Baseball?

[bagice]

I get kinda bummed out reading about Rice and TCU going to the playoffs and we don't even have a team. CUSA seems to be as top notch baseball conference as well that we are left out on the sidelines.

To me, baseball seems to fall right behind football and basketball in terms of interest and fan support and it sure would be fun to hang out on a sunny day and watch the ponies play in between football and basketball seasons.

I understand the title IX and the financials and stuff, but why can TCU and Rice have a team and we can't? What did they do differently that allowed them to keep baseball? Do they really have that much more of an athletic budget than us? Was the program so bad that we figured the best plan of action was to just shut it down?

[PK]

I understand the title IX and the financials and stuff, but why can TCU and Rice have a team and we can't? What did they do differently that allowed them to keep baseball? Do they really have that much more of an athletic budget than us? Was the program so bad that we figured the best plan of action was to just shut it down?

As best I remember, our baseball program was pretty bad...and football was after all, King. As for TCU's budget, I'm not sure if it is all that much more than ours. However, for one thing, TCU freed up some funds for baseball by dropping their soccer program to club status...don't think we would want to do that with our soccer program. Second thing, I would think their main revenue sport, Football, brings in a lot more cash these days than does our program which would allow them to throw some additional money towards a baseball program. Third thing is that TCU has a fair amount of undeveloped property which made construction of a baseball stadium and field relatively cheap compared to what we would have to spend.

[EastStang]

First we are serious about Title IX (see dropping of Men's track threads) and I am not sure that TCU is. As a result the administration will not allow us to add a men's sport unless we add women's sports with 1.5 more participants than the men's sport we're adding. In other words if we added baseball, we would have to add women's softball (or lacrosse or field hockey) and a smaller women's sport like archery, bowling or shooting. Have you got the $40 Million or so to endow the scholarships for those sports? 37 scholarship athletes at $30,000 is about $1.1 Million plus coaches salaries, travel, and equipment. And you don't have a field for them to play on. So that is problem number 1. We would be starting from scratch with a new sport in an established conference. Remember the problems we have with admissions of athletes? Competitiveness would be difficult when we would have to compete for recruits (with our academic restrictions) against Rice, UH, Baylor, TCU, A&M, TT, UT, OU, UTA, and U Dallas in Texas. In men's soccer we are the only Division 1 program in the State of Texas, we get every player that wants to stay in-state.

[bagice]

Thanks for the replies. I remember as a kid going down to Reverchon Park in Turtle Creek with my Dad and watching the Ponies play....good times. Guess I'll be happy with the memories.

I guess I don't understand Title IX like I thought. I was under the impression that every school had to comply or there was big trouble. Some schools don't comply? There are ways around it?

[PK]

I guess I don't understand Title IX like I thought. I was under the impression that every school had to comply or there was big trouble. Some schools don't comply? There are ways around it?

I think part of the deal is showing good faith effort...which I suppose is open to interpolation. One of our problems at SMU is that our student body is skewed due to there being more female students than male and Title IX is all about percentages of equal representation. Now I am fully aware of the positive side of that statistic... ...one would think that would cause there to be an inrush of male students, but that does not seem to be the case. Go figure.

[MrMustang1965]

Thanks for the replies. I remember as a kid going down to Reverchon Park in Turtle Creek with my Dad and watching the Ponies play.

Reverchon Park? Heck, I remember when the Mustangs played baseball 'on campus'!

[Mustang07]

If Title IX is really a good faith effort don't you all think that we have made a more than honest effort (eliminating Men's Track and Field). Since we eliminated the men's track program doesn't that already give a hefty edge to women's athletics as far as scholorships go? As a current student and big baseball fan I would love to see the ponies throw on the spikes (not to mention all the lovely ladies out on a nice spring day) :D

[SMUPhil]

Yes, but it's not just the sentiment that counts. Football is an 85-scholarship sport that does not have a women's equivalent (soccer- mens and womens, tennis- mens and womens, etc). You have to make up for that huge gap somehow, especially on our female majority campus.

[EastStang]

Football is definitely the one sport for which there is no female equivalent. Some schools have women's lacrosse AND field hockey which together just about equal football. We have tried to balance it by have more smaller sports that cost less: volleyball, sailing, equestrian, track and cross-country (without a men's opposite sport). But we're still not where the government thinks we should be.

[NavyCrimson]

LOL

East Stang says:

But we're still not where the government thinks we should be.

funny -

let's see -

the government gets involved with colleges & schools years ago with regulations & government $$$ & the costs of education goes out of sight while most families can't afford to send their kids to college anymore!!!

the government gets involved in medical care & insurance is now unaffordable while many have no coverage!!!

the list goes on & on & on!!!!

SUCH A JOKE!!!