Simple Trick wrote:
You're 100% right. XC/Track need much better marketing, we're one of the highest participation sports at all levels, but for whatever reason can't really turn that into a more prominent position in our culture.
Until that happens though, the only solution I can think of is to remove Football from the Title IX requirements. This will also play into the role that Football has in Universities as a marketing tool. Whereas men's basketball is the only other sport that can even say close to the same, but is also only taking up 12 scholarships.
The marketing needs to start grass roots with individual coaches and their own programs. Baseball was targeted to be cut at Akron but was saved for XC, tennis, & golf because the baseball coach fundraised for scholarship endowments long before there was a hint of future trouble. However, too many XC/track mid-major coaches do not want to work that hard and don't view it as "coaching,' yet want sympathy when the axe falls.
There is no reason to exclude football from the equation. The Power 5 conferences have football and don't cut other sports. The mid major football schools need to see themselves for what they are, a DI-AA; whatever the name for that is now-days or DII and quit thinking they are just $700k bigger budget from being Alabama. From your comments above, you still think football is a valuable marketing tool for a mid-major. Power 5 = yes, mid-major = worthless. A marketing department could do a lot with the $4.4 million Akron football lost in 2012 and the $1.5-$2 million lost each year since.
Why should the men get the same number of scholarships THEN 60 more on top of it just for sh*ts . My mother, wife, and daughter think how the men choose to spend their share of the $ should not affect them. Title IX was created for a reason. Men in charge chose to exclude women in sports and just about any other way possible when historically it was left up to them. They had to be forced to treat women's pursuits respectully and as equals. Let that sink in a bit.
I've blathered on enough. Thanks for a solid conversation.