Leroy Burrell's Desperate Letter To Save Men's Track/XC Programs

Here is Leroy's desperate plea:

September 15, 2020

NCAA Division I Track & Field/ Cross Country Coaches:

I am angry, saddened and dismayed at institutions that have made the decision to cut men’s track and

field/cross country programs. Thursday’s announcement to drop the storied men’s track & field program

at the University of Minnesota is a shot-across-the-bow that threatens every Division I men’s track &

field/cross country program in the country. It is clear to me that our sport is being made a scapegoat

due to years of athletic administration mismanagement and poor decisions that have led to

departments that are highly leveraged. Looking for excuses in the name of temporary financial shortfalls

as a result of COVID-19 and "Title IX compliance" is unacceptable. The "difficult choices" cited by

Minnesota and others to drop men's track & field and/or cross country does little to nothing to rectify

their temporary financial situations, while permanently eliminating student-athlete opportunities.

I must admit that I am uncertain of what the exact course of action the U. S. Track and Field and Cross

Country Coaches Association should take as these institutional decisions to drop men’s track &

field/cross country programs appear to be accelerating. I, as well as many of you, have been working on

campus to protect track & field/cross country, and retain opportunities for student-athletes and staff at

my institution.

The sport of men’s track and field/cross country is under threat and it will require all of us to act in order

to retain the sports we love.

Going forward, I am directing our national office to seek out a public relations firm interested in

providing pro bono professional assistance to create and execute a national campaign to educate

university administrators and the general public on the values and benefits of a track & field/cross

country program. In addition, I am requesting the national office to identify a law firm and/or lobbyist

to assist in guiding our campaign’s direction. Further, I plan to challenge our association’s board of

directors, executive committees, and all member coaches to engage in our messaging as we move

forward.

Our sport is too rich in tradition, too diverse, and too valuable to the landscape of intercollegiate

athletics to idly stand by while it is under attack.

Best,

Leroy Burrell

USTFCCCA President

Head Track and Field Coach

The University of Houston

The problem with college sports is they turned it from a cost center to a profit center.

It used be considered a cost to have sports at a college - like maintaining the library and the lawn maintenance.

The college received money from tuition, fees and the state and in turn they maintained a campus with buildings and instructors and had sports teams.

Then they saw all of the money coming in from major football and basketball programs.

So they grouped all sports together and budgeted it as a profit center.

The funds to cover sports no longer came from the above sources but came from revenues from sporting events and TV money.

Non revenue sports like track were subsidized by the revenue sports.

As athletic directors got greedy to maximize profits, cutting or reducing no revenue sports became an easy way to increase profit in the profit center.

College presidents got raises as did some guest professors.

Athletic directors and major coaches got major money.

Facilities were rebuilt with all kinds of perks.

Somehow there is less money for track now, with much more money flowing into colleges than there was 40 years ago when it was much cheaper to go to college and TV contracts weren't so big.

X-Runner wrote:

The problem with college sports is they turned it from a cost center to a profit center.

It used be considered a cost to have sports at a college - like maintaining the library and the lawn maintenance.

The college received money from tuition, fees and the state and in turn they maintained a campus with buildings and instructors and had sports teams.

Somehow there is less money for track now, with much more money flowing into colleges than there was 40 years ago when it was much cheaper to go to college and TV contracts weren't so big.

Sports on college campuses didn't cost so much because there were much smaller departments overall. Now you have multiple layers of administrators doing overlapping work, much as we see in national and state government, resulting in skyrocketing costs. Add on the building boom for sports arenas at many of the big colleges and you have runaway cost over runs.

There is no way to fix this, unfortunately. D3 will become the last bastion of college track and field.

Does Leroy Burrell really need a $155,000 salary in Houston? They have over $300,000+ in salaries on that staff.

All you points are right on. The reason right now there is less money for track (and everything else), is all colleges across the country are suffering massive budget shortfalls due to the lockdowns causing economic hardship causing a 10% decline in enrollment (i.e. money coming in). Furthermore the lockdowns are resulting in remote learning, so they are losing their highly profitable on campus housing money. Also most school are losing revenue from home football games with zero attendance now. Big-10 & Pac-12 schools are losing highly lucrative TV money with no football.

PS that is why Leroy Burrell is pleading to the administrators to not try to solve a temporary problem (loss of revenue due to lockdowns) with the permanent elimination of men's track/XC programs.

[Sports on college campuses didn't cost so much because there were much smaller departments overall. Now you have multiple layers of administrators doing overlapping work, much as we see in national and state government, resulting in skyrocketing costs. Add on the building boom for sports arenas at many of the big colleges and you have runaway cost over runs.

[/quote]

So true BuffaloBob, in fact even worse than you might imagine.

Standard Setter wrote:

Does Leroy Burrell really need a $155,000 salary in Houston? They have over $300,000+ in salaries on that staff.

Obviously an excellent point Standard setter. That is just part of what BuffaloBob was referring to.

WilliJ wrote:

PS that is why Leroy Burrell is pleading to the administrators to not try to solve a temporary problem (loss of revenue due to lockdowns) with the permanent elimination of men's track/XC programs.

You make a powerful assertion that the effects of covid will be short-lived. I think this virus is accelerating a lot of the changes that were on their way. You assume that covid presents a temporary disruption to the way colleges do business, and they'll go right back to what they are doing. Just saying that your plea to bring back these sports is all based on this "back to normal" assumption.

Investing, politics, and covid politics wrote:

You make a powerful assertion that the effects of covid will be short-lived. I think this virus is accelerating a lot of the changes that were on their way. You assume that covid presents a temporary disruption to the way colleges do business, and they'll go right back to what they are doing. Just saying that your plea to bring back these sports is all based on this "back to normal" assumption.

Yes Leroy's plea is based on that. He is saying don't permanently eliminate men's XC/Track for something that is temporary and "will return to normal".

As far as the question of "will we return to normal". I personally believe we fully return to normal and much sooner than most people realize.

The first 2 vaccines will wrap up phase III trials in one month (mid Oct). The FDA says they will do an expedited review. Based on all the Phase I, II and early Phase III indications, these vaccines work (but maybe only for 6 months, so twice a year dosing may be required), and very limited side effects. Furthermore, they already have massive manufacturing capacity in place for hundreds of millions of doses in 2020 and more than 1 billion by early 2021.

Free vaccines will likely be available by Thanksgiving at your local pharmacy. It is estimated that 40% of the population will get the vaccine. A further 5-20% has already been exposed to the virus(most asymptomatic), giving us 45-60% of the population immunity by February. After that the virus will rapidly decline due to herd immunity

Keep in mind humans are naturally highly sociable beings. Being isolated is not normal and deleterious for humans, so I believe we will fully return to normal and much sooner than you think.

Exactly. ?

What I said in the UMN thread.

I'm quite sure Leroy Burrell did vote for anybody when Title IX was passed. It was passed in 1972.

Title IX has been around for almost 50 years and it applies to a lot more issues than roster sizes on the athletic teams. It applies to how sexual assaults are handled on campus, equitable academic and athletic opportunities as well as facilities, equitable distribution of financial aid, equitable employment on campus, etc..

It's not just a matter of having equal teams and spots, so to blame it on "the left" doesn't have much say positively about "the right" .

Title IX is a scapecoat used by administrators to pass the buck. Women in sports is fair and has done wonders for all sports participants, so let's not point fingers where they don't belong.

This is about mismanagement by administrators that have been spoiled by all the money that has flowed from two sports (football and basketball), but only at the top schools. Yet, schools like a Maryland, Rutgers, and many schools in the midwest have jumped on board the train to oblivion as they spent and spent and spent trying to keep up with the Ohio State, Alabama, Michigan money makers.

The spending, hiring and more spending for things that have little to do with intercollegiate sports is mind boggling. I spent over 30 years in Division as a head coach in track and field and my budget for the entire year for XC, Indoor and Outdoor was $29,000 (men and women). Salaries and scholarships were not included, but travel, equipment, meals, and recruiting was. And each year attempts were made to cut my budget, due to "cost over runs" by other sports.

When I look at the MN budget and even the W&M budget, I wonder how the heck they can spend so much money when many of these schools only have meets every 3-4 weeks, if that.

I still remember the Ohio State coach telling me how he was required to take his team on trips to distant locations so that all of his budget was spent, or he would loose the money the following year. It sounded so much like how public institutions (government) works in making sure they spend every cent of their budget before the end of a cycle. If you didn't spend it, you lost it for the next year.

So, when the rat race of keeping up with the Joneses came along, by building super training facilities and super expensive stadia and paying outrages salaries to coaches, because they might move to another college or just paying the "going rate" hit the colleges as it did the pros once Joe Namath began that episode, you have today a major crisis of schools cutting programs of value, but not monetary value.

Once the politicians and lawyers get done having college athletes being paid for "services rendered" there will be no more intercollegiate sports as we know it. Only "pro" sports will be contested at the D1 level.

Sorry for the long post. I am sad to see how track and field is being treated by the colleges and by the US public. I spent 50+ years in the sport and wouldn't have it any other way. It is a terrific sport, but it has been pushed to the sidelines by people who don't have a clue.

Amen Buffalo Bob. 100% correct.

Just another grossly overpaid public-sector union hack trying to keep the gravy train going. What do you think his total annual compensation is, including the present value of future pension and benefit revenues.

Screw him, and screw them all. They’re there to help themselves, and nobody else. Now small-time beeyotches like him complain about the big-time beeyotches like the football coaches running roughshod over them. How does it feel now that the shoe is on the other foot?

And consider that his pension is vested, he is already making millions, literally, even if he is laid off tomorrow. Greedy self-serving public-sector union scum, first and foremost—track coach maybe fifth, after hack, husband, father, and maybe faith leader.

His ilk is the problem, not the solution.

The coaches that have decided that traveling all over the country for meets every weekend with oversized squads chasing marks (worshipping at the altar of time, distance, and height) is the only way to be successful have created an unsustainable system.

I would rather see a smaller, more regionally focused approach in an effort to save the majority of teams than try to maintain the dysfunctional status quo and lose MANY more teams in the process.

Just thinking out loud...

One of the biggest issues. Slam dunk contest every weekend and no one cares.

PoisonIvy wrote:

The coaches that have decided that traveling all over the country for meets every weekend with oversized squads chasing marks (worshipping at the altar of time, distance, and height) is the only way to be successful have created an unsustainable system.

I would rather see a smaller, more regionally focused approach in an effort to save the majority of teams than try to maintain the dysfunctional status quo and lose MANY more teams in the process.

Just thinking out loud...

Colleges have been increasing tuition at an out of control rate for 20+ years. They have been cutting men's athletic programs for just as long. The interpretation of Title IX to have equal athletic slots for men and women is one issue, but budget is a big one too and some people have pointed out others.

This did not start because of COVID19, but like many other business sectors it exposed an existing weakness that many cannot survive through any disruption to the status quo.

Political power has ebbed back and forth all those 20+ years. Public school funding (including colleges) has been cut, not increased. Hence tuition increases. It is a conservative ideal to cut funding to public services. Somehow at the same time budgets are being cut and the stock market rages and companies have record profits, we have record deficits every year. But now that the effects of those public cuts are hitting home, people want to blame someone.

People are lambasting Burrell for his upper middle class salary which he bargained for and the market paid. Do we say the same when a company CEO makes millions while his company loses money every quarter and lays off employees? We should, but much more so.

We should NEVER be willing to cut public education (gradual reforms, yes). EVERYONE benefits from it in this country. Companies get an educated workforce that they could never afford to educate themselves. People get better opportunities and knowledge. It elevates our entire society. It is the ONLY means for the masses to get an education.

But college sports are not Education, they are an extra curricular activity. It would be sad to see them go away, but it is the inevitable outcome of a decades long process that was not caused by a single political party or a single pandemic.