U cuts men's tennis, gymnastics and track and field

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Sad day for these athletes and coaches.

Had to figure this was a possibility however under current circumstances.

Still, it sucks to have to cut sports.

With that said, a whole lot of athletic departments will be following suit in coming months imo.
 

fmlizard said:
My suspicion, as it was when Iowa did similar things, is that this is something they kinda sorta wanted to do anyway, and this gives cover to do it. It was mostly Title IX. If they wanted to save these programs badly enough they would have.
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Agreed. Under cover of covid axe the dead weight and magically in three years when your scrambling for another 2.7 million in the budget for football coaches salary increase you find this money tucked away.
 

Not sure if this will help at all given the decision, but there is a petition started by Women's T&F member Sammi Baer to reinstate Men's T&F.
 



12 nationwide Gymnastics programs left. Many others have gotten the message as to this program. Track and field I believe we should keep if were going to keep cross county though.
 

MplsGopher said:
Men’s might have well just cut XC, swimming, and golf. The rest are untouchable.

Women’s you can’t really cut any of them, at that point, without letting whole facilities go to waste. Plus Title IX so dominated by football.
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Not all Big Ten schools have baseball. U of M baseball was rescued to be able to continue just a few years ago. So, nobody other than football and basketball are safe and the equivalent women's scholarships. Providing college sports don't end up getting eliminated altogether.

I know times are uncertain but I would think you could find a way to fund $2 million a year to continue those sports until things return to normal? (If you really wanted to keep them.) Didn't we just spend double figure millions of dollars on moving and building track facilities?

The no football decision is pretty devastating in lots of ways. Once you quit something it just gets easier each time in the future.
 

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Well, 13 out of 14 have baseball.

But all 14 do have golf, it is true. They certainly could've cut men's swimming, additionally. Again though, that would've made them the first Big Ten school to drop to 7 men's Big Ten sports. Don't think even Coyle has big enough balls for that.
 

MplsGopher said:
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Well, 13 out of 14 have baseball.

But all 14 do have golf, it is true. They certainly could've cut men's swimming, additionally. Again though, that would've made them the first Big Ten school to drop to 7 men's Big Ten sports. Don't think even Coyle has big enough balls for that.
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I would not have guessed golf was so common.
 



I'm assuming OH State, MI, and Penn State have all 14 men's sports because they have huge athletic budgets. And if they have that many men's sports, they must have LOTS of women's sports due to Title IX.
 


oak_street1981 said:
Title IX is great, but the Regents or
Government should fund all the women's sports, not the men's football and basketball programs.
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So how much would you be willing to raise your tuition fees/taxes to fund these sports? How about badminton? How about jazz dance?
 

Men's gymnastics is a dying sport in the US. In the 1970's it was still a fairly common high school sport nationwide. It's almost completely dead now, and now dying at the college level. I know the U has been a successful program, but it's probably time for it to go.
 



discochris said:
Men's gymnastics is a dying sport in the US. In the 1970's it was still a fairly common high school sport nationwide. It's almost completely dead now, and now dying at the college level. I know the U has been a successful program, but it's probably time for it to go.
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Agreed.

There will always be gymnastics gyms, and the elite boys/men will rise to the top from an early age into the national olympic development program.

That will be the main opportunity, for fewer athletes. But it will be there.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I would not have guessed golf was so common.
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It's cheap, and it's usually rich kids who play. Wouldn't be surprised if there were very little scholarships involved, low coaching salaries, and the kids (families) purchase their own clubs.

Schools don't even need to own/operate a golf course, they can probably get a good deal on a group pass for the whole semester to a course not too far from campus. Or heck, maybe get it for free in exchange for that course being the "official home of ____ university". P5 schools invest in small golf facilities to practice putting and driving range simulators/swing analyzers year round, not too expensive relatively (maybe a few million).
 


alchemy2u said:
So how much would you be willing to raise your tuition fees/taxes to fund these sports? How about badminton? How about jazz dance?
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I don't want to raise anyone's fees or taxes for Title IX, but it was mandated and the Gopher Men's sports mainly Football and Basketball get to pay the bill.

If the Federal Govt. and Courts want to have all these non-revenue sports then they should order funding that is rational.

I am all for getting rid of them, other than the few that self sustain themselves, all gone unless those mandating certain levels of scholarships fund them. Basketball, Hockey, and football make money and the rest do not, other than maybe men's wrestling.

Title IX prevents my simple solution, so those in the Federal Govt. enforcing Title IX should pay for title IX, if they want it to continue.
 
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Taji34 said:
Not really? Club teams get a pitiful amount of funding (I was in one), generally not enough to even cover uniforms. The students would have to fund their own travel to any meets they attended as well, which could be a non-starter. Not to mention, they also would then likely need to begin paying to replace any equipment they use.

On top of that they have to share field time with every other club team or PE class that uses the same field. And, since they would be a new club, they would be last on the pecking order when signing up for practice time.

For a sport to go from varsity -> club is not feasible.
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Apologies for late reply.

I wasn't clear in what I meant, sorry. I was not suggesting that a club experience could be crafted that was anywhere near equivalent to the experience that they'd have as a varsity team. No chance of that.

I'm simply saying that it is possible to have a club team, and have a reasonably good time playing some games in that sport that they love.

Examples:
http://umnmensvball.weebly.com/
https://www.umngophersoccer.com/
https://gopherlink.umn.edu/organization/522
 

Men's cross, men's golf, men's swim and dive, women's cross, women's golf, women's rowing, women's swim and dive, women's track all would be fine candidates to cut next
 


And they just built a brand new outdoor track and did a renovation of the indoor track (fieldhouse). Aquatic Center also got an expensive renovation of its HVAC system.

No chance women’s track or both swimming’s would be cut. Would be an incredible waste of that money.
 
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MplsGopher said:
And they just built a brand new outdoor track and did a renovation of the indoor track (fieldhouse). Natorium also got an expensive renovation of its HVAC system.

No chance women’s track or both swimming’s would be cut. Would be an incredible waste of that money.
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I had to look up "Natorium". TIL.
 


alchemy2u said:
So how much would you be willing to raise your tuition fees/taxes to fund these sports? How about badminton? How about jazz dance?
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Would give money for jazz dance.

Also would like a Gopher Loyalty Benefit to game with the Gopher Fortnite team!
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Would give money for jazz dance.

Also would like a Gopher Loyalty Benefit to game with the Gopher Fortnite team!
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According to my 12 year old, only "sweaty 10 year olds" play Fortnite anymore.
 

rowdaboat said:
Men's cross, men's golf, men's swim and dive, women's cross, women's golf, women's rowing, women's swim and dive, women's track all would be fine candidates to cut next
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Just opened a $3 million dollar men's and women's golf facility last spring, don't think they'd want to cut both sports a year and a half later.
 

$3M is almost nothing for a facility, relatively speaking.
 

die hard gopher said:
Just opened a $3 million dollar men's and women's golf facility last spring, don't think they'd want to cut both sports a year and a half later.
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How about the new track about a year ago or so for the men? Grant it the gals are still using it. Have it all for themselves now.
 



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