Syracuse to cut the pole vault?

[mjaubbs40]

Hey Mike,

Here's some unpleasant news from SU.

Reggie


-----Original Message-----
From: David Hegland
Sent: Friday, September 03, 2010 2:56 PM
To: reggiepv@rochester.rr.com
Subject: RE: Campus visit Sept. 18th

Reggie,

As Enoch said, I have assumed his responsibilities in the field events at
SU. To be perfectly honest, administration is still deciding the future of
the vault here at Syracuse. We have a new facility (not yet finished) that
does not look to include provisions for the PV. Again, being honest, I am
not optimistic that the PV continues in any reasonable capacity here at SU.
It is a distinct possibility that the event is cut due to a lack of practice
facilities and coaches to work with the athletes. At the moment, we do not
have a PV coach on staff, and to my knowledge have no plans to hire one. We
should know more in a week or so, but right now, that's where we are. I'm
sorry that I can't give you more specific information.

I am sorry that this is the situation, but our hand has been forced by the
new facilities. If Shawn wants to be a great college vaulter (as he
should), I would quite honestly advise him to look elsewhere. While SU is a
great school with a great athletic dept, it probably isn't a good fit for
him in his event.

Best Regards,
Dave Hegland
Syracuse
________________________________________
From: Enoch V Borozinski
Sent: Friday, September 03, 2010 4:21 PM
To: Reg Henderson
Cc: David Hegland
Subject: RE: Campus visit Sept. 18th

Hi Reggie,
I no longer coach at SU. I took a new position at UNLV. The person to speak
with is Dave Hegland now, I CCed him on this reply and he will be able to
chat with you. Congrats to Shawn on his summer, 15' not too far away.
Thanks, E. Borozinski

[mjaubbs40]

Here is my response:
Reggie,
Very sad. I had heard that the Syracuse track program was getting stepped on by football (1st losing the Carrier Dome and then losing Manley fieldhouse). But when they were getting their own facility I had great hopes. Now, for them to lose the vault would be a disaster. Talk about near-sight. To not even put in the pole vault facility is ridiculous. Syracuse would assumably host meets at the collegiate and high school level and no pole vault would give them an incomplete and sub-standard facility. I'm sure that's not what a high quality school like Syracuse aims for.
At some point there will be a pole vault coach in Syracuse. What happens if the school or track program has no foresight to include a pole vault facility? Who knows, maybe my daughter goes to Syracuse someday and I volunteer.
Coaches come and go, but to kill the pole vault program because there is currently no coach is a huge mistake. What about Leah Testa, who is knocking on the door to breaking the school record? What about Danielle Sherwood, who tore her ACL working her tail off for Coach Enoch B (who will be leaving now to coach @ UNLV) the night before a meet, and has been rehabbing like crazy to represent her school?
I'm sorry to preach, this email is almost more for the head coach and administrators.
I fully realize the challenges of the pole vault, but I can't imagine eliminating 1 event from a track program. Would the head coach cut the 5,000m if there was no distance coach? What will decathletes do with no pole vault? Now we have to cut 2 events--where does it end? Would gymnastics cut the balance beam? How about swimming cutting the diving events? What if the football team had to only go for 2 point conversions because the school wouldn't buy uprights to kick field goals or extra points? No three pointers for the basketball teams, because we don't want to paint the extra line on the floor and there is no 3-point specialist to coach those longer shots. Try telling the wrestling team that they can't wrestle any heavyweight divisions. You can't take out 1 event from a sport--it leaves the sport imcomplete.
Some of these comparisons may seem off base, but ultimately it's about doing what is right for kids--and that means provided opportunities, not cut them.
Syracuse already has all the equipment of a great vault facility. Huge landing pad, great standards, poles. All they need to is install a $300 plant box in the floor and paint straight lines for a runway. I would certainly be willing to make that donation to the booster club.
This is not a good move for track & field. Athletics advocates everywhere should be screaming about this.

[Branko720]

That is sad to hear Mike. I would think a DI like Cuse would be able to at least have a vault facility, but it comes down to money and liability to them. Track doesn't make any money for a school. They could make some by hosting meets, but that's it. Track doesn't have huge draw of fans that go to home meets and track doesn't have a big tv contract. And wasn't it Georgia Tech that no longer allows people (vaulters) to do hand stand push-ups due to the liability?

And that fact that they have mats and standards and still don't plan on including it in the facility space is terrible. I'm telling you there is plenty of equipment and facility space that is underutilized. I moved into a new indoor facility and I was worried my mats wouldn't come in on time, and the college I volunteer at wouldn't let me borrow their mats. Why? I think that is crime. Because those vaulters jump on those mats about twice a year, for our two home meets. I feel like there are a lot of vaulters out there looking for a place to call home and very few people willing to work with us.

I think schools like Cuse and others should try and have coaches run club programs to help make money for the schools and track programs. It wouldn't come anywhere near football money, but it would justify the program and provide a service for nearby communities.

I get real worried every time I hear about teams cutting the vault.

[rainbowgirl28]

I think schools like Cuse and others should try and have coaches run club programs to help make money for the schools and track programs. It wouldn't come anywhere near football money, but it would justify the program and provide a service for nearby communities.

NCAA rules make that challenging to do at the DI level.

[AVC Coach]

At the moment, we do not
have a PV coach on staff, and to my knowledge have no plans to hire one.

This bothers me! Isn't the pole vault an event in track and field? Is there a track and field coach on staff? Are these college coaches only looking for guys and girls who can already run fast and require little technical coaching to score them points in the sprints and distance events? "we do not have a pole vault coach on staff". What does that mean? I coach the pole vault at my high school, but I sometimes also work with other jumps, the throws and sprinters. You don't have to be a one trick pony. Would a football team quit throwing passes simply because they don't have a "receivers" coach?

I get real worried every time I hear about teams cutting the vault.

I'm with you Branko! Sad stuff!

[KirkB]

Is this a "winning is everything" attitude that the Syracuse AD has ... not to bother competing if they can't excel?

I'm with AVC and Branko ... whatever happened to "build it and they will come"?

Not every college team can win points in every event at every meet ... but they should at least TRY!

Kirk

[Divalent]

I think schools like Cuse and others should try and have coaches run club programs to help make money for the schools and track programs. It wouldn't come anywhere near football money, but it would justify the program and provide a service for nearby communities.

NCAA rules make that challenging to do at the DI level.

I suspect that would be the case if (as Branko suggests) it was the college running the club and making money off it. But recently I looked into the question of whether a college coach could also run his/her own club, and the NCAA rules do allow it (if the college allows the coach to do so). There are a few restrictions (e.g., athletes in the club can't live more than 50 miles away, the coach can't also coach a HS team, and (IIRC) some concerns about recruiting issues), but colleges could hire a local club coach to be the college PV coach without (other than the time commitment) interfering with the club activities.

[ec1vaulter]

Syracuse would assumably host meets at the collegiate and high school level and no pole vault would give them an incomplete and sub-standard facility. I'm sure that's not what a high quality school like Syracuse aims for.

They have hosted high school and college meets for years, and have had several very successful vaulters compete in those meets. Last year Rory Quiller entered in a meet at Manley Fieldhouse. I sincerely hope that the plans are changed to include a vault facility in which SU may continue hosting competitions, drawing high quality competitors, and fielding a complete team.

I think schools like Cuse and others should try and have coaches run club programs to help make money for the schools and track programs. It wouldn't come anywhere near football money, but it would justify the program and provide a service for nearby communities.

Branko,
This is something that simply should not be necessary. What about the money the money lost by no longer hosting complete track and field meets? Or the loss of non-scholarship athletes (as most pole vaulters are) for the admissions office. I feel the liability issues and desires of the athletic department are dictating this decision far more than monetary issues.

[Branko720]

Wait, so what's the liability for football? Is that more than vaulting? I doubt it. Also, liability is a monetary issue in and of itself. The loss of money for track meets? Track meets don't pull in the cash that a Syracuse football game or basketball game pull in. It is a monetary issue.

Yes I agree. In a perfect world every college would have a vault coach, poles, gymnastic equipment, and anything else you can think of, but that's not going to happen. Running track clinics or clubs at schools is something that could help fund the programs. And at the end of the day that is what the programs need, more money. I know at my college we are fighting to keep are numbers up, from a monetary perspective. We have plenty of boys and girls that want to compete but the athletic department wants to cut numbers in order to reduce the costs.

Money is always an issue.

[PVJunkie]

This is common at universities across the nation. They chosse to focus their efforts on a particular group. They get to be known as "jump schools" "distance schools" "sprint schools" etc.

It is a shame that in this instance they have gone so far as to include this choice in a construction project and they will regret it when it comes to running meets. Schools (HS or otherwise) will choose not to enter the meets they host since their full team cannot participate.

They will aslo regret this decision somewhere down the road when they miss a place by a point or two because some other team scored in the vault.

[reggiepv]

There are several comments made about Syracuse dropping the vault because they don't have a coach or don't think they can excel in it. Neither of these is the case. Syracuse had made both the Carrier Dome, and now Manley Field house such that they are unable to hold track meets, or even have a pole vault runway, or even a sprinting straightaway. Even the sprinters at Syracuse are suffering. The question I wonder is whether the head coach just wanted to focus on distance running (some schools, for instance Pepperdine Mens Track, just treat Track as Spring opportunities for the cross country team), OR... did the University just say we're covering the track in Astroturf, there's nothing being done to replace it, and that's it. One thing I know for sure, Rick Suhr built an indoor pole vault facility for about the same cost as the difference in tuition between Syracuse and Binghamton for one student for one year (that difference is 52k - 18k = 34k, Rick probably spent less on his Quonset hut).

[ec1vaulter]

The question I wonder is whether the head coach just wanted to focus on distance running (some schools, for instance Pepperdine Mens Track, just treat Track as Spring opportunities for the cross country team), OR... did the University just say we're covering the track in Astroturf, there's nothing being done to replace it, and that's it.

5 out of 6 coaches are focusing on events 800m and longer... I think you are correct in assuming they focus on distance running. That being said, I would think the coach would have put up at least some fight to keep the indoor track simply from a meet hosting aspect.