Ohio U. TF- The Real Story - Behind the Axe

rixctf wrote:

sorry, i didn't see that post. okay, so what if you had a good basketball team. then let's say the other men's sports choice isn't between cutting football versus cutting track, but between having an expensive and weak football team and 4 shoesting men's sports, versus having no football team and 6-7 well-funded men's sports. what would you do and why?

I'd go with the expensive but weak football team.

Like I said before. You could be the NCAA champion of lacross, track, diving, and wrestling and only the athletes and their families would care or know about it. Have a f/ball team that improves from 3-7 to 6-4 and everyone in town will have an opinion. At a small school you can have a basketball team that makes the NCAA tournament and you dang near get a parade.

True, but these "academic" institutions that are developmental leagues for their professional counterparts, i.e. basketball and football, are in little to no danger of cutting their boutique sports, of which track and XC are two.

However, schools that are not even a part of the pipeline, maybe devoting a undrafted free agent or a 7th round selection on a biennial basis, are like little children thrashing and whimpering to play on the same playground as the big boys.

For every Boise State, there are ~35-40 Ohios, bankrupting themselves for a chance to stand and look proud on CBS/Fox/ABC some night in early January. The reality is the Urban Meyer effect. Your coach will leave, usually with his staff, and as AD or school president, you'll awake the next morning, post-Bacchanal, with breath still reeking of drink too expensive for your blood and, next to your body slumped from hangover, the imprint of where that sleeping Janus once lie. Just lost your "Taste-of-the-Big-Time" cherry to a one-and-done coach. Think Louisville will still be a "powerhouse" in five years after Bobby Petrino jetset for Dirtybird waters? Then you're right back where you were, still corralling for cash; and when you take that first precipitous dip in the standings (and you will), you'll find yourself unemployed. Holding onto nothing but your now flaccid, spent member and the blurry memories of that one drunk night in Tempe, where your job peaked to see that there are Giants above you and your apex is set in stone long before you took up this Sisyphusean task.

Wow- some body learned how to use a thesaurus.

What you didn't think about during the composition of your frilly post is this: The nobody else cares about XC or track. Boise State, Louisville, or any other mid major school would be better off being a "stepping stone" school than being an XC powerhouse. The ADs are very aware of where their schools rank and that the big boys will probably come get the "next big thing" if they hire a coach that wins 9 games.

Again, look at ARK. Do you think anybody in the SEC could tell who won the SEC track championship? How many people in ARK even know that their team has a jillion SEC championships?

You're just not quite able to put your finger on it. It isn't a populariy contest or a cash box race. No one is asking whether the world likes track and field or the archery team. Institutions have embraced offering a variety of sports for decades now. It is a recent phenomenon that AD's find themselves in some kind of rat race to get TV exposure at the cost of everything else. These teams have not made money in the past, but now, recently they are not only making money - they are running up huge debt on top of it.

outside of the box jizzmo. outside.

Actually, somebody just reads enough to know how to speak and write the English language. Frilly, yes. Tongue-in-cheek, but of course. The image just got conjured up in my noggin, and I figured I would share. No barbs at you; in fact, most of the post wasn't directed at you.

I don't really disagree with you. I understand that (most) ADs and school presidents get to where they are not without being clever, good managers, and noses for how to work the system. And a stepping-stone school in football is certainly more attractive than a perennial powerhouse in cross-country to the average AD.

My point was that it is still possible to be blinded by those Saturday Night Lights and corporate sponsors. Just with a little flair.

On another note, while it might be reality, administrators at schools can certainly have their cake and eat it, too. These institutions are recognized as businesses as well as ivory towers. As a part of that academic institution, admin should be accountable to the pursuit of all things blah blah blah (you know what I'm saying). It's unlikely that collegiate football is all about the bottomline, and the academic integrity of a school can be held ransom for a shot at the big time (read Beer and Circus). Maybe they are administrators, but they are educators as well (even ADs) and should have similar (if not identical) standards to those who teach.

A report given to the Board of Trustees is listed at -

http://bringingbackohiotrack.blogspot.com

Article in today's Cleveland Plain Dealer -

http://www.cleveland.com/ohiocollegesports/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/sports/1171621616309210.xml&coll=2

Keep fighting guys. Keep using the media, but get dirty. Think like Republicans, what would Karl Rove do? He would look into the Ad's past, the football coaches past, there is a lot of dirt in the public record- didn't the football coach get a DUI last year.

Play up they are dumping xc the sport with the highest GPA? on campus to spend money on the football program with a bunch of animals that can barely read. Find out who writes the papers for the football players, bring the whole house down. The information is there and not that far under the surface. Have some good looking girls ask the football players what is going on who is doing what. I attended a major university, all of this stuff was going on with our less then stellar football program, I know it is at Ohio as well. Dig and publish. Go to Indianapolis and try to see Myles Brand with a reporter, the NCAA will tell you they don't deal directly with student athlets, get that in the paper. Dirty their names, humilate their families, they would not hesitate to do it to you, so bury them.

Keep up the pressure. Do what you have to win.. Make race an issue, make the AD and over spending football team an issue, make academics an issue, make the opportunity for Appalachia the issue – But don’t give up!!!

burn the whole place wrote:

get dirty. Dirty their names, humilate their families, they would not hesitate to do it to you, so bury them.

This I certainly agree with. Do whatever it takes. It might not bring back your track team, but if you could take down the AD or get the f'ball team on probation, etc..

There's no shame in taking them down with you.

Find out about the AD, his wife, his kids, etc.. go freakin commando on him.

Jizzmo wrote:

I'd go with the expensive but weak football team.

Like I said before. You could be the NCAA champion of lacross, track, diving, and wrestling and only the athletes and their families would care or know about it. Have a f/ball team that improves from 3-7 to 6-4 and everyone in town will have an opinion. At a small school you can have a basketball team that makes the NCAA tournament and you dang near get a parade.

that doesn't make the best sense to me, but you seem to have the majority of a.d's on your side.

forget about the other sports and how well they perform for a second, because as you point out it's not really important. so, if you've got a good basketball team and "you dang near get a parade," for having one, then why would you need a 6-4 football team for morale? it's just a financial drain on the basketball development, plus at a good basketball school, comparatively, a 6-4 football team can be a real downer.

i saw the movie "contact" the other day, and your strategey reminds me of a funny quote. "the first rule of government spending: why build one when you can build two for twice the price?" by the way, that's a pretty good movie.

So when do we see the results of the vote? Do they show who voted for what?

It is very disappointing to see these new AD’s and Presidents not concern with ruining Track & Field and Cross Country in the Mid American Conference. It is my understanding that Ohio University is spending $10,000 per football athlete and the average for the MAC school is $4,000. The football program lost $1.9 million last year and looks to have lost more this year as they lost $300,000 just to go the a Bowl Game. Some say it is great they went to a Bowl Game. Ten years ago when there were only 15 or so Bowl Games it was a big deal. Now there are 32 Bowl Games and 64 of the 119 Division I football team go to a Bowl Game…not a big deal now especially if they are losing money going.

I think every former or current MAC Track and Field athlete and cross country runner needs to unite to encourage friends not to give money to a MAC school, Not attend a MAC football or basketball game. And maybe even encourage high schoolers not to attend a MAC school. If there is pressure put on these schools, especially financial, maybe they will wake up and not destroy Men’s Track & Field.

Also, I would like to see people contact the Mid American Conference office and let them know they are not spending another $ until they bring back Men’s Track & Field in the MAC - Rick Chryst, Commissioner-MAC, 24 Public Square, 15th Floor, Cleveland, OH 44113 (216)566- 4622; Bob Gennarelli, Deputy Commissioner -

BGennarelli@mac-sports.com

- Dell Robinson, Associate Commissioner -

DRobinson@mac-sports.com

Also, contact the Trustees at the MAC schools and educate them to the growing problem of eliminating a sport which is the most popularly in the World and has 728 High schools in Ohio with a boys track program, third in the number of schools offering a boys sport. But if you read the comments of one OU Trustees when they asked if the athletes on the programs they were cutting “Couldn’t you go out for another team/”. It shows there is a lot of educating which needs to be done. Read more on the OU Save Track & Field site -

http://bringingbackohiotrack.blogspot.com

Also, contact elected officials about this problem. Perhaps the reduction of opportunity for minorities would be a way to get elected official on board. Or how universities are overspending in some programs resulting in the elimination of other programs, especially the 104 year old Ohio University Men’s Track & Field team. Find your representatives go to -

http://www.house.state.oh.us/jsps/Representatives.jsp

and

http://www.senate.state.oh.us/senators

then type in your zip code.

Governor Ted Strickland, Riffe Center, 30th Floor, 77 South High Street, Columbus, OH 43215-6108 -

http://governor.ohio.gov/Default.aspx?tabid=101

Ohio Board of Regents -

http://regents.ohio.gov

Please send this to your friends and ask them to join the CAUSE

Or for some of you just sit back and rip me and do nothing and then just complain about everything.

Please get involved to stop this trend and work to get - Track & Field “BACK IN THE MAC”

Thanks for your support!!

More on the Men’s Ohio University Track & Field program and other issues

From -

http://bringingbackohiotrack.blogspot.com

- Matt Bell, a member of Student Senate and a former member of the OHIO Swim team, compiled a great report based on recent events and information gathered.

Check out his 12 page report from Saturday, February 17 -

http://bringingbackohiotrack.blogspot.com

OU Trustees opt not to intervene on sports cuts

article in Athens Messenger -

http://www.athensmessenger.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=273&ArticleID=2621

Keep up the fight!!

Thanks for the support!

The report done by Mr. Bell was well thought out and researched. It makes you wonder how many other government funded colleges are following a similar path to that of OU.

ACLU..I don't agree with everything they do, but they will stir the pot and stirring the pot is what it will take. Cutting the largest sports with minority students at an already "white" college is a very good angle. The ninorities need to be involved and speak up. Elmore Banton lead the way!

They expect a short fight. Make this into the longest drawn out mud slinging, media covered decision that AD never expected.

No holds barred boys. Dig everything up you can. Hit them hard and often.