W&M Cuts Men's Track & Field - WARNING All NCAA Track/XC Programs Now at Risk

link to tweet announcing decision: https://twitter.com/TribeAthletics/status/1301611830612307973

also why only men's track and field?

This is disappointing for all the hard working athletes that are at W&M...especially freshman! Sad to see this happen to yet another program....

I just got a text about this and said, "No way."

I immediately added in "WARNING All NCAA Track/XC Programs Now at Risk" to the title as that's what I'm thinking. When a team that has made NCAAs 26 times gets cut, then it's a big deal. Now I know the xc team wasn't cut - just track. But who has a good xc team without track?

Anyone know the rule about how many track races an xc runner can run if the school is xc only?

Some might think a way forward for our sports post-covid would be to have lots of xc only programs where they also are allowed to run track as it's way cheaper than a huge track program, but that may not fly in the BLM era given the racial discrepancies of the sports.

Good riddance. Can I get those four years of my life back?

rojo wrote:

I just got a text about this and said, "No way."

I immediately added in "WARNING All NCAA Track/XC Programs Now at Risk" to the title as that's what I'm thinking.

Well you're wrong, dude.

rojo wrote:

I just got a text about this and said, "No way."

I immediately added in "WARNING All NCAA Track/XC Programs Now at Risk" to the title as that's what I'm thinking. When a team that has made NCAAs 26 times gets cut, then it's a big deal. Now I know the xc team wasn't cut - just track. But who has a good xc team without track?

Anyone know the rule about how many track races an xc runner can run if the school is xc only?

Some might think a way forward for our sports post-covid would be to have lots of xc only programs where they also are allowed to run track as it's way cheaper than a huge track program, but that may not fly in the BLM era given the racial discrepancies of the sports.

Why play the race card? Black athletes are better at any event in athletics.

As a former WM runner, this is incredibly sad. We had a great tradition - runners like Paul Vendergrift, Bryan Hyde, Steve Swift, Matt Lane, Anders Christiansen, Jacob Frey, Sean Graham...All Americans and all went on to pro careers. Several represented the US. Hyde ran in the 96 Olympics and was the American Collegiate record holder in the 1500. I think Lane was the NCAA athlete of the year. Just really sad to hear

rojo wrote:

I just got a text about this and said, "No way."

I immediately added in "WARNING All NCAA Track/XC Programs Now at Risk" to the title as that's what I'm thinking. When a team that has made NCAAs 26 times gets cut, then it's a big deal. Now I know the xc team wasn't cut - just track. But who has a good xc team without track?

Anyone know the rule about how many track races an xc runner can run if the school is xc only?

Some might think a way forward for our sports post-covid would be to have lots of xc only programs where they also are allowed to run track as it's way cheaper than a huge track program, but that may not fly in the BLM era given the racial discrepancies of the sports.

Teams that are XC only may compete in five track meets. This could be five outdoor, or two indoor and three outdoor (they can split the five however they see best).

Wow, that means CAA will no longer have Men’s “championships”. I say “championships”, because 3 teams in a championship is a joke.

TFXC’s French Revolution is upon us.

rojo wrote:

I just got a text about this and said, "No way."

I immediately added in "WARNING All NCAA Track/XC Programs Now at Risk" to the title as that's what I'm thinking. When a team that has made NCAAs 26 times gets cut, then it's a big deal. Now I know the xc team wasn't cut - just track. But who has a good xc team without track?

Anyone know the rule about how many track races an xc runner can run if the school is xc only?

Some might think a way forward for our sports post-covid would be to have lots of xc only programs where they also are allowed to run track as it's way cheaper than a huge track program, but that may not fly in the BLM era given the racial discrepancies of the sports.

BYLAWS, ARTICLE 17

Playing and Practice Seasons

17.7 Cross Country. Regulations for computing the cross country playing season are set forth in Bylaw 17.1. (See Figure 17-1 and Figure 17-2.)

17.7.5 Number of Dates of Competition.

17.7.5.1 Maximum Limitations -- Institutional. An institution shall limit its total playing schedule with outside competition in cross country during the institution's cross country playing season to seven dates of competition (games and scrimmages), except for those dates of competition excluded under Bylaws 17.7.5.3 and 17.7.5.4 (see Bylaw 20.9.6.3 for minimum contests and participants requirements). (Revised: 1/10/91 effective 8/1/91)

17.7.5.1.1 Exception -- Cross Country Without Indoor or Outdoor Track and Field. An institution that sponsors men's or women's cross country but does not sponsor indoor or outdoor track and field shall limit its total playing schedule with outside competition during the cross country playing season to seven dates of competition during the segment in which the NCAA championship is conducted and five dates of competition during another segment. Travel to competition in the nonchampionship segment shall be restricted to ground transportation, unless there are no Division I institutions that sponsor the sport located within 400 miles of the institution. (Adopted: 1/16/93, Revised: 1/11/94 effective 8/1/94, 4/29/10 effective 8/1/10)

Time for college coaches of all divisions to wake up.

It's time to formally develop a club system for athletes aged 18-24 that's in line with the rest of the world and quit messing around with the NCAA, NAIA, NJCAA and all their silly rules and regulations and depending on others to determine the outcomes of our sport.

We're just re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic right now.

This is sad. There are lots of areas that could be cut instead of athletics. It comes down to the power of those in control of the finances and the students and you can bet the cuts will be at the expense of the students. Athletics are an investment in some of our best and brightest and hard-working young people. Athletics at W&M aren't revenue generating but then neither is an overpaid university president.

Time to wake up wrote:

Time for college coaches of all divisions to wake up.

It's time to formally develop a club system for athletes aged 18-24 that's in line with the rest of the world and quit messing around with the NCAA, NAIA, NJCAA and all their silly rules and regulations and depending on others to determine the outcomes of our sport.

We're just re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic right now.

And where do we go to find the magic funding for this?

Agree with above poster, higher ed spending has become perverse but then the actual mission of higher ed has been corrupted for a long time.

[quote]Time to wake up wrote:

Time for college coaches of all divisions to wake up.

It's time to formally develop a club system for athletes aged 18-24 that's in line with the rest of the world and quit messing around with the NCAA, NAIA, NJCAA and all their silly rules and regulations and depending on others to determine the outcomes of our sport.

/quote]

So you don't want any of the byu grampas eligible? 24 is the average byu freshman (redshirt + 2x missionary exemption + medical redshirt + covid exemption).

Funding...

Just like any other club. You create the funding by being a member of the club. Why are track & field, running, etc. people so cheap and want everything for free? People pay to play all other sports, rec sports, club team sports, etc. The club members pay the coach, they pay for gear, etc. Some have corporate sponsors like Japanese teams. Look up the European Athletic Association, they have all levels of championships of track, xc and road, nothing to do with schools.

Do you know how much students are paying right now to be a part of a team at most schools? They would pay the same to be on a good club team.

Right now the USTFCCCA is way more organized than anything the NCAA or NAIA is a part of it. It would be very easy to take it a step farther with a club system.

Let schools go back to being schools and sports be sports. Maybe someone wants to go to a vocational school or work a regular job at age 18, but wants to continue in the sport... well they can be part of a club team.

I've been in countries all over this world and coached people at all levels from the bottom to the Olympics and I can tell you that there are many more ways to do things than the good 'ol USA college system.

This all began with the terrible management of former coach Stephen Walsh. The program declined significantly under his tenure.

The W&M administration really dropped the ball when they hired the throws coach as the director. He's a good coach but for a program with a storied XC history, XC has to be the priority.

Now they are stuck paying the director a big salary when he only coaches 5 athletes. Yes - they only have 5 female throwers on the team. That's a HUGE WASTE of resources, and now they have to reduce the size of their coaching staff by 50%. The other 2 coaches will have to coach 57 of the remaining 62 athletes (including men's XC).

Too many sports for a small school.

But Track should be a mainstay in a college athletic situation.