Despite all of the efforts, it appeared that the President and his Commission had already made their final decision about cutting sports. On November 21, President Wallace Loh announced that the program would officially be cut on June 30, 2012, after allowing the athletes to finish the remaining seasons in the 2011-2012 school year.
Terps to Cut Eight Athletic Teams from Sam Nassau on Vimeo.
As President Loh stated in the previous video, one of his main reasons for cutting the 8 teams was to help improve the remaining teams by increasing funds for the other 19 sports. Currently the average cost per student athlete with 27 teams is $67,389.71, which is the second lowest out of all of the (newly configured) ACC schools including Syracuse University and Pittsburg University.
In the following audio clip, a member of the women's track and cross country teams, Kallie Fehr discusses this concept.
The idea is that if the number of teams and the number of student athletes is decreased, then the remaining student athletes will be provided with better equipment to improve in athletics and academics. According to the Report of the President's Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, with only 19 varsity sports rather than 27, the projected investment per student athlete in 2013 is $107,849.78. The new plan for student athletes involves enhancements in academic support, health services, and media relations support.
Most collegiate athletic departments gain most of their funding from the football and/or basketball teams, unless the funding is provided by the state. In the case of University of Maryland, the funding for the athletic department is not related to the funding of the University as a whole nor does the athletic department receive funding from the state of Maryland. Therefore, the majority of the UMD athletic department's money needs to come from the football and basketball programs. However, in recent years, University of Maryland has fallen short on these profits. Of the 8 ACC schools that reported their financial reports, University of Maryland was ranked last based on football revenue.
Atlantic Coast Schools ranked by football ticket sales
1. Virginia Tech University $12,039,528
2. Clemson University $12,010,706
3. Florida State University $11,204,615
4. University of Virginia $9,097,643
5. North Carolina State University $8,163,107
6. University of North Carolina $6,659,501
7. Georgia Tech $5,879,818
8. University of Maryland $4,355,874
Sean O'Leary, author of an article featured on Flotrack (one of the most popular websites among runners) and a member of the UMD Men's Cross Country and Track Team gives a brief overview of his take on the President's Commission's Report and discusses what is in store for the future for Men's Track.
President Loh certainly argues that money can solve the problems of intercollegiate athletics at University of Maryland. And yes, maybe it is possible that increased funding for some programs will help the athletes and draw in recruits, therefore benefiting those programs. However it can also be argued that money can't buy championship level teams. The only way to do that is through hard work, determination and dedication. These are 3 things that the members of the men's cross country and track team have. Additionally, they are some of the hardest working student-athletes academically, winning the President's cup (An award given to the sport with the highest cumulative GPA) 5 out of the last 15 years. To watch a program with a group of amazing STUDENT-athletes get cut would be a shame.
The future of the University of Maryland men's track and cross country teams is now in the hands of its supporters. If funding for the next 8 years, nearly 4.2 million dollars, can be raised by the end of June, 2012, then the men's track program can be saved. Although this is definitely a far-fetched goal, it is also very attainable to come up with the money before July, 2012. With support from people like Al Carey (CEO of PepsiCo) and Coach Andrew Valmon, who is the head coach of the Olympic men's track team for 2012, there is a lot of publicity, and therefore more supporters will find out about the cause and can donate to the team.
To donate, go to this website: http://www.umterps.com/school-bio/save_track.html
