The Stride Report published an article on Friday with quotes from many Brown track and field team members reacting to the end of their storied 145-year program I suggest you read it.https://www.thestridereport.com/post/5ed14df557336d0017abce21It got me thinking about a few things and I became really OUTRAGED. It reminded me that so many college administrators/coaches don't give a **** about the students they are in charge of. It's easy as a coach or an administrator to justify "collateral damage." Yes, a certain number of kids are going to flunk out, a certain number are going to get injured, etc. However, you can't treat a kid as a statistic. Having watched my best friends in college feel totally ignored while injured in college, when I coached, I tried to constantly remind myself, "Don't ever give up on a kid, as this is their one and only shot at this. This is their college career and their dream." The Brown administration clearly doesn't do this. The timing of this announcement is unacceptable. According to the Stride Report, the transfer portal is now closed. The freshman have already sent in their nonrefundable deposits. What in the hell are the current athletes and the incoming freshman supposed to do? If Brown REALLY thinks that axing a 145-year old program is going to make them a better University, well they should at a minimum have done it in a proper way.1) It's totally unacceptable that it was announced on May 28th. To me, people should be fired for announcing it when they did. This decision should have been announced last Fall so that no incoming freshman would be locked into going to a University that is dropping their sport and so that those already at Brown could transfer out if they wanted.2) Given that they did announce it on May 28th, they need at a minimum immediately agree to sponsor men's track and xc through for the upcoming school year. 3) Adding insult to injury, I also received a fascinating email today from a college journalist who told me that the club sailing team that is being elevated to Varsity status, doesn't care about being a varsity sport. He or she knows some people on the Brown sailing team. THey said the sailing team doesn't want Varsity status as there is no need for it as club teams can compete at nationals and Brown actaully already won nationals last year. Being varsity just means they have to do a bunch of bureaucratic crap. The don't need money as the team is already super funded by alumnus Ted Turner - one of the riches men in the world. Here is the relevant portion of their email with personal information removed ( I got permission to use the email).