UNIVERSITY IF AKRON CUTS XC PROGRAM! Other D1 programs soon to follow?!?!

What is missing from the caption of this photo, is that this is "practice"

There's definitely hope that the program can be saved.

I don't remember the specifics, but a few years back I remember reading about a DIII school that fielded one DI sport. The school was grandfathered in or something. Anyway, the school's administration announced that they'd be dropping the program down from DI to DIII. It would save the school a lot of money, amount other things. However, the outpouring of alumni support in opposition to the announcement was intense. Online petitions, phone calls, and above all, $. A group of alumni, parents and community members raised a significant amount of money. The administration back tracked and kept the program DI.

mulch trails wrote:

There's definitely hope that the program can be saved.

I don't remember the specifics, but a few years back I remember reading about a DIII school that fielded one DI sport. The school was grandfathered in or something. Anyway, the school's administration announced that they'd be dropping the program down from DI to DIII. It would save the school a lot of money, amount other things. However, the outpouring of alumni support in opposition to the announcement was intense. Online petitions, phone calls, and above all, $. A group of alumni, parents and community members raised a significant amount of money. The administration back tracked and kept the program DI.

Didn't one of the North Carolina schools save a cut program a few years ago? UNC-Greensboro or maybe Wilmington. It took a lot of donations to cover costs but it was done.

Coastal Carolina is the school you're thinking of.

https://www.myhorrynews.com/news/education/ccu-reinstates-men-s-track-team/article_39cdb5d0-b98e-11e2-bf8c-0019bb30f31a.html

Fun fact: you could fund all three programs by firing one administrator, and then get the bonus of being able to fire their support staff and jettison their expensive initiatives. Dump the money-losing football team (albeit one that back in the 1990s beat mighty Penn State, if I recall correctly), and you'd have a bunch more available to preserve faculty positions so that you would lessen cuts to core university funds.

That is, you would lessen cuts to core university functions.

In the “real world” Pelosi and Mnuchin would add them to the bailouts.

Thanks for the support. We have a pretty dedicated group of alumni who realize how much they gained from being part of the team, and I'm not just talking about athletic success or scholarship. So far, many of the larger pledges we have recieved are NOT from those who had most of their way paid. There's something special about putting on the uniform knowing that you have been in the trenches with those guys day in and day out. I learned so much about how to pick myself up after failure, how to lean on those around me, and how to fight for something bigger than myself by being part of the team.

We are nearly certain that we would not fall out of compliance with Title IX by reinstating cross country. If that were the case, it would be by the slimmest of margins and roster tweaking could easily rectify it.

If anyone is reading this and is interested in more of the specific facts we have gathered or is interested in supporting us in monetary or other ways, please don't hesitate to reach out to me:

(that's the letter o, not a zero)

To cut $4.4 million from athletic budget, Akron must have also cut deeply from sports they retained. How come the Akron AD isn't giving those numbers? How much did he cut from football versus other sports that were retained?

Something else not mentioned, is that the NCAA pays an athletic department about $35,000 for each sport over the minimum number. That means Akron loses a $35,000 check from the NCAA by dropping men's cross country. That must be factored into the balance sheet of the decision

Seems they would have been better off cutting indoor track and field. None of the distance runners would transfer as its almost welcoming to not run indoor track for distance runners. They could run a couple meets unattached to test themselves. Not having cross country will kill the distance recruiting and not having good distance runners will kill Akron's chances to win a MAC outdoor title. Even the sprints, jumps and throws could still compete in 2-3 meets unattached in the winter and then go full steam ahead in XC, They have enough home meets to do just that while the women compete. They are not saving a lot of money by cutting cross country. Just a few travel meets for 10-12 guys. They would probably save about the same or more by cutting indoor track and field which would be a few travel meets for 30 or so men. Still need a distance coach with no cross country and still need shoes and clothing since you have outdoor track and field, None of the XC runners would transfer if that was announced. It's the same model as Miami of Ohio and Duquesne.

......... wrote:

Something else not mentioned, is that the NCAA pays an athletic department about $35,000 for each sport over the minimum number. That means Akron loses a $35,000 check from the NCAA by dropping men's cross country. That must be factored into the balance sheet of the decision

That is one tidbit I did not know.

Can I find that anywhere official or semi-official?

Thanks.

CoachO wrote:

......... wrote:

Something else not mentioned, is that the NCAA pays an athletic department about $35,000 for each sport over the minimum number. That means Akron loses a $35,000 check from the NCAA by dropping men's cross country. That must be factored into the balance sheet of the decision

That is one tidbit I did not know.

Can I find that anywhere official or semi-official?

Thanks.

Page 8 of the following document seems to verify the assertion.

the local community college got rid of their track and field program, tore up the field and replaced it with a single soccer field.

they were the only good college level track in the area except for UMKC.

It's stupid how people believe that money is more important than the sense of community

Coach O: my advice, don’t go to the AD. Go straight to the Board of Trustees. You don’t work at Akron, so you are under no obligation to follow the chain of command. This is clearly not about money. It’s all about perception; as I mentioned. The AD isn’t going to listen and you will likely not even get a chance to meet him.

This cut must be approved by the BOT. Go to them.

Just my 2-cents. Generally speaking, these board of trustee meetings are supposed to be open to the public. Find out how you can get on their agenda. Even if you can’t, you need to formulate a well thought out and pointed response and get it to each of these people.

Good luck!

The 35k that the NCAA distributes to each college for each sport was not distributed this year because there was not an NCAA basketball tournament which is where the NCAA gets all the money from to distribute.

This might make sense if Akron didn’t have an indoor 300m track. Hosting indoor meets is probably a decent source of revenue from meet entry fees. I guess they could still host without competing, but that doesn’t seem right.

Especially considering Akron had 2 time indoor NCAA pole vault champion and record holder Shawn Barber not all that long ago. Not sure if they've had anywhere near that kind of success in cross country.

Central Michigan follows suit, though indoor and outdoor track rather than Xc