Cal cuts 5 sports
(Written by kencraw)
Breaking news: Cal has cut 5 sports. Here’s the list:
- Baseball
- Rugby
- Men’s gymnastics
- Women’s gymnastics
- Women’s lacrosse
The one sport that is a little misleading is Rugby. It will be given “special” status as a “varsity club” sport. They will still have access to most of the facilities reserved for varsity athletes and they’ll still have admission spots reserved for them (non-scholarship). It’s unclear if their coaching staff will have to find a different way to generate their salaries and how they’ll be paying for their travel budget. I do know Rugby already had a pretty sizable income/donation base that covered most of their expenses, so chances are they’ve already figured out how to deal with those revenue issues.
I suspect the reality is that the only reason Rugby got demoted was Title IX reasons. I have plenty I could say on that subject, but considering Rugby took the lightest blow of the 5, now is not the time.
But the rest of the programs… they’re gone. Done. No more. A school with a proud tradition of across the board athletics, has taken a significant step back to just be one of the crowd. It went from the 2nd most sports in the Pac-10 behind Stanford and the 2nd most nation-wide amongst public schools with 27, to just one of the pack with 22.
What a blow to the University.
September 28th, 2010 at 6:08 pm
Just a horrible, horrible day for the University, the Pac 10, and for the NCAA. Kind of puts frustrating FB seasons or demoralizing losses into perspective. The situation at our beloved institution is critical. The University of California as we know it is being threatened at its very foundations. This isn’t the time or place to get into why this is happening, but it needs to be said: the accessible, world-class education that was afforded to a lot of us is seriously in peril for future generations. I’d rather see a lifetime of 2007 football seasons year after year then see the promise of the University crumble into nothingness due to lack of funds.
The bear will not quit. The bear will not die.
September 29th, 2010 at 8:06 am
this is a bummer, indeed, but it frees up a bunch of academic-only spots, and eliminates a bunch of costly scholarships. these sports were all about the kids. they really didn’t do anything for the university. nobody attended the events. maybe 100 people at the baseball games, and a couple hundred for rugby, except for playoffs. you could count on your hand the number of people at the gymnastics events.
i feel sorry for the kids that are affected, and i hope if they were on scholarship, they get to keep them through graduation. i also think all of these sports will come back once the university has a better revenue stream and better financial management. so there’s no reason to get all fired up about it.
this really isn’t a tragedy. if you were one of those fringe sport athletes, i could see how you’d view it differently, but a tragedy would be if Cal cut the english department. let’s be realistic here.
September 29th, 2010 at 8:55 am
Hey rollon–
According to the official press release by the Chancellor and AD, every affected student-athlete currently enrolled will maintain their scholarships and be allowed to finish out their Cal education.
Conversely, any student wishing to transfer to another academic institution so they can pursue their athletic endeavors, will be given all the support and help they need to get wherever they want to go.
So, at least the students affected by this have been given every consideration.
(I must say, I was a bit surprised about the loss of the baseball program. I realize they haven’t been in the national discussion for many years, but they have made it to the postseason two out of the last three years, and had a pretty decent roster heading into the next season.
Given its national prominence, it just seems like baseball would be untouchable.
Apparently not.)
September 29th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
normally i’d say something like “i blame Kevin Riley, because if he was any good we’d have gone to a Rose Bowl and had plenty of cashola for the future diamond bears.”
but I’m not. i’m actually kind of sad about this.