901
* 8 teams reporting - Air Force does not release football revenues.
Note: Data from 2003-2004 compiled using 2005 conference alignments.
Average Football Revenues per school
Notre Dame $38,596,090
SEC $35,019,318.70
Big Ten $25,164,491.09
Big XII $$21,567,730.42
Pac 10 $17,674,424.30
ACC $15,014,291.50
Big East $10,582,487.88
Mountain West $6,632,631.13*
Conference USA $5,213,817.00
WAC $3,475,662.50
MAC $2,108,158.42
Actually, it is not.