OU made tough but right choice on cutting four sports programs

I am a former student and athlete of Ohio University, and enjoyed my four years, ending upon my graduation in 1971.  
Without a doubt during the '60s and '70s Ohio University was the dominant sports program in our conference.

For those of you not old enough to remember, during those years Ohio was ranked as high as fifth in the nation in basketball; our cross country team finished third in the NCAA meet; our baseball team made our only appearance in the College World Series, finishing third; and we had a football program that went undefeated and played in the Tangerine Bowl with a final national ranking of 17th.

In addition to these team accomplishments, we had numerous NCAA individual champions and All-Americans.
Why are we not able to continue at this level?

The two most important factors that are necessary to maintain the above success are quality athletes and coaches. To attract quality athletes you must have not only the educational opportunities but also competitive facilities, and scholarships.

To attract and retain quality coaches, the funding must be present for competitive salaries, adequate recruiting budgets and maximum number of assistants allowed by the NCAA.

Our OU administrators had a tough decision to make; either continue funding all of our programs adequately, resulting in mediocrity; or concentrate our limited resources on fewer teams with an opportunity to compete at a higher level.

With a reduced number of sports and student-athletes, not only will the athletics department be compliant with Title IX, they will also have less stress placed on the areas of service they provide: athletics training and medical care, academic services and advising, strength and conditioning and equipment.

Being able to provide the remaining student-athletes with the proper attention and resources will ultimately bring this athletics program back out of the depths of mediocrity.  

I sympathize deeply with the students who were members of the four teams eliminated.  

The good thing is that they have a choice. They can either choose to stay at Ohio University with their friends and keep any aid they had before the cuts, or, if they have aspirations to participate at an elite level, they can choose to transfer to another school and continue to compete.  

Let's just hope that the schools they transfer to aren't among the six MAC schools that have dropped sports in the past few years.  

Finally, if having their sport eliminated by the university is the worst thing that happens to these students throughout their lives, they can consider themselves blessed!

John Wharton
Athens