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Post by golions on Jan 23, 2024 21:25:27 GMT -5
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Post by ALioninWinter on Jan 23, 2024 22:11:46 GMT -5
I know a changing landscape demands program changes, but it’s too bad the university needs to scale back. I know rowing has been around a LONG time. It’s very disappointing for the athletes. As football and to some degree basketball continue their voracious appetite for money, we will probably see more announcements like this across the world of college sports.
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Lion-O
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Post by Lion-O on Jan 23, 2024 22:17:45 GMT -5
Such a bummer especially rowing. Like wow we are next to Marina del Rey and we can’t even capitalize on that advantage and instead fold rowing.
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Post by thx4leavinjimlynam on Jan 24, 2024 0:29:43 GMT -5
That is very sad to see. Feel horribly for the athletes that are impacted.
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Post by lambdachi1988lion on Jan 24, 2024 3:28:38 GMT -5
Such a bummer especially rowing. Like wow we are next to Marina del Rey and we can’t even capitalize on that advantage and instead fold rowing. Wow. I never thought it made much sense for us to have a track & field team… but rowing? We have to have one of the best locations for a rowing team in the entire country with Marina Del Rey… what a shame for that one in particular. |
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Post by lionlife on Jan 24, 2024 12:18:37 GMT -5
I have an admittedly pessimistic view here, but it's hard for me to not worry about our athletics department as a whole here. Cutting programs when we're constantly hearing about record donations could be a sign of severe financial management or a change in university priorities away from athletics. It seems at least possible that, in addition to coaches, support staff get cut and remaining support staff take on even more responsibility. I fear this means negative consequences for our other sports, as well.
The other framing would be that the university plans to shove more resources toward basketball/baseball, which feels very anti-LMU.
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Post by lambdachi1988lion on Jan 24, 2024 13:17:22 GMT -5
I have an admittedly pessimistic view here, but it's hard for me to not worry about our athletics department as a whole here. Cutting programs when we're constantly hearing about record donations could be a sign of severe financial management or a change in university priorities away from athletics. It seems at least possible that, in addition to coaches, support staff get cut and remaining support staff take on even more responsibility. I fear this means negative consequences for our other sports, as well. The other framing would be that the university plans to shove more resources toward basketball/baseball, which feels very anti-LMU. Understand that feeling, but I have a slightly less pessimistic take. "LMU currently offers 20 sports programs with more than 400 student-athletes, the most in the West Coast Conference." In my mind, even when I was a student, it never made sense for us to field all the sports we did. If this gets us to be more in line with other WCC schools, to reallocate funding to be more competitive in the remaining sports, I am okay with it. We have become more competitive across most sports it seems with Pintens at the helm, and I see our President Timothy Law Snyder at just about every LMU home game, so I take them at their word that along with increase donations to the athletics department this money will be used to further bolster the sports that remain. |
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Post by ALioninWinter on Jan 24, 2024 14:32:14 GMT -5
I have an admittedly pessimistic view here, but it's hard for me to not worry about our athletics department as a whole here. Cutting programs when we're constantly hearing about record donations could be a sign of severe financial management or a change in university priorities away from athletics. It seems at least possible that, in addition to coaches, support staff get cut and remaining support staff take on even more responsibility. I fear this means negative consequences for our other sports, as well. The other framing would be that the university plans to shove more resources toward basketball/baseball, which feels very anti-LMU. I don’t agree with this line of thought. AD Pintens is certainly looking to the future and is trying to best position the school for the rapidly changing athletics environment. But I don’t see the school de-funding athletics. Pintens sees the best path forward is one that concentrates efforts where LMU can’t best expect to see positive results. Twenty sports for a smaller school is a lot. I know that there are schools in the SEC and Big Ten and others that sponsor up to 40 sports. That’s A LOT! by comparison, our friends in Westwood only sponsor 21 sports while the well-monied Trojans only sponsor 23 sports. I was surprised to see us drop rowing. This sport has been at LMU for a long time and most of the competition has been close by along the west coast. I’m sorry to see Mens and Women’s Rowing fall by the wayside. I suppose any non-revenue spurt is vulnerable. Baseball is safe because there’s good prospects of getting our players to MLB. Once those guys land lucrative contracts, they become very viable fund raising targets. I expect to see significant consolidations across NCAA schools as we move forward. Conferences with schools spread across the country simply don’t make sense for most sports. |
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Post by lionlife on Jan 24, 2024 15:31:32 GMT -5
We shall see. I hope you guys are right. If the school reinvests the funds in athletics support staff (more sports med, strength and conditioning, academic advising, etc) next year, I'll take them at their word about improving the experience for the 14 remaining sports. If we see more cuts in that area, it'll be clear the student-athlete experience isn't being prioritized.
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