UMass Cuts Ski Team

[askstowell]

Not good.

http://www.dailycollegian.com/sports/umass-ski-team-cut-1.1641271

 

[Johnskiismore]

Yeah that sucks!

 

[riverc0il]

Wow!

 

[TheBEast]

bummer.....sign of the times.

 

[bigbob]

UNH cut it's ski team years ago, now a club sport. Sign of the times.

 

[riverc0il]

I didn't know about UNH. I can understand Thompson Division teams being club sports. That is the way UMass Lowell's ski team was setup when I went there (though it wasn't demoted to club sport for financial reasons, though that is another story...). By McConnell division teams, essentially Division 1 programs? Those are admissions recruiting tools to increase enrollments. I think that is a bad move. I imagine making the team at other top notch New England colleges and universities is going to get even more difficult.

 

[Warp Daddy]

Definitely a sign of the times , my assumption is further cuts in college athletic programs lacking DEEP pockets . Most Institutional development portfolios took a major hit and MANY difficult choices will result.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

Yup...ski teams don't bring in alot of revenue. My school, U of Wyoming cut the ski team just a few years after they won the NCAA Championship.

 

[deadheadskier]

Priorities is what it is.

You can't tell me that UMASS doesn't have the money when 13 of their administrators make over 400K a year. The highest paid being the Dean of the School of Natural Resources at 613K

http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma...oyees_top_list_of_highest_paid_state_workers/


Quite frankly it disgusts me to see what some University professionals make when there are public funds involved. Especially coaches at some schools that make a gagillion dollars.

 

[askstowell]

UNH cut it's ski team years ago, now a club sport. Sign of the times.

UNH is club? Both men's and women's teams are featured prominently on their website as are numerous NCAA accomplishments. Pretty intense schedule for a club team with both alpine and nordic, plus they're on the sidebars with all the other varsity teams.

Plus they have scholarships...doesn't look club to me.

http://www.skiracing.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5234&Itemid=38

 

[Warp Daddy]

Priorities is what it is.

You can't tell me that UMASS doesn't have the money when 13 of their administrators make over 400K a year. The highest paid being the Dean of the School of Natural Resources at 613K

http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma...oyees_top_list_of_highest_paid_state_workers/


Quite frankly it disgusts me to see what some University professionals make when there are public funds involved. Especially coaches at some schools that make a gagillion dollars.

It is a real issue DHS!! and frankly driven by America's fixation with Sports and Universities willingness to fall into the MARKETING trap to insure cash flow from ALUMNI and other sponsors and admissions. This committing scarce resources to non academic or CORE functions often to the detriment of more central issues BUT in SOME cases ( D 1) may have raised ALL financial boats in teh organization

I am a dinosaur now , BUT in my day our coaches ( NJCAA) ( I was one early in my career ) ALSO were professors who carried a regular teaching load in addition to coaching or they may have been administrators , In the late 60's and early 70's WHEN i coached we DID NOT get ANY extra $$$ for coaching it was part of YOUR LOAD . You may have gotten a 1-2 course load reduction or perhaps a couple of hrs a week off to coach if you were an administrator but that was it !!

Again those were differant times: I coached BECAUSE i LOVED the sport and LOVED working with the kids ---

 

[deadheadskier]

What sport did you coach?

 

[ski220]

That's really unfortunate. When I skied at UCONN back in the early 80's we were already a club sport having been down graded due to Title 18 (?). UMASS at that time was one of the powerhouses of the league along w/ Lincoln State. No one buys merchandise or buys tickets to watch ski racing like they do for football or basketball. (GO HUSKIES!!!!)

Our coach was a volunteer. Thank you for the opportunity.

 

[Warp Daddy]

What sport did you coach?

I coached Basketball but also coached Fall XC for awhile

 

[ski_resort_observer]

It is a real issue DHS!! and frankly driven by America's fixation with Sports and Universities willingness to fall into the MARKETING trap to insure cash flow from ALUMNI and other sponsors and admissions. This committing scarce resources to non academic or CORE functions often to the detriment of more central issues BUT in SOME cases ( D 1) may have raised ALL financial boats in teh organization

I am a dinosaur now , BUT in my day our coaches ( NJCAA) ( I was one early in my career ) ALSO were professors who carried a regular teaching load in addition to coaching or they may have been administrators , In the late 60's and early 70's WHEN i coached we DID NOT get ANY extra $$$ for coaching it was part of YOUR LOAD . You may have gotten a 1-2 course load reduction or perhaps a couple of hrs a week off to coach if you were an administrator but that was it !!

Again those were differant times: I coached BECAUSE i LOVED the sport and LOVED working with the kids ---

It's also depends on which type of schools we are talking. Warp - I think we are about the same vintage and you know all the big colleges even back then had athletic departments with several fulltime yearround highly paid coaches and trainers, administrators with huge stadiums/fieldhouses to maintain.

The problem you guys are talking about has been around for decades, it's not a new thing. As long as a sport is bringing in big time money, their coaches will too. 40 years ago we drove down to UMass from Vermont a couple of times to watch Dr J play ball. The fieldhouse was packed.

 

[Warp Daddy]

It's also depends on which type of schools we are talking. Warp - I think we are about the same vintage and you know all the big colleges even back then had athletic departments with several fulltime yearround highly paid coaches and trainers, administrators with huge stadiums/fieldhouses to maintain.

The problem you guys are talking about has been around for decades, it's not a new thing. As long as a sport is bringing in big time money, their coaches will too. 40 years ago we drove down to UMass from Vermont a couple of times to watch Dr J play ball. The fieldhouse was packed.

That was my point about D1 level -- its strictly BUSINESS ---and considered a MAJOR revenue stream -- players tend to be more like employees ( Full boats ) rather than student athletes

 

[skidmarks]

Not one dime!!

Perhaps Jim Calhoun could lend the program some $$

 

[Warp Daddy]

Perhaps Jim Calhoun could lend the program some $$

Joe Paterno and his wife were THE LEAD donors on Penn State's Library project -------- over 7 figures

. Whenever i met up with PS faculty types at various conferences and the subject came up --------------THEY loved JOE PA !! . He had a strong record of graduating kids and was supportive of the academic mission

 

[ski_resort_observer]

Perhaps Jim Calhoun could lend the program some $$

Taking UConn as an example, another arguement would be that in this current economy in which just about every state is strapped for money and cutting state college budgets/programs(UVM just cut their baseball and wrestling programs) having a state school in the Final Four which has got to increase Alumni contributions, increase exposure not to mention the TV revenue, it's hard to argue against, especially if your a Ct taxpayer.

I mean if paying a coach $100,000 brings in enough money so you don't have to cut the ski team, the baseball team or the wrestling team, is that really a bad thing? Maybe Jim Calhoun is worth the big bucks.

 

[skizilla]

coaches salaries

COaches can make alot more than 100,000. I think calhoun makes 3 million plus various other endorsement deals. It sucks to hhave to pay htat much but that is what the market says they are worth and the organizations have created such monsters with tv rights and such they can get it. Not calhoun but certainly the athletic departments should share the wealth.