(09-17-2020 03:49 PM)WMSportsBlog Wrote:  With significant changes to W&M Athletics, it's fair to ask: is W&M Chasing an Impossible Dream?

In our most recent post, we explore W&M's ultimate goal of attaining elite academics and elite athletics at the FCS level.

Can it be done? Time will tell.

Article: https://wmsportsblog.com/2020/09/17/is-w...ble-dream/

There is a place where College leadership has managed to elevate the profile of Tribe athletics. If one googles "college athletic budgets" and then clicks on news, "William and Mary eliminates seven sports" has consistently appeared among the top search results since Sep 3.

It was never clear (at least to one fan) how the 2025 vision would transition from aspirational word salad to tangible resources needed to compete successfully year in and year out on the pre-pandemic landscape. The sports reduction announcement laid this bare.

All of us have heard and read the mantra that there are no other schools/college athletic programs like William and Mary, and consequently, finding a better conference fit than the CAA wasn't worth the effort. Guess what, having dropped seven sports, William and Mary is perhaps not the unique athletic program that existed prior to Sep 3.

We should be willing to admit that a big challenge for the College leadership is that it has to determine not only its own resource outlook, but also figure out what competitors/potential competitors will be left standing sponsoring which sports. It's not hard to envision some FCS football programs giving up the ghost, or others downgrading to, for lack of a better description, the Davidson model.

The above challenge notwithstanding, I think it will be a mistake if Tribe athletes, fans and donors are left with a scaled down version of the pre-pandemic vision. When the dust settles I hope Tribe sports land in a league where they can affordably thrive, and generate more fan interest, generational rivalries, and attendance, and larger donations. Anything I understand about the program at this point leaves me a bit like the guy with the sandwich in the Liberty Mutual commercial -- "I don't see it."