(above) Colorado College is dropping its Division III football, softball & water polo programs in a cost cutting moveFrom: Denver Post
Colorado College will disband its 127-year-old football team and two other sports after budget problems forced the athletic department to make cuts.
The school will drop football, softball and water polo effective at the end of this spring season, athletic director Ken Ralph said Tuesday.
The CC board of trustees forced the athletic department to cut spending by $8 million to $12 million. "We went through dozens of budget scenarios before coming to the realization that we could no longer support 20 varsity sports," Ralph said.
The school estimated it will save more than $450,000 by dropping football. Softball was adopted as a varsity sport in 1996; water polo began in 2004. [read entire article]
The school will drop football, softball and water polo effective at the end of this spring season, athletic director Ken Ralph said Tuesday.
The CC board of trustees forced the athletic department to cut spending by $8 million to $12 million. "We went through dozens of budget scenarios before coming to the realization that we could no longer support 20 varsity sports," Ralph said.
The school estimated it will save more than $450,000 by dropping football. Softball was adopted as a varsity sport in 1996; water polo began in 2004. [read entire article]
11 comments:
Sad day for CC's student athletes.
Minnesota-Crookson dropped its Division II hockey program earlier in the week.
These are bleak times indeed for college athletics.
Thank god they don't have a hockey program. That would have been cut first.
wow we even have a brighter football history than CC.
we've been undefeated for decades
next year they might have a chance for a similar record
I coulda played ball there ... but there were a few problems.
1)it's cc
2)it's cc
3)it's cc
Going to DU an not playing a sport was a much, much, much better option in the long run. And the short run as well actually. GO PIONEERS!!!!!!!!!
They are doing the same thing as most schools including D.U. which layed of 12? from the Athletic Dept. staff. They NEVER touch the hide bound faculty. Everyone else is fair game to be let go but never a faculty member.
Isn't the main purpose of a college or university to educate its studens? If so, doesn't cutting athletic programs or staffers before faculty make sense? Does to me.
CO14ers is right. Faculty make or break a University, and in DU's case, keeping a 12-1 faculty-to-student ratio is crucial to a school that charges $40-50,000 a year. Keeping your faculty happy is pretty important to a school like DU...
CC keeping a D-III sports program in a part of the country with no other D-III schools is a killer.
DU implemented a "hiring freeze" in October. Then they raised tuition 4.3% for next academic year. DU got it backwards, they should have "frozen tuition" and reduced the budget by 4.3%.
Lets face it. Many American companies used these tough economic times as an excuse to rid their workforce of unproductive employees, troublemakers and "bad seeds."
Is it asking too much for DU, CC CU & CSU to take a good long look at their faculty & unproductive departments?
We'll see how it works out for CU in the Ward Churchill case, but I call that a good start.
hey Aluuum (march 25. 4:57),
You are pretty out of touch. Obviously anyone reading this blog (including me) is a huge college hockey fan, but complaining that DU doesn’t cut faculty is nuts. Faculty are a key part of it, and if your diploma is worth more than t-paper, you better hope DU has an academic reputation worth something.
Definition of university doesn’t include athletics (I am a huge DU hockey fan). They are currently making big cuts to research and sholarship…that is a bigger deal…get your priorities straight
UNIVERSITY:
An institution for higher learning with teaching and research facilities constituting a graduate school and professional schools that award master's degrees and doctorates and an undergraduate division that awards bachelor's degrees.
The buildings and grounds of such an institution.
The body of students and faculty of such an institution.
Dear Anonymous,
Thank you very much for enlightening me as to what a University is. I particularly appreciated your second paragraph giving the wonderful definition of a university. Your comments warm the cockels of my heart but unfortunatly fail to pass the test of real world logic.
Now if you will ,first of all, snuff out the candles from the idealistic alter that you are worshiping at and please join me as we take a stroll down real world lane.
Your argument has a void as big as the Grand Canyon. It clearly implies that all University professors are top notch teachers.
WRONG!! I hate to introduce you to reality but there are some professor clunkers in universities.Some of them belong to the strongest union ever devised by man--tenureship. Yes,even stronger than the United autworkers or teachers union. Many of them went straight from their PHD into the classroom and spew out the same things they learned from their similar ensconced professors.They never even had a real job!! Also the "good ol boys" network is a powerful impediment to eliminating clunkers in universities.
I am retired but my specialty was going into organizations and reorganizing them. I certainly did my share of eliminating clunkers and replacing with productive,motivated people.In private industry that is possible. In goverment or other similar beaurocracies(sp.?)that is technically possible but not really doable.
When facing a severe budget crunch, as D.U. is presently involved in ,it would be highly benificial if some of the clunkers could be dismissed. it would result in an improved institution. This is an OPPORTUNITY that Coombe now has. As the saying goes-turn lemons into lemonade. Unfortunatly, that will not happen and other staff, like the 12 sacrificial lambs from the athletic department are shown the door.
In closing, lets both agree on one thing: we are both pulling for the Pios to win today and tomorrow. If they pull it off I will journey to D.C. for the Frozen Four. If ,perchance,you also will be there, we can continue this discussion over a couple of beers. It will take at least two to dig into this in a meaningful way.
GO PIOS
95% of DU's faculty is probably great. I've got a few questions about the people that opposed Boone and you better believe that once we get the Alumni Mascot in place our alumni group is going to be asking some questions.
DU made a mistake that many non-profits make, and that's raising fees/tuition during the good times without keeping a firm grip on the expenses.
To make matters worse more students are dropping out of DU without receiving their degrees. Probably because of the economy, high tuition and/or lack of enough financial aid.
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