To: 1970 -- CROSSPORTS: Holy Cross Crusaders Sports Message Board

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Date Posted: 12:59:08 07/16/04 Fri
Author: Rick
Subject: To: 1970
In reply to: HC1843 's message, "Endowment compss with some richer ECAC schools.." on 09:48:47 07/16/04 Fri

I hear and appreciate what you're saying....

I think it's long past due for the Trustee's and McFarland to come to grips with our athletic programs as a whole. As I screamed in another thread.....

'IF YOU CAN'T OR REFUSE TO COMPETE EQUALLY IN ATHLETIC FUNDING WITH THE PATRIOT LEAGUE - OR - THE ECAC, THAN GET OUT OF THE DANG BIZ OF D-1 SPORTS AND GO WHERE YOU BELONG OR PROBABLY WANT TO BE ANYWAY....WITH WILLIAMS, BOWDOIN AND AMHURST - IF THEY'LL EVEN HAVE YOU !!!'

Tempering that a bit and with the following quotes via Dick Regan in 2002 in mind....

" We are a small liberal arts college and he realizes that we cannot do some of the things that other schools do. "

" We simply cannot admit some of the student-athletes that other schools do. "

" Fr. McFarland and the Board of Trustees are supportive of the Athletic Program. They want a competitive program however they made it clear to me that we need to get this done with our existing resources. "

" Simply put, they expect me to do the best I can with the resources we currently have allocated to athletics. "

" The economic reality is that football is an extremely expensive sport compared to anything else we do. We spend a lot more on football than we do on men's and women's basketball combined. Somehow we need to find a
way of controlling the cost of football, particularly given the needs of our other twenty-six sports. "

" The other challenge I should mention concerns football. Lehigh and Colgate are spending dramatically more on financial aid than we are in this sport. Right now, we are spending as much as the College's budget can handle. We are going to need to find some way of bridging the gap if those schools keep up with their current level of spending. "

Sponsoring 26 sports is way too much for a school with 2800 undergrads ( and McFarland is on record as wishing to DECREASE enrollment in the coming years ) IMO. We know the athletic program loses over $7 MILLION ANNUALLY. We know football loses over $2.4 MILLION ANNUALLY and rising. We know that HC is the only Patriot school that DOES NOT have a booster club. We know that ALL the Ivy schools each have dozens of booster clubs and other financial resources for imaginative and aggressive student-athlete aid funding that we never EVER will be able to compete with. We also know that all of the above isn't static and our woeful position is only going to worsen unless proactive action is taken immediately. Lastly, we also know that HC has a handsome endowment for a school of it's size of about $400 MILLION.

If the Trustees and McFarland are adamant in 'staying the course' in athletic budgeting and funding, something has got to give. We simply cannot go on like this with no plan of remedial action.

* Option #1 - Drop Football and jettison the $2.4 million in red ink and reallocate say 60% of the 'need-based' football aid budget to other sports.

* Option #2 - Drop Football and also jettison several varsity sports - baseball, m/w golf, m/w rowing, men's tennis - and retain any as desired as club level sports. Enhance women's softball program/facilities and women's hockey program ( Div-1 ).

I won't even get into leaving the Patriot League or junking the dismal failure that need-based aid has been and bringing back athletic scholarships under a re-born football program. It's painfully obvious to me now that either of those fronts is much too complex a subject that would tax the limited brain resources of HC's hierarchy to the point of collective spontaneous drooling and convultions.

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Replies:

[> [> To: Rick, aren't you basically saying, that -- in the long run, Gilmore has no chance of success?, 14:35:03 07/16/04 Fri

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[> [> Re: Gilmore/success -- Rick, 14:48:09 07/16/04 Fri

What I say doesn't matter....it's what's above in print what Regan has said that matters....as well as what he HASN'T said since the day Gilmore was hired.

After perusing the quotes and facts, how would you rate Gilmore's - or anyone else's - chances for consistant success in HC football ?

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[> [> [> Re: Gilmore/success -- Slim, and non!, 15:27:08 07/16/04 Fri

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