East Carolina will be cutting one or more sports

—-
East Carolina University intends to cut one or more of the 20 sports it offers in an attempt to correct a $10 million budget deficit, the interim chancellor and athletic director confirmed at a special board meeting Monday.

ECU interim Chancellor Ron Mitchelson gave a report of a 10-person working group’s “Review of Athletics Fiscal Sustainability” at the virtual meeting. Reducing the number of sponsored sports was among the report’s 10 recommendations, but athletic director Jon Gilbert would not say what sports would be cut or how many.

“The financial model is not sustainable,” Mitchelson said.

Read more here: https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/arti...rylink=cpy

I'm going to guess men's swimming and diving and either men's cross country or men's traack and fiel.

(05-19-2020 07:04 AM)EigenEagle Wrote:  I'm going to guess men's swimming and diving and either men's cross country or men's traack and fiel.

Track is often one of the cheapest ways to meet NCAA requirements, because a single coaching staff and you have cross country, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field for men and women and have six sports covered.

Indeed, start at 20 sports and cut all six and you are below the number of sports you need for FBS.

The overlap is strongest with indoor & outdoor T&F, so if they decide they have to take a sacrificial lamb from the track program, it would most likely be M&W cross country.

If it's as dire as ECU is making it out to be, I'll say three sports - men's golf, men's cross country and women's lacrosse.

(05-19-2020 10:46 AM)jdgaucho Wrote:  If it's as dire as ECU is making it out to be, I'll say three sports - men's golf, men's cross country and women's lacrosse.

They just started women's lacrosse, I can't imagine they'd give up on it already.

(05-19-2020 10:49 AM)Cyniclone Wrote:  

(05-19-2020 10:46 AM)jdgaucho Wrote:  If it's as dire as ECU is making it out to be, I'll say three sports - men's golf, men's cross country and women's lacrosse.

They just started women's lacrosse, I can't imagine they'd give up on it already.

Just to be contrarian, that means it has less of a constituency that will fight for it.

(05-19-2020 10:55 AM)johnbragg Wrote:  

(05-19-2020 10:49 AM)Cyniclone Wrote:  

(05-19-2020 10:46 AM)jdgaucho Wrote:  If it's as dire as ECU is making it out to be, I'll say three sports - men's golf, men's cross country and women's lacrosse.

They just started women's lacrosse, I can't imagine they'd give up on it already.

Just to be contrarian, that means it has less of a constituency that will fight for it.

This is true, though it also means they'd piss off the AAC because they started sponsoring WLAX when ECU started its program. ECU drops it, they're already below the six teams needed.

(05-19-2020 10:49 AM)Cyniclone Wrote:  

(05-19-2020 10:46 AM)jdgaucho Wrote:  If it's as dire as ECU is making it out to be, I'll say three sports - men's golf, men's cross country and women's lacrosse.

They just started women's lacrosse, I can't imagine they'd give up on it already.

ECU's budget deficits didn't just start with COVID. So why did they add lacrosse in the first place?

(05-19-2020 10:49 AM)Cyniclone Wrote:  

(05-19-2020 10:46 AM)jdgaucho Wrote:  If it's as dire as ECU is making it out to be, I'll say three sports - men's golf, men's cross country and women's lacrosse.

They just started women's lacrosse, I can't imagine they'd give up on it already.

It's just a WAG on my part. While women's hoops and volleyball are head count sports (full scholarships), soccer, softball and lacrosse are not. They're not all safe from cuts.

(05-19-2020 11:15 AM)jdgaucho Wrote:  

(05-19-2020 10:49 AM)Cyniclone Wrote:  

(05-19-2020 10:46 AM)jdgaucho Wrote:  If it's as dire as ECU is making it out to be, I'll say three sports - men's golf, men's cross country and women's lacrosse.

They just started women's lacrosse, I can't imagine they'd give up on it already.

It's just a WAG on my part. While women's hoops and volleyball are head count sports (full scholarships), soccer, softball and lacrosse are not. They're not all safe from cuts.

With an enrollment ratio of 57 women to 43 men, I imagine reducing the number of scholarships for women is problematic under Title IX. Even if they actually currently award the max in every women's sport they sponsor, it still only adds up to 97 scholarships, compared with 141 for men.

(05-19-2020 11:25 AM)ken d Wrote:  

(05-19-2020 11:15 AM)jdgaucho Wrote:  

(05-19-2020 10:49 AM)Cyniclone Wrote:  

(05-19-2020 10:46 AM)jdgaucho Wrote:  If it's as dire as ECU is making it out to be, I'll say three sports - men's golf, men's cross country and women's lacrosse.

They just started women's lacrosse, I can't imagine they'd give up on it already.

It's just a WAG on my part. While women's hoops and volleyball are head count sports (full scholarships), soccer, softball and lacrosse are not. They're not all safe from cuts.

With an enrollment ratio of 57 women to 43 men, I imagine reducing the number of scholarships for women is problematic under Title IX. Even if they actually currently award the max in every women's sport they sponsor, it still only adds up to 97 scholarships, compared with 141 for men.

If ECU is cutting three sports, I don't see them all being men's sports.

Is baseball a sacred cow at ECU? If not, dropping it plus swimming & diving (neither of which are headcount sports) could reduce your scholarship total by around 20 without running afoul of FBS minimum requirements. Baseball is a revenue sport at some schools, but I don't know if it's a moneymaker at ECU, especially with travel to the AAC West schools.

(05-19-2020 11:01 AM)ken d Wrote:  

(05-19-2020 10:49 AM)Cyniclone Wrote:  

(05-19-2020 10:46 AM)jdgaucho Wrote:  If it's as dire as ECU is making it out to be, I'll say three sports - men's golf, men's cross country and women's lacrosse.

They just started women's lacrosse, I can't imagine they'd give up on it already.

ECU's budget deficits didn't just start with COVID. So why did they add lacrosse in the first place?

I would suspect some kind of political reason, or T9, which would make it difficult to cut.

(05-19-2020 11:32 AM)ken d Wrote:  Is baseball a sacred cow at ECU? If not, dropping it plus swimming & diving (neither of which are headcount sports) could reduce your scholarship total by around 20 without running afoul of FBS minimum requirements. Baseball is a revenue sport at some schools, but I don't know if it's a moneymaker at ECU, especially with travel to the AAC West schools.

ECU has the most NCAA Tournament appearances without a trip to the College World Series. I'd call that a sacred cow.

(05-19-2020 11:00 AM)Cyniclone Wrote:  

(05-19-2020 10:55 AM)johnbragg Wrote:  

(05-19-2020 10:49 AM)Cyniclone Wrote:  

(05-19-2020 10:46 AM)jdgaucho Wrote:  If it's as dire as ECU is making it out to be, I'll say three sports - men's golf, men's cross country and women's lacrosse.

They just started women's lacrosse, I can't imagine they'd give up on it already.

Just to be contrarian, that means it has less of a constituency that will fight for it.

This is true, though it also means they'd piss off the AAC because they started sponsoring WLAX when ECU started its program. ECU drops it, they're already below the six teams needed.

Then that counts as a constituency. Maybe not decisive, but "we just convinced our conference partners to start WLAX league, and if we bail on them the conference is short" is...something.

(05-19-2020 11:42 AM)jdgaucho Wrote:  

(05-19-2020 11:32 AM)ken d Wrote:  Is baseball a sacred cow at ECU? If not, dropping it plus swimming & diving (neither of which are headcount sports) could reduce your scholarship total by around 20 without running afoul of FBS minimum requirements. Baseball is a revenue sport at some schools, but I don't know if it's a moneymaker at ECU, especially with travel to the AAC West schools.

ECU has the most NCAA Tournament appearances without a trip to the College World Series. I'd call that a sacred cow.

That just means they've had success on the field. It doesn't mean they can't be cut. If you are looking to eliminate a $4 million dollar shortfall, it doesn't do much good to cut a sport that costs you $400K. You have to go where the big bucks are.

That being said, the big bucks are always in football. But I'm pretty sure that IS a sacred cow at ECU. That, despite the fact that the budget woes are largely caused by a huge drop in football revenues. Their average attendance is down by close to 15K, a lot of which is probably from paying customers rather than just students.

Having read the recommendations of the committee studying the athletics deficits, I must say I was underwhelmed by the lack of specificity. I hope they didn't pay much for advice that amounts to "spend less and find more revenue".

Baseball is very important to ECU, they averaged 3,400 fans in 2019. It would be a cataclysmic event if they cancel it.

https://ecupirates.com/news/2019/6/6/gen...ivers.aspx

Yeah there’s no way ECU cuts baseball, it’s by far their most consistently successful and well known sport. As a college baseball fan, when I think of ECU I think of their baseball program.

(05-19-2020 01:29 PM)3BNole Wrote:  Yeah there’s no way ECU cuts baseball, it’s by far their most consistently successful and well known sport. As a college baseball fan, when I think of ECU I think of their baseball program.

Their basketball team averaged 3,900 by comparison, https://ecupirates.com/sports/mens-baske...s/2019-20. I think it would be a hard decision if someone forced them to cancel one or the other. They'll make the cuts elsewhere.

(05-19-2020 01:14 PM)chidave Wrote:  Baseball is very important to ECU, they averaged 3,400 fans in 2019. It would be a cataclysmic event if they cancel it.

A quality baseball team is one of the few ways a school like ECU can really make a name for themselves. Bad idea to cut it.

With that said, sports like:

Swimming and diving, tennis, and golf don't tend to accomplish much.

Like someone said, you can't really get rid of track because it counts as multiple sports for all practical purposes. Softball, if performed at a high level, can more or less accomplish what a good baseball team can. They're both TV sports now.

Women's soccer is another one that could be sacrificed.

Another option could be to reduce the scholarship expenditures without cutting too many sports. You've got to abide by Title IX, but you don't have to give a full ride to everyone when it's allowed.