8 teams could be cut

A university commission charged with addressing the mounting financial issues of the school's 27-sport athletics department has recommended the elimination of at least eight teams, according to a report of the panel's findings released yesterday.

In the President's Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics' 27-page report, the group recommends university President Wallace Loh cut, "at a minimum," the men's cross country, men's indoor track, men's outdoor track, men's swimming and diving, men's tennis, women's acrobatics and tumbling, women's swimming and diving and women's water polo programs by July 1, 2012, to help balance the department's $4.7 million deficit. There are currently 166 student-athletes on those teams.

To combat the deficit, the report issued three recommendations: reduce expenses by reducing the number of teams and the cost of administration, increase fundraising activities and reinvest resources in the remaining teams to enhance student-athletes' performance on and off the field.

Loh said the report has been sent to the athletic council, the Senate Executive Committee — the University Senate's most powerful committee — and Athletic Director Kevin Anderson for review. The senate and athletic council's recommendations are due by Friday to Loh, who is set to make a decision in the coming weeks.

In an interview with The Diamondback last night, Loh said he plans to meet with every student-athlete and coach who wishes to see him before determining which teams will be cut.

"I need to balance, on the one hand, the need to inform students as soon as a decision can be made, but, on the other hand, not rush the thing, because I need to listen to all students and coaches," Loh said. "After I meet with them, I need to sit long and hard. This is a very, very difficult issue, and it deserves very, very careful consideration. … I need to study it and think about it and pray over it, so I cannot say now when [I'll make a decision]."

In a letter to the Terrapin Club, the university's athletics booster organization, Anderson reiterated that the report "contains only recommendations, and no final decisions."

"I want to make one thing perfectly clear, I do not wish to eliminate any athletic program, not a single one. I have devoted my professional life to building athletic programs and to enhancing the student athlete experience," Anderson wrote. "While I would not wish these circumstances on anyone, I was brought to Maryland to lead, and I am prepared to make the hard decisions necessary to make Maryland Athletics a model department with respect to academic, competitive and financial success and stability."

The commission weighed a number of criteria in determining which sports should be cut. According to the report, a sport's competitive success, attendance levels and history at this university, among other factors, were considered in the decision-making process.

Although reports that the swimming and diving and water polo teams would be cut began circulating last week, student-athletes said learning the commission's official recommendation still came as a shock.

"We kind of heard rumors about it and then the swim team had their meeting before us," said sophomore Allie Hill, a member of the water polo team and Baytown, Texas, native. "Whenever we heard, pretty much everyone was upset. A lot of people were crying because that's why a lot of us came here to play, and it just got taken away."

Although eight sports were recommended to be discontinued, several stipulations were included for their proposed phasing out. Most notably, all athletic scholarship commitments to current student-athletes and signed recruits in eliminated sports would be honored through graduation, and affected coaches would have their contracts upheld.

Senate Chair Eric Kasischke, who served on the 17-person commission, said because "student-athletes are the ones caught in the middle by this whole situation," the group carefully considered the department's budget woes before recommending teams for elimination.

"It was a very difficult process," Kasischke said. "We realized that given the status of the athletics department, they couldn't be running this deficit, meaning we had to make some very hard decisions."

If the university effectively implements these recommendations, the commission said the university can expect to see a balanced operating budget in 2015 and a budget surplus in 2019.

In his State of the Campus address last week, Loh said the athletics department had created an illusion of having a balanced budget in recent years by regularly tapping into reserve funds. Since 2006, however, revenues in men's football and basketball and in fundraising have fallen sharply, according to the report.

As a result, from 2006 to 2010, the department relied on its savings to balance the budget. As the department grappled with a $4.7 million deficit this year, it was forced to borrow $1.2 million from non-state auxiliary funds. Even more ominously, operating deficits are expected to amount to more than $17 million by 2017, according to projections in the report.

The trickle-down effect on Terps student-athletes, as the report indicated, has become apparent. Among the 12 current ACC schools and future members Syracuse and Pittsburgh, this university ranks 13th in expenditures for its 750-plus student-athletes. Academic advisors are responsible for an average of more than 155 student-athletes each; the optimal level, according to the report, is about 90.

If Loh accepts the commission's recommendations, a "reinvestment of funds" will result in the university spending an average of $107,849 for each of its 529 remaining athletes, moving it to sixth out of the 14 ACC schools in terms of financial support per athlete.