illiniowl
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RE: Transformation vs Incrementalism
(12-24-2019 01:32 PM)GoodOwl Wrote: Wondering what it might look like on South Main in the future? Here's a possible preview, based on our current trajectory. Whaddaya think?
Division III Washington University passes up big money, big problems
By Ben Malcolmson, sports editor of The Daily Trojan at the University of Southern California
I remember briefly considering Wash U in St. L back in the day in my initial survey of possible schools. Found out they were not Div I and quickly said no thanks. Hence, Rice (at the time).
Quote:This school’s teams face a unique challenge that no big-time university has ever faced or has ever wanted to face.
“It’s hard to match up a 1400 SAT and a skilled baseball player,” Washington University baseball coach Ric Lessmann said.
A 150-year-old private school situated in a tree-lined section of St. Louis, Division III Washington University doesn’t have athletic scholarships. The athletic department doesn’t get help from admissions for a star recruit. And the athletic budget might as well be pennies in comparison with those of some Division I athletic programs, including USC.
This is no normal athletic program.
“You’re talking about a different world between Division I and Division III,” Washington University Athletic Director John Schael said.
The admissions department of Washington University doesn’t grant the athletic program any leeway in terms of academic credentials for recruits and athletic scholarships are nonexistent at the Division III level, so it is pretty difficult to win.
“I don’t recruit related to baseball,” said Lessmann, who has coached 11 years at Washington University and 39 years total, compiling a 1,204-410-1 all-time record.
The athletes at Washington University might be the ones performing surgery on you in 10 years, but they do not fit into the nerd stereotype. Washington University has 18 varsity teams in the University Athletic Association, an athletic conference featuring “eight leading universities committed to academic and athletic excellence,” according to the UAA’s Web site.
Getting in might be the most competitive part – more than 20,000 people apply each year for only 1,300 spots in the freshman class, so recruiting is a bear.
“If you don’t have a 1400 SAT, a 30 to 31 ACT and if you’re not in the top 5 to 7 percent of your class, I throw (the recruit’s interest form) in the waste can,” said Lessmann, who added that he has no influence in the admissions office like Division I programs allegedly do for players who do not meet the university’s academic criteria.
At a university where tuition runs at a USC-esque $41,000 a year, Lessmann’s pool of recruits shrinks after high school players learn of the rigid academic standards and the cost of attending the school.
“There are two hurdles: You’ve got to get in and what type of financial aid package are you going to get,” said Lessmann, who played in the New York Yankees’ minor-league system at age 17. “But, we don’t have tons of full-pay players. The average academic scholarship is from $10,000 to $11,000.”
Players are not the only ones hit with money woes. Washington University’s athletic department as a whole has to deal with a diminutive budget compared to the likes of USC’s and other major universities’.
The Washington University athletic department spent slightly more than $2 million during the 2002-03 school year, while USC’s athletic department spends nearly $47 million, 23 times more than Washington University, in that same time period. USC’s expenses for its 19 sports are about average for a major university’s athletic program with a similar number of sports (Notre Dame’s is $38.5 million; Texas’ $49.4 million; Florida’s $54.2 million).
“(USC is) in the money game and we’re not,” Lessmann said.
And consider that USC and Washington University have a similar number of athletes (593 for USC and 528 for Washington University), sports (19 and 16 teams, respectively) and operating expenses for their respective universities as a whole ($1.52 billion for USC and $1.35 billion for Washington University).
USC’s male head coaches, on average per position, were paid nearly seven-and-a-half times more than Washington University’s ($245,046 to $32,786).
USC’s operating expense for football is $1.96 million. Washington University’s is $106,519.
Washington University athletics do not have the professional feel – the Bears don’t have a 92,000-seat football stadium or Nike swooshed on them from head to toe – that has become all too apparent in college sports these days.
“Here, we don’t have that attitude,” Argo said.
On a warm mid-March day, the Washington University baseball team lost, 5-2, to Elmhurst College, another small Division III school. A win’s only a win and a loss is merely a loss. Boy, are we missing out.
That article is 15 years old -- WUSTL has gotten a lot harder to get into (as have all elite schools) and I highly doubt that their athletics department is still walled off from admissions. Given the very low admission rate and relatively small incoming class size, if they simply left it up to admissions, they'd be in danger of literally not having enough kids who played varsity basketball or baseball or whatever in HS to even field teams, nevermind competitive ones. The Ivies pass athletic recruits through admissions (as the recent scandal made crystal clear) and so do Div. III schools.
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