Clemson will continue men's track and cross-country

26-timer wrote:

changed their minds... wonder if it was really ever about the money?

Their AD was such an a-hole. So adamant in the decision, "Don't bother with rallies or social media. This decision is final."

HAHAHAHA

According to the Sport's Illustrated Article it was due to a TITLE XI VIOLATION! On the MEN'S SIDE. This is the first time EVER this has happened. How could they make THAT big of a mistake?!?

https://www.si.com/olympics/2021/04/22/clemson-mens-track-and-field-cross-country-program-to-continue

Relevant quote: " "For the first time in its fifty-year history, Title IX has been successfully applied toward the reinstatement of a men's program, made possible through the bravery of our women's program in its supporting counter-suit.""

What does this mean for the current team members who have possibly already committed to another school for the Fall of 2021? How many of the athletes will actually want to be back at Clemson when it is clear they are not wanted? I feel like there team will be in shambles for a few years because they will lose a lot of their current athletes who are already transferring and they also did not bring in any talent for the Fall of 2021. I feel bad for the coaches in the short term!

Thanks for keeping me updated on this, lol!

The article I read said that they were likely to face a titel ix lawsuit from both a lawyer representing men and also one from another representing women.

Their decision never made sense to me as with as much money as they have, it's not worth the grif. As much money as they have, just spend it also on men's track as well and hope you get a star football recruit once a decade as a result.

https://www.postandcourier.com/sports/clemson/clemson-to-reinstate-mens-track-and-field-cross-country-programs/article_5a9724a6-a39e-11eb-865a-7f6eadc4bbc6.html

It came down to the threat of the two title IX lawsuits. I think the issue was they would have less than the number of male athletes required for a short period of time from 2021-2022.

Clemson is also reviewing how football players are treated vs other athletes on campus whatever that means. The truth is Dan Radakovich hates track and field and tried to do the same thing when he was at Georgia tech by draining that team of resources. Since he's left they've had a decent level of success.

I'm hoping this leads to the investment in fixing Clemson's outdoor track and letting them host meets again.

The AD's trying to drop the track and field team was more about him trying to offset the obscene amount of money that they are paying their football coach, Dabo Swinney ($8.3MM / year). I guess the AD figured he could cut the track team and no one would care. I never understood the move because Clemson has one of the few track programs that make money for the University. He was short sighted and completely overplayed his hand.

https://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/

skyboy wrote:

I'm hoping this leads to the investment in fixing Clemson's outdoor track and letting them host meets again.

it is interesting that right next to each other you find an indoor track about as good as you can find on a college campus... and an outdoor track that is a p.o.s.

but they still keep the outdoor track under lock and key for some odd reason...

They were also thinking that what with spring football and 110 scholarships, they couldn't sneak in some football players under track scholarships anymore--they want them available for football practice all spring and fall. I'm very happy they reinstated this historically strong program. Track and field and cross country are far better sports, in combination, for diversity and long-term health as well. Football just lowers life expectancies and detracts from the academic side. In this case, also, they're flush with cash from the football program and can afford other sports with no problems. They thought we could better throw a couple million on some more high priced football assistants or junkets.

Good for Clemson, the ACC, and college track & field. However it was never really about the budget. In looking at future demographic changes for Clemson as a university, they did not want to add more sports. The female to male ratio at Clemson is expected to rise. Now they will have to add more women's sports. So don't expect track facility upgrades for a while.

However it does need to be a wake up call for college track & field. If a Power 5 was this close to dropping it, then schools with real budget issues will. We need to look at how to make the sport more attractable to the casual fan and thus television. Heats of prelim's and PR's doesn't do it. ("Well, he finished 52nd out of 55, but had a PR.") We need to get away from the social run club mentality at the D1 level. Some coaches don't like it, but maybe we need to get back to scoring meets with rival schools. Will track alumni who rally to keep programs, continue to do so financially?