Posting that a bunch of times doesn't make it true. A whole lot more goes into these decisions than alumni contributions. The athletic director probably thinks Lacrosse is their ticket to the big time, with TV money and national exposure and all that.
Miller has had it out for the program since at least 2001. I was on the team when we had to call him out on it at a student council meeting, where he had to scramble and back off. He assured us we weren't on the chopping block while his face turned red. Guess all that changed recently.
The guys on the team were told 6 months ago that he wasn't cutting the program. Miller is two-faced and the complete opposite of everything Richmond stands for.
Azaleas wrote:
The athletic director probably thinks Lacrosse is their ticket to the big time, with TV money and national exposure and all that.
I doubt the athletic director is that big of an idiot. Lacrosse gets no money and is on TV once a year (the Final 4 on Memorial Day weekend).
What likely happened is that a rich alum tossed a whole bunch of money at the school, with promises for more later down the road, contingent on them adding a lacrosse program. I'm not a conspiracy theorist but the fact that Miller isn't giving specifics about how they came to the decision to add lacrosse and cut Track (and Soccer) reinforces this.
Mr. Obvious wrote:
Azaleas wrote:The athletic director probably thinks Lacrosse is their ticket to the big time, with TV money and national exposure and all that.
I doubt the athletic director is that big of an idiot. Lacrosse gets no money and is on TV once a year (the Final 4 on Memorial Day weekend).
Sorry, that isn't true. I watch lacrosse on ESPN all the time - both collegiate and professional
I believe the extra $$$ will be going to paying the salaries of the dozen or so extra law enforcement officers needed on campus at this new "lacrosse" university.
Wow. Coach Frank Hardy must be turning over in his grave.
Dear University of Richmond Men’s T&F supports.
As someone involved in the very recent dropping of Men’s XC/T&F on the college level here are a few thoughts for you guys at Richmond.
1. Assume that all of your administration is in on the decision to cut you guys and at the moment you probably don’t have many friends there.
2. Assume most people will lump you in as dumb jocks and assume you are just like Football and Basketball and “already get too much support”.
3. You administrators don’t give a dam if you do really well in school and represent them positively. They also don’t care how many all americans and national champions you have produced. They only care about the almighty dollar despite what they may say.
4. Your alumni likely don’t support you very well financially and therefore you are a target. Your alumni and coaches are going to have to make a plan to address this.
5. You must collect as much information as possible about the decision to cut you. The more controversy you can create the better. Get the dirt and then throw the whole administration under the bus. See if anyone jumps ship to your side at that point so you can get more dirt. Rinse and repeat.
6. Student athletes, alumni and supporters must be very active and consistent in protesting and making life miserable for all administrators. They expect that things will die down in one to two weeks. Remember you already don’t have any friends in administration so a scorched earth policy is best. Almost every will band together on this point as everyone has a common hate for over paid administrators at colleges.
7. You must get access to some of the people on your board of trustees. If you can divide them (especially get the ones with money to support your side) then you will create havoc for your administrators.
8. If you are gonna go down, go down swinging. To creep off with tail between legs is no way to represent yourself and the sport you love.
9. Cool ideas to mess around with
a. Have a strong message and slogan.
b. Use chalk to send your message across campus. Plus admission tour guides love trying to explain why there are message about saving track and field to potential students.
c. Post signs and flyers legally around campus. Do it once a week.
d. Don’t attack other sports.
e. Have your parents and alumni contact the administrators every Friday afternoon for the whole school year. Administrators love phone calls on Friday afternoon so they can think about what was said all weekend.
f. Get a strong group of supporters together and have regular strategy sessions. Find big donors ASAP.
g. Get the press involved as much as possible. Tell your story over and over to anyone that will listen
h. Get your student government on your side and get them to start asking questions. Try and meet with them regularly to update them on what you are learning. You administration is doing the same thing so you need to make sure you counteract their influence on student government.
Good Luck with the FIGHT.
i. Right to know requests are a big help to get information that you want.
Sincerely
MUXCTFforlife
Where are WEJO/ROJO on this? They spend the whole summer screaming guilt by association on doping issues, but fail to raise a voice on a true controversy.
Have to agree with this. Just because Richmond might not be as high profile as Maryland, this is still an insult to the track community. Don't forget to contact administrators at Richmond to state your concern about the frustration.
AD Jim Miller:
, President Ed Ayers:
, Secretary to the board of Trustees, Ann Lloyd Breeden:
Also, just in case anyone hasn't signed, here's a link to the petition to save the track and field program:
http://signon.org/sign/save-richmond-track?source=c.url&r_by=5631547
Mark Block seen in Richmond, VA?! Letsrun, get on this!
You can also e mail wejo/rojo to complain about the lack of coverage.
Great article by Ann O'Toole-member of the women's track team.
http://thecollegianur.com/2012/09/27/politics-and-money-took-precedence-in-track-decision/28756/
I viewed the video posted on the letsrun main page. It seems that the AD stated that "participation issues" were a main driver on dropping men's track, but they didn't need to drop it in order to keep in line with Title IX
http://www.wric.com/global/Category.asp?c=190525&clipId=7761052&autostart=true
What the hell does that even mean? Participation issues?
I'm against the loss of T&F at this school but here is the link to their track roster for this yr. 23 athletes and only 3 listed are not Distance or Middle Distance.
http://www.richmondspiders.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=26800&SPID=91937&SPSID=635083
I think that by "Participation issues" they are referring to the makeup of the Track team in general. Of the 23 members of the Men's Track program, only 5 are not cross country athletes. Now i'm not sure about national averages for Div 1 programs but (and I know this might be comparing apples and oranges) at the D3 level the average roster size for a XC program is 14-15 and the average size for a T&F program is in the 34-35 range. Men's soccer has a roster currently of 26. That is 31 men who will no longer have an opportunity to participate in the sport they decided to compete in FOR Richmond. I have read that Lacrosse is supposed to field a roster of 40. That is a net of 10 additional students paying tuition (if the numbers are true).
I an in no way condoning what UR has done in retracting Track and Soccer (I participated in both in college and currently am an XC and T&F coach). It's a shame to see how this was handled and hopefully the current team members will be able to find a home where they can compete in the future.
Title IX is outdated.
The college newspaper's expose style piece on this decision. Expose style because it was a totally sleazy bs decision.
Also the petition has nearly passed 10,000 keep up the support! It's not just athletes who have been paying attention, a lot of other fields know the danger of cuts when some wealthy donor has an agenda.
If you are in the Richmond area, swing by the campus Sunday from 5:15 to 6:00 for the Save Our Sports forum attended by students, alumni, community members, coaches, faculty, staff, administration, Ed Ayers, and the press.
Amarrrillo wrote:
Title IX is outdated.
Title IX has nothing to do with this decision. A wealthy donor gave money specifically for a men's lacrosse team. UofR should have done a better job recruiting "track" athletes, not just cross country guys. In addition, all those who are upset now should have been donating and funding the program all along.