(05-05-2021 04:09 PM)TDenverFan Wrote: ... I think Martin said that if we don't hit fundraising goals sports would be cut.
TribePride91 said things very well. Meanwhile, re the above statement, some folks need to look at which sports are pulling their own weight in fundraising and which ones aren't.
Note that no women's sports will be cut in the near-term and absolutely none will be cut until W&M gets its Title IX act together (which could take years).
Note that the men's sports that were previously attempted to be cut (Track, Swimming, Gymnastics) are the ones who are exceeding all of their fundraising goals (paying their own way!). As long as that continues, there is no justification for cutting those sports. (I personally believe that Men's Gymnastics will go down to Club status but not because of a lack of support but, rather, because so many other schools are dropping Gymnastics). Other sports that don't have huge support (like Golf, last time I checked) do not even have enough athletes or enough budget to make any real difference by dropping them.
Let's face it: the only sport that actually makes any sense at all, financially, to drop is Football. And that isn't going to happen at W&M anytime soon. Consider, though, that Football brings in the most revenue but it doesn't even cover its own expenses, much less cover for any other sports. So W&M would actually lose less money if it dropped football.
Lastly, I guess that all the Huge supporters and the folks who say that W&M can't compete against CAA schools who spend so much more than W&M in basketball have forgotten that Tony Shaver actually had W&M in 4 CAA Finals in a span of 8 years ....and even in his last four years his teams were still competitive. No telling what even one win in any of those four Finals years would have done for the trajectory of W&M athletics. One of Huge's major errors was that she was too impatient. Shaver (or his assistants who might have succeeded him) would have gotten us there. (Hopefully, Fischer will....but he hasn't yet and until he does it cannot be said that he is any more successful than Shaver was).