Ohio University drops Men's Track & Field

To all those who have commented and will comment in the future:

Telling from the site's name, "letsrun.com," I am sure that many of you understand the passion for competition and commraderie that develop from sport. Sports breed loyalty and commitment. And so, if there must be debate in these situations, I think it is great. But there is one central theme here: student athletes are being robbed of their ability to chase down their dreams and the administration did it in a shoddy way (there was a leak apparently and they had to make the announcement; the President of OU gave himself a self appointed $300,000 bonus at the end of last year, coaches were not told, all options were not exhausted). Teams, families are being broken up. If you feel strongly about this, please tell the administration about it.

This is a letter written to Ohio U's president, Roderick McDavis by a member of the track team. It is beautifully written and very compelling:

This was the letter that was read to President McDavis at the Town Hall meeting this past Friday. It was developed based on the ideas and messages from our teammates and alumni and put together in most part by Shamus. Also, to go along with what Kempe said about taking action, I can assure those of you who are not on campus anymore that the team is not going quietly and that there will be plenty of action taken.

Mr. President,

At the beginning of this School Year we were gathered together as athletes in the Convocation Center for a presentation put on by the athletic department to kick off a successful year of Bobcat Athletics. As we sat with our teammates, excited to begin another year of competition wearing an OHIO Uniform, you addressed all of the athletic teams in attendance with a speech that really moved us. You talked of three “T’s” that we were to follow and keep in mind in order to have success and direction in athletics. You went on to elaborate that these three T’s of success were that of Tradition, Teamwork and Titles. We took his speech to heart but little did we know that half a year later we would be wiping away tradition, breaking up teams, and having the chance to chase titles robbed from us.

Your speech started with Tradition. You said that we should familiarize ourselves with the past competitors and achievements of our sports. We should recognize the hard work and dedication of those who came before us and use them as a model. You didn’t need to tell us about the tradition of Ohio Track and Field. The program boasts the richest traditions of any sport here on campus. Track and Field started in the early 1900’s and Cross Country began shortly after in 1926. Tradition to us means Bob Bertlsen who was crowned the national 6 mile champion in 1970. It means Barry Sugden and Darnell Mitchell who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively and nationals and went on to make the finals of the U.S. Olympic tryouts. It means Emmet Taylor, national champion at 440 yards and 200 meters. Tradition to us means Les Carney a silver medalist at the Pan Am games who went on to be this University’s first Olympian. Tradition lies in a 1977 4x4 relay team that boasted the fastest time in the world for that year. Tradition means Elmore Banton who led the Bobcats cross country team to a 3rd place finish at nationals and in the process became an individual national champion himself. Tradition means Stan Huntsman who coached 15 all Americans and placed 10 teams at the national meet. This tradition we speak of has been ended. This decision does not just affect a team of collegiate runners but a strong base of alumni who have helped give this institution its great name. Some of these very athletes have already received the bad news and have asked that their pictures be removed from the Athletic Hall of Fame.

As you continued the speech you stressed the importance of teamwork. This is a mantra that our team lives by. Every runner knows after their first week running the hills of Athens, sprinting the stairs of Peden or lifting before 8:00 am classes that they need their team to help them along. These teams that are being cut are some of the closest and most visible on campus. They traditionally boast the best grades, and support fellow OU athletes at their events like no one else. We love Ohio Athletics and the sports teams that are left here are at risk of losing some of their most loyal fans. We are truly a group of Student Athletes. We are not here to rake in money. We are here to get an education and continue to represent our school that we love so much on the field. We feel that this is what collegiate athletics are all about. Now, these teams that we are supposed to value so much are being split up. Teams that function like families will have members that are forced to leave and wear the uniform of a school that they did not originally choose to represent.

Finally you said that the most important T was Titles with a grin. Titles are great. There are all kinds of different titles. A swimmer or runner might work a year to shave seconds off of a personal record. Our cross country team which may now be in jeopardy was poised to possibly beat our archrival Miami for the first time in five years. After two losses by 2 points we finally had the pieces to achieve our personal title. The men’s swimming and diving program does not have one senior currently and was looking to make a run at a potential MAC title in the near future. It is very unfortunate that the opportunity to chase down these titles has been robbed of us by an administration that has encouraged us to make the necessary sacrifices to achieve them. We came to this university to chase these titles while wearing OHIO on our chests.

These three T’s mean nothing to us now. We now have a new set of T’s that guide us and define us. The first is that we are torn. Do we stay here and study or compete in our fall sport and be loyal to a school that has not been fully loyal to us? How do we wear a jersey right now with the name of the Institution that told us they are done paying for those jerseys? Do we transfer and find new academic pursuits and try to make new lifelong friends or stay and go on for the next years without our true passion? The next T that makes these questions hard to answer is trust. How do we trust an athletic program that does not think it is in their best interest to keep us around? How can we trust that this same thing isn’t going to happen to us again once we transfer? How can we trust administrators that tell us to try to fulfill our athletic pursuits and then tell us one day that we will no longer be allowed? How do we stay at a University that tells us they have a “Vision” that includes expanding diversity throughout the campus, and then cuts the only sport that doesn’t discriminate based on gender, race, or size. These questions, paired with the finality of these decisions, and tact in which this situation was handled brings us to our last T. Tenacity. These programs that are being cut have tenacity. And plenty of it. Any athlete that practices under the lights during winter quarter, swims for hours when other students are on Christmas break or runs over 350 days of the year demonstrates that tenacity runs deep in them. We are here today to say that we are ready to put this tenacity to work. We are ready to channel this energy into fighting for what we love and what is being taken away from us. We are the brightest, most charismatic, relentless, and driven students on this campus. This was the wrong group of student athletes to cut. We will not go quietly. We will make this hard. If not for our futures as athletes than for the loss of tradition and titles, and the broken teams that once stood up and cheered so loudly.

The Ohio University Track and Field Team and Alumni

If you do feel strongly abou this decision,

Please email:

Kirby Hocutt, Director of Athletic at OHIO at

Athletics@ohio.edu

His phone number is (740)-593-0982

OR

Robert Andrey, Associate AD/Business and Internal Operations 593-1999

andrey@ohio.edu

Amy Dean, Senior Associate AD/Administration and Sport Programs 593-1171

deana@ohio.edu

The President with the overpriced bonus (at this cost)is Roderick McDavis,

McDavis@ohio.edu

. His phone number is, (740)593-1804

Support from the entire community, from everyone, anyone will help...It is a very important message to be sent that football isn't the only important sport out there!

Sincerely,

Allison Brennan

Ohio Lacrosse 2006

Just passing on an updated version of what I posted which was sent to me by another high school coach in Ohio.

Track & Field coaches, athletes and friends

Please get involved to SAVE TRACK & FIELD

Ohio University is the latest to drop its Men's Track and Field program. Ohio University joins Bowling Green, Toledo, Ball State, Western Michigan, Marshall and West Virginia who all dropped track and field in the last few years. Ohio will now offer only 16 sports - the minimum required to remain a Division I-A program

{ Men (6 sports remain) - Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Football, Golf and Wrestling}

{ Women (10 sports offered) - Basketball, Cross Country, Golf, Indoor T&F, Outdoor T&F, Soccer, Softball, Swimming & Diving, and Volleyball }

With Title IX issues at hand, track, nationwide, has been a target. The NCAA counts indoor and outdoor as separate seasons. With 55 men on its T&F roster Ohio University can easily eliminate 110 male athletes in order to achieve gender equity.

While it must be granted that Ohio University's new AD (on the job for 18 months) was saddled with a negative cash flow, and a title IX compliance problem, his choice in sports to be dropped can be called into question. Especially when schools like Wright State University, an NCAA DI program in Fairborn, Ohio, is adding men's track & field.

First: - There are 728 boys' high school track and field teams in Ohio according to the Ohio High School Athletic Association. Of the twelve boys Championships the OHSAA sponsors, track and field has the third most schools sponsoring a team. Only basketball and baseball have more high schools represented in OHSAA than track and field. With the popularity of high school track and field one wonders why this sport is being cut.

Second - Track & Field is one of the oldest sports at Ohio University. Its fine tradition started in the early 1900's.

Third - Track and Field teams are very diverse and provide unique opportunities for minority students. A few years ago an African American trustee at a "State University" spoke out loudly about not dropping track and field, as it was one of the main sports that had a large number of African-Americans and minority students on the team. He pointed out how this school's overall African-American and minority student population was low. He stressed to his fellow trustees that it would be a bad policy to reduce the opportunity for minorities. This university kept track and field. Perhaps Ohio University's trustee's need to be reminded of this by all the important African-American politicians and business people in Ohio.

Fourth - What good distance runner will be attracted to a school that only offers cross country. Just look at the programs in the first paragraph. None of the have a respectable men's cross country program. This is the primary reason that Wright State, finally seeing the light, has added men's track.

Five - Limited by the NCAA to only a few scholarships for men in T&F anyway, compared to women's T&F and other male sports, most of these athletes pay (tuition, etc) to be on the team. So relatively little money is saved as coaching staffs are largely shared between the men's and women's programs.

Six - Track & Field is the oldest sport known to mankind. There are more countries participating in track and field in the Olympics than any other Olympic sport.

Seven - Running is a lifetime sport and we need to do more to get/keep people in Ohio and the U.S.A. fit and healthy

What can YOU do?

1) Write the universities Presidents, Athletic Directors and Trustees members to voice your concern. This is especially important if:

a) you graduated from the university,

b) recommend students to go to the university, or

c) you or your business donate money to the university.

Ohio University contact information:

President - Dr. Roderick J. McDavis, 108 Cutler Hall, Athens, Ohio 45701 740)593-1804

Director of Athletics - Kirby Hocutt, (740) 593-0982;

athletics@ohio.edu

Board of Trustees:

R. Gregory Browning, Chairman, Capital Partners, President, 37 W. Broad Street, Suite 970, Columbus, OH 43215: (614) 224- 0999

Daniel DeLawder, Vice-Chairman, Park National Bank, 50 North Third Street,Newark, OH 43055 (740) 349-3746

Norman "Ned" E. Dewire, 228 Glen Village Court, Powell, OH 43065-9677 (614) 325-0250

Gene T. Harris, Columbus Education Center, 270 E. State Street, Columbus, OH 43215 (614) 365-5888

C. Robert Kidder. 3Stone Advisors LLC, 191 W. Nationwide Blvd., #600, Columbus, OH 43215 (614) 246-2445

M. Marnette Perry, Kroger Company, 1014 Vine Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202 (513) 762-4225

Larry L. Schey, Larry Schey Chevrolet, 750 East State Street, Athens, OH 45701 (740) 593-6671

C. David Snyder, ATTEVO, 1940 E. 6th Street, Cleveland, OH 44114 (216) 928-2800

2) Write a letter to your Ohio congress/senate members and voice your concern. Go to this

site -

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

and type in your zip code to

find your representative -

3) Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper and voice your concern.

4) Pass this information on to as many friends as possible and ask them to do the same

Go to the Ohio Univ. alumni office and request an address list of all former track & field athletes. They will have a record of it. You might need to get a coach or professor to help secure the list, but the alumni office just might give it to you. Write these men and women. There will be those "older" t&f alums that have money to help fight this. Don't ever give up. Make it your goal in life to have the ad and president suffer so much public discrace that they go away. Best case, you get you sports back. Worst case, you make them misserable for as long as you are and give them a real reason to hate track & field.

me no like AD's wrote:

Best case, you get you sports back.

More like wishful thinking.

With that type of thinking nothing would ever happen. Lets just sit back and post here......

Take action if you want to get something accomplished!!

Be realistic. What "action" could possibly convince the AD to spend less money on football and instead use that budget portion to support a pair (m&w) of non-revenue sports? Imploding the football stadium? It's THEIR money, no amount of prayer vigils, protest marches, letters of persuasion, and petition signatures that you could get will change how THEY choose to spend it.

Perhaps the same that got women sports started before Title IX.

Perhaps you never studied history...many times people actions accomplished many great things.

But if you want to critize others for trying to make a difference go ahead.

But, for those who would like to help...Please Get Involved!!!

This was posted on another site...please help the cause...

Help save one of Ohio's Oldest, and tradition rich programs. Ohio University trustees sign their approval to this decision to cut four programs at Ohio University in two weeks and they must hear objections before that time. Please visit this website and sign the petition to help save track and field. Tell a friend!

http://bringingbackohiotrack.blogspot.com/

I just noticed that Ohio University has a Men's Cross Country team but still not Track team. How odd? No serious collegiate runner would go to a school without a Track program so I can't imagine that the Cross Country is very good. Is there any movement to reinstate the men's TF program there?