MARYLAND MENS XC AND TRACK CUT

This is unbelievable, absolutely terrible. Is this the direction of college sports? Cut everything except basketall and football? NCAA has grown so out of control on money-making sports that it has lost it's original mission, and the schools have foolowed.

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I'm sorry to hear this.

The more specifics you can provide (the name of the group recommending the cut, the reasons stated for the cut, an address at which to write the UMCP president) the better my letter will be.

terps2 wrote:

This is unbelievable, absolutely terrible. Is this the direction of college sports? Cut everything except basketall and football? NCAA has grown so out of control on money-making sports that it has lost it's original mission, and the schools have foolowed.

There are less than 25 schools who make a profit every year off of football and I guarantee Maryland, and their insanely ugly uniforms, are not one of them. This will be the trend of college athletics moving forward, and it will only get worse as the higher education bubble is bound to burst at some point over the next few years.

Will that open up their track to the public for more hours?

riley stops wrote:

There are less than 25 schools who make a profit every year off of football and I guarantee Maryland, and their insanely ugly uniforms, are not one of them.

I don't know where you pulled that BS stat from. A quick google search proves you wrong.

And unfortunately I can guarantee that chart is not even in the ballpark of being correct. Who comes up with what is an expense and revenue anyway?(heres a hint- its the same people who use the numbers to get rid of sports) Maryland's expenses are listed as 1 million for that 6 year period. The scholarships alone are 1.6 mil which apparently doesnt count and this year as ive said already on here you have 4 million for 2 head coaches- one who is not coaching anymore and the other who is ineffective. Does that money come from the tooth fairy? She must be working hard.

Oh football supports the rest of the sports- it has to be so because they said so on espn!

http://www2.indystar.com/NCAA_financial_reports/expense_stat/show?school_id=134

Oops. Um i mean- wait that can't be. They said it on espn!

The horseshit thing about this is AGAIN- THEY ARENT SAVING ANY MONEY!! I dont understand it- so the men have 6ish scholarships- im guessing but i know they arent fully funded so we'll say half. It doesnt really matter when youre talking about 120000 dollars vs losing 13 million a year(supposedly). Cut maybe one coach but they need to keep people for the women- so no savings there. Travel is already nothing- they go to approx 3 away meets per season all local.

This is just bullshit posturing to make it look like theyre doing something while the "flagship" sports are sucking tremendously.

Another thing thats really irritating from the financial report is that they dont count student fees as supporting any of the sports when thats what theyre there for. Even if you divide them evenly(or even by student-athlete) it offsets half of the "losses" of the other sports.

Also if they really want to save money they would cut women's basketball that loses 3 times as much as any other.

hannsen wrote:

And unfortunately I can guarantee that chart is not even in the ballpark of being correct. Who comes up with what is an expense and revenue anyway?(heres a hint- its the same people who use the numbers to get rid of sports) Maryland's expenses are listed as 1 million for that 6 year period. The scholarships alone are 1.6 mil which apparently doesnt count and this year as ive said already on here you have 4 million for 2 head coaches- one who is not coaching anymore and the other who is ineffective. Does that money come from the tooth fairy? She must be working hard.

You can't read well. The chart is in $10's of millions of $.

I wonder if those football expenses take into account the enormous cost of building/maintaining a stadium?

hannsen wrote:

Oh football supports the rest of the sports- it has to be so because they said so on espn!

http://www2.indystar.com/NCAA_financial_reports/expense_stat/show?school_id=134

Oops. Um i mean- wait that can't be. They said it on espn!

It is interesting to see the women's basketball team at multiple schools lose almost 2 million dollars annually.

My favorite expense to revenue case is at UCF. They cut their men's XC team a few years back. Their football team operated at a 3 million dollar deficit. Gotta love football.

One of the goals in cutting the programs from an email sent to athletes by the UMD AD:

· Reinvest resources in remaining programs to enhance academic support, sports medicine and other support services, improving our student athlete spending from 13th of the 14 teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference to sixth of 14.

So basically they want to give more money to other non-revenue sports.

And didn't mean to derail the thread. I ran at Maryland and care deeply about this. The problem isn't football or really anyone in the current administration. Football makes money for the university and the current AD and president have been around for a year.

I think the three major problems are:

1) Debbie Yow (Former AD). Drove the athletic department into a huge debt and then left for NC State.

2) UMD's mandate for a self sustaining athletic department. Other than the student services fee, the AD gets no help from the university. Somewhat unique among universities.

3) Fundraising Dept/Alumni. UMD Alumni giving rates have been low for a long time. Alumni dont give and and the school doesn't do a good job of asking for $.

Such BS if this decision is made. I know how pissed you guys are and will continue to be if this decision is made, considering University of Delaware cut my team just last year. Fight it, and let we'll continue to support you guys!

JamesLongstreet wrote:

Will that open up their track to the public for more hours?

i did my last workout before the track and field olympic trials, in the year that i competed in them, on that track. true story.

i also recognize that this is very much beside the point.

more relevantly, as a lifelong fan of maryland athletics, i'm really saddened by how badly the overall athletics program has fallen apart in recent years. i haven't followed it closely enough to know why it has happened. and there is a part of me that wonders whether cutting sports like men's cross country and track has been on the agenda of some insiders for some time - and they are merely taking advantage of a crisis. more of me thinks it is simply years of inept leadership in the department and at the university level.

how much did the university president get paid in recent years? how much are they paying the football and basketball coaches? and are they still paying ralph friedgen this year? how much did they spend to expand byrd stadium before realizing there was far from sufficient demand to justify it?

kaitainen wrote:

how much did they spend to expand byrd stadium before realizing there was far from sufficient demand to justify it?

$40 million. the skyboxes are laughing on the track that lies in their shadow

riley stops wrote:

There are less than 25 schools who make a profit every year off of football and I guarantee Maryland, and their insanely ugly uniforms, are not one of them. This will be the trend of college athletics moving forward, and it will only get worse as the higher education bubble is bound to burst at some point over the next few years.

Hate to agree, but the money's just not there for much of anything peripheral to for-profit education and sports. The US is staring down another imminent debt downgrade. As far as I'm concerned, much of the bloat can be cut from the University bureaucracy, and electives can be cut as well. Employers are looking for employees with tangible skills, the capacity to communicate, and the ability to compete, which involves self-reliance and the willingness to continue improving one's skillsets. I would recommend students get math, engineering, geology, or medical related degrees, and take electives in English and some public speaking. Rethink the exercise physiology, sociology, communication studies, history, etc degrees... Or attend a trade school. Remember, the first priority is education. Running comes second.

Having said that, cross-country is far from investment-intensive. Track, on the other hand, is another matter.