Syracuse to cut the pole vault?

[reggiepv]

Too often the cross country head coach is the track head coach.

[reggiepv]

I would think the coach would have put up at least some fight to keep the indoor track simply from a meet hosting aspect. ec1vaulter

Syracuse can still host outdoor meets, but I guess they're not planning on people trying to fit in their practicing before November and after March (although some programs do). I even asked if my son could find his own practice facilities (Shawn really wanted to go to Syracuse), but the head coach indicated that he wouldn't be allowed to wear a Syracuse uniform in competion (silly me, I thought he could be on the team, i guess you can't do any training on your own at Syracuse).

[vault3rb0y]

I've become convinced that 99% of athletic departments are about maximizing their reputation for the money they spend on their sports. Football is perfect, because the better the reputation, the MORE money they MAKE from them. They don't lose any.

They are willing to fund programs like Track, volleyball, baseball, etc... because if they are successful, it brings the athletic department a better reputation. But the pole vault? You could have 3 consecutive national champion pole vaulters and it would only be a blip on the radar if the football/basketball team has a winning season. Win or lose, we don't make Syracuse look as good as football/basketball does, and we consistently pull money (even though it's a small amount) from the athletic department. In getting the bang for your buck, it's still a better bet with football. This is the fundamental problem with putting money into the mix with college athletics. Maybe we make salary caps for college coaches and AD's, then we start to see a focus on the success of all sports, not just those sports people pay the most attention to.

A good example of this is the recently adopted "capitol one cup" in conjunction with the NCAA. They want to make a competition to rank the "overall best Div. 1 sports program for men and women". Then, they decide that some sports are more important that others, and have flat out made a Tier system to give more points to "more important" sports.

http://www.capitalonecup.com/about-the-cup.html
Look under "scoring structure"

This is a sad step in the direction college sports have been heading in for a while. Tiering sports, really because they make more money or are watched more than others, goes against so many moral standards that the NCAA is supposed to stand behind. Luckily, I know that many student athlete advisory committees have voiced this concerned, and pulled their conferences from the Capitol One Cup. Sorry to get off course... but it illustrates the trend being shown at Syracuse.