Why are Ivy league distance squads so big, and how do they field such good teams given the academic standards?

HRE wrote:

Title IX does not go away for the Ivies. Many moons ago I had a nephew who had been admitted to Brown (didn't go) and wanted to run there. He wasn't a blue chipper by any means, just wanted to be on the team with no expectations of running regionals or anything along those lines. Bob Rothenberg was coaching there at the time and we'd known each other for ages so I asked him what the deal would be for my nephew.

He told me that he used to take anyone who wanted to run. His teams often had numbered in the 40s but now Title IX meant that he could keep only 22 guys.

good god I hate when title 9 forces schools to shrink mens teams. that is such a perversion. It's not even in the rule - it's just done out of fear.

although I hear some schools really want to cut athletic budgets and use title 9 as an excuse to do so.

If Title IX was always and only used to increase athletic opportunities for women I'd be all for it. That's really what it was supposed to do. What happened at Brown was that they lost a high profile Title IX lawsuit and were ordered to comply which they could, and did, manage to do by reducing their number of male athletes. Their women got nothing and their men got less than nothing.

go green wrote:good god I hate when title 9 forces schools to shrink mens teams. that is such a perversion. It's not even in the rule - it's just done out of fear.

although I hear some schools really want to cut athletic budgets and use title 9 as an excuse to do so.

The rule is that they have to be ~equal. Anybody who says they didn't foresee schools cutting men's teams to get there is being disingenuous. If you were spending may more on napkins than on paper towels and a new law said you must spend the same on both, would it not occur to you that you could accomplish that by buying fewer napkins?

You might be right about the excuse.

The Ivies are locked of the Power 5 in 2016. It's not like they need the money though.

Title IX was not meant to limit or even control numbers. According to the man who introduced it the concern was about opportunity to compete. I spoke with Bayh (the individual who introduced it). He wanted equal opportunity for both genders. If you had fifty men on a soccer team you didn't need fifty women- just the opportunity.

More people that think they have a chance to get in apply to MIT. A lot of people just apply to Harvard just because it is a well known, good school. People that apply to MIT generally know why they're applying and know what they're up against.

Title IX should be sport by sport.

Every school that wants a ridiculous sized men's football team should be willing to support the opportunity for women to have a similar women's football team. Since football brings in the most money, it is possible that women's football would bring in the most money of any women's sport.

I know women don't play football today but they didn't play hockey or soccer when the law was passed.

I got kicked off my college team b/c my teamates got sick of me asking them to fart in my mouth before practice.