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Mondays With Myles: A Year In Review - Feb 19, 2007
posted by: Josh
On this morning’s edition of Mondays With Myles, NCAA President Myles Brand and I mark the one-year anniversary of our podcast debut.
Listen to Mondays With Myles 
CommentsWhat is your opinion of the action Ohio University has taken by cutting 4 "minor" sports in the name of Title IX? In their announcement Jan. 29, 2007, they stated a main reason for the cut was their non-compliance with Title IX and the other was financial. The Title IX reason floored most people because it was widely thought that OU was one of the best in the country for compliance (I believe they were thought to be 2nd in the country). If they aren’t in compliance what does that say about the rankings of all of the other institutions? Apparently, OU is due for a review by NCAA this year, and the AD indicated OU needed to do something quickly because of their non-compliance status, their answer was to cut Men's Track, Men's Swimming and Women's Lacrosse. This seems to be contrary to everything I have read about NCAA's public policy toward Title IX and specifically your comment about working with institutions to find a way to comply instead of using sports cuts to bring them into compliance. On the clarification of Title IX in 2003 you said, “The NCAA will work closely with its member universities and colleges and with OCR to implement Title IX within the context of this clarification letter. We will assist in educational activities and use all other means at our disposal to support the intent and goals of Title IX.” Has Ohio University contacted NCAA about their non-compliance issue? And your quote I like the most, “I certainly hope no University cuts sports to comply with Title IX. There are always alternatives. The NCAA is always ready and able to work with an athletics department to identify acceptable alternatives to cutting sports. It should not be the case that men's participation opportunities are diminished to comply with Title IX." I have read much of what you have said about Title IX and believe you mean what you say. I value your opinion so please tell me what your opinion about institutions continuing to use Title IX as a scapegoat for their inability to their manage budgets or their preoccupation with pumping up their football and basketball teams without regard to what it means to the athletes, schools, and families of the sacrificed program? When will we stop pitting men's sports against women's sports and athletes? Where will our runners and swimmers come from after a while? And what about cutting one of if not the fastest growing sport in the country (Women’s Lacrosse) to balance out the cuts, doesn’t this fly in the face of everything Title IX was meant to do and should do for all athletes. To get the benefit of cutting Women’s Lacrosse, the operating budget and scholarships it was necessary for OU to cut men’s sports, even with those cuts OU still isn’t in compliance so what view does NCAA take on these actions? I have heard it is an institutional decision to cut sports for financial reasons and while I understand that, if they cut them under the guise of Title IX and still aren’t in compliance what does the NCAA do? A quote from a statement you issued on 7/11/2003 regarding the clarification of Title IX by AS of Civil Rights Gerald Reynolds, “All young women and men engaged in athletics have reason to cheer today. And all of us who support their athletics endeavors, myself proudly included, should join in their celebration.” Dr. Brand I can say without a doubt this action taken by OU in support of their athletes is the bleakest day of their lives. They have lost their sport, their university and their trust in the administration and have broken any connection to the university the alum that served it so well academically and athletically had. They now can take no pride in what they worked so hard to build; they have nowhere to point to say they were a part of that. All the time they spent in the pool, on a bus, on a snowy field, in rehab, have meant nothing, pride in representing their school on and off the playing field, pool and track is lost to them. Those that were just starting their college careers or had dreams about representing their new university will more than likely move on but will never trust the administration of another university again. These are the very athletes the university and the NCAA should be looking toward to represent their interest but instead they are the victims of the administrations greed for the “money” athletes under the guise of Title IX. Dr. Brand has agreed to address this topic in an upcoming edition of Mondays With Myles. Stay tuned. Josh -- We look forward to Dr. Brand's discussion. I assume if we have questions/comments he will address them if possible? What time does the address begin? Thank you for the posting. A nice interview. It demonstrates that the home office is doing whatever it can to stay on the cutting edge of Internet communications technology. We will discuss this on the March 5 edition of Mondays With Myles and I will ask Dr. Brand about some of his thoughts on the subject. If you still have questions after the broadcast, we can address them in the ensuing conversation. Dear Dr. Brand: On the Title IX web site under Athletics it states…Title IX governs the overall equity of treatment and opportunity in athletics while giving schools the flexibility to choose sports based on student body interest, geographic influence…. How can one of the most popular sports in the State of Ohio and in the country be a sport Ohio University and many Mid American Athletic Conference universities decided to drop? Is it because you can count Men’s Indoor Track and Field and the Men’s Outdoor Track and Field program twice to reduce their men’s number in the OU case by 100 male athletes? It would seem to me if the sport is this popular at the high school level, State funded universities should offer it to their students. (statistics listed below). Another issue is the diversity of the track and field team. According The Athens Post on January 29, “Ohio University is the state’s least racially diverse college and offers one of It is my understanding that one of the main reasons why Miami University did not drop their Men’s Outdoor Track and Field program in 1999 after their Athletic Director recommended it be dropped was the Board of Trustees saw it as one of the programs that attracted minorities to the university. Some facts on track and field.. Men’s Track and Field is the oldest sport known to mankind. Track and field has more countries in the world participating in the Olympic Games than any other sport. In Ohio there are 728 boys' high school track & field teams. Only basketball and baseball have more schools sponsoring a boys' team than track & field. According to the Ohio High School Athletic Association, football has the most boys participating and boys track and field ranks third with 24,219 boys participating in Ohio high schools last year, just 49 fewer students athletes than second-place basketball. According to statistics from the 2005-2006 National Federation Association of State High School Association there were 15,497 schools offering boys outdoor track and field. Only boys’ basketball had more high schools offering it than track and field. Boys high school track had the third most participants with 533,985, only football and basketball had more boys participating. Sincerely, Matt McGowan The Ohio University Men's Swimming & Diving team came to Ohio University based on the promises and representations made that, among other things, they will graduate a Bobcat swimmer and there are no Title IX issues at Ohio University. Do you believe that the University, with a Core Value and Guiding Principle of Integrity, has an obligation to honor these commitments? Can you identify successful 'phase-outs' of cut programs at other universities that cut sports for Title IX reasons? Would the NCAA be willing to work with Ohio University to identify alternatives to these program cuts? I know that alumni, parents, and students are willing to fund an endowment to finance the sports cut at OU. Unfortunately, all doors are closed to any of these groups who step forth because the Administration is too busy defending their original bad decision to listen to these ideas. Dr. Brand, I am a parent of an OU swimmer. I believe it is critically important for the NCAA to investigate Ohio University on its ethical behavior. The athletic department, on its own letterhead and signed by athletic director Kirby Hocutt, sent letters to swim team members outlining their commitment and support of OU swimming. In addition to written representations, there have been numerous oral representations (to parents and swimmers) made by the athletic department and OU representatives, some as recent as January 2, 2007. The freshmen and sophomore classes were recruited, without scholarship opportunities, under the pledge that there were no Title IX or financial issues. The NCAA cannot allow this type of recruiting behavior. I implore you, the NCAA, to look into these issues of fact. Thank you, Brad Stetson Dr Brand: My son was recruited to swim at OU during the spring of 2006. Did the University have a responsibility to inform him of the possibility of his sport being cut? If so, do I have legal recourse for the additional costs we have incurred to transfer to another institution? Does the University owe any responsibility to the athletes it is recruiting? As a former swimmer, a teacher of physical education and a lover of all sports, including football, basketball and baseball, I want to see OU be successful in the sports arena. But I am also mindful that OU is an institution of higher learning and, as such, should concentrate on the educational aspects of university life. I do not blame Title IX for our troubles. I think the problem lies in making sports of all kinds the ruler of university policy. I may be too old but I long for the days when athletes played sport for the joy of the game and went to college for an education. If the money spent on coaches’ salaries and scholarships were spent on academic scholarships, society would be the better for it. Why can't we revert to the days when coaches' salaries were tied to those of full professors and we had a reasonable number of scholarships? Eighty-five scholarships for football is ridiculous. The team dresses 60 players and probably plays no more than 40 in a game. Therefore we are paying 45 players to be spectators at each game. I agree that women should have scholarship numbers equal to the men. So why do we let the NCAA dictate the number of scholarships at 85 for football? Why do the university presidents not collectively set the number at, say, 40 and parcel the others to other deserving sports? Probably it is because presidents, like all administrators (and politicians), haven't the backbone for the job. Don't try to convince me that football is a "money-making" sport. The costs far outweigh the profits for all but the glamour schools like Florida, Ohio State, USC and Michigan. Does anyone really think that fewer people would watch TV football games if there were half as many scholarship players? Would there be fewer TV contracts and bowl games if coaches got $100,000 a year instead of $1,000,000? The time has come to take back our academic institutions from the NCAA and start to produce SCHOLAR - (athletes) in stead of scholar ATHLETES. Alan Lephart Dr. Brand, The Ohio Lacrosse Team was two weeks away from its first game when the Athletic Department announced it was cutting these teams because of Title IX and financial considerations. The AD said they decided to make the announcement at that time because there had been leaks. Whatever that means, it was impeccable timing, two weeks before the thing they had been working toward since the day they came back to school in September, right in the middle of mid-terms, what ensued (and possibly) with the reaction intended the Lacrosse Team was stampeded into looking for options. They were told because they played fall ball they would have to appeal to the NCAA for reinstatement for this year’s eligibility (they did this and have been reinstated for this year). They were hit with making a decision that was not just about playing Lacrosse but their education. So with a sense of urgency the team made the decision to cancel the season. It wasn’t what the team wanted but they felt they had no choice. Is there circumstance that would have allowed NCAA to reinstat their year's eligibility and not penalize these athletes while they searched for a resolution? Dr. Brand, First off, thank you for taking the time to address OU's recent decision to cut four varsity sports. As you can see, it is a decision that has affected many and we are strongly fighting it. My main question is how you feel about the fact that the school did not seek the help of the NCAA, as advised by you publicly, prior to making this decision? It appears that they did NOT exhaust all possible alternatives, making it a clearly unfair decision. Also, what, in your opinion, are some of the other avenues the university could have pursued rather than just cutting these four sports? Thank you for your attention, time and support. Go Bobcats!! Sincerely, www.SaveOUSports.org Dear Dr. Myles Brand, Dr. Brand, Does it worry you and the NCAA that there are three rather large universities currently cutting in the neighborhood of 19 sports because of what they say is their inability to comply with Title IX? Rutgers, Ohio University and James Madison University are the three that come to mind but I am sure there are more. Dr. Brand, The annual savings by eliminating these male sports at OU is approximately $680,000, which is a pittance and could be raised if it were not for OU being non-compliant with Title IX. It is my understanding that OU is currently out of compliance with Title IX and that the elimination of these sports and 160 plus male athletes along with a reduction of the number of maximum allowed male athletes on both the football and baseball teams are required in order for us to be in compliance by next year which is when the NCAA is scheduled to audit OU.
If the above is true and I assume it is then I only the NCAA can act by eliminating football in the equation of calculating Title IX compliance and also by eliminating the requirement of counting the same athletes twice when the participate in multiple sports which is also a major issue and more likely to occur with the male athlete then the female athlete. For example, it is my understanding that an outdoor track & Field athlete is counted twice against Title IX quotas if he participates in the Indoor Season. Dr. Brand is it possible to eliminate the double counting of male athletes and alos elimnate football from the Title IX requirements. Dr. Brand, Thank you for taking the time to address this issue that has been plaguing college athletics for too long. What is the NCAA doing to work with these universities to prevent the cutting of college athletics? After this "Mondays with Myles" podcast is over what will the NCAA do? Because it is very obvious the Office for Civil Rights will not step in when Title IX has been used as a scapegoat. These student-athletes are left with no other choice but to use their own resources and take their university to court. The likelihood of this happening is infrequent because of the cost and amount of time needed to fight their case. This is something I'm sure the university counts on. It is sad to think that Ohio University cannot do what is right and needs a parent looking over their shoulder. Sincerely, Catherine Leahy Josh - When will this segment on the program cuts at Ohio University be available? John Schaefer Today's Mondays With Myles address the issue of athletics departments cutting teams. If you have more questions for Dr. Brand, please submit them on that post and we will address them shortly. We didn't look at the specifics of Ohio because this is a disturbing trend affecting more than one campus. I look forward to our discussion after you all listen to today's podcast. Also, the Double-A Zone added polls to the blog today and I made sure the first topic was pertinent to this discussion. I hope you all will share your thoughts in that forum as well. NCAA President Brand: I respect the great work you are doing at the NCAA. In response to the unfortunate and messy decision that was made at Ohio University, you stated that it was a "poor message" and was "unfortunate." I fully agree. To help fix the situation and to promote NCAA athletics, I ask you to take the lead in this crisis. As President of the NCAA, it is your responsibility to "initiate, stimulate and improve intercollegiate athletics programs for student-athletes." Furthermore, it is your responsibility to oversee the appropriate execution of NCAA policies and principles, including Principle 2.2.6: "It is the responsibility of each member institution to involve student-athletes in matters that affect their lives." At Ohio University, the Athletic Department and university administration did not involve student-athletes in a matter that directly affects their lives: the elimination of their team and student-athlete status without proper notification or participation in the decision-making process. In addition, Principle 2.2.5 states: "It is the responsibility of each member institution to ensure that coaches and administrators exhibit fairness, openness and honesty in their relationships with student-athletes." This is a very serious principle that was violated at Ohio University. Did you know that Athletic Department officials, including the Director, allegedly made false statements to prospective student-athletes before they signed their letters of intent? Did you know that the Athletic Director allegedly promised prospective and current student-athletes that their teams would not be cut during their tenure on the team? In 15 minutes, I have already discovered the several NCAA policies that Ohio University has violated in regard to their elimination of four athletic teams. I can’t imagine what trained attorneys could find in a matter of weeks, or what the professional staff at the NCAA could find! President Brand, please lead the thousands of student-athletes, students, alumni, parents, and fans of Ohio University. Please contact Ohio University officials to set a meeting to discuss how they violated NCAA policies to avoid potentially violation other policies. Please meet with the Athletic Director to discuss his false promises to student-athletes and prospective athletes. Ultimately, please ensure that your organization’s policies and constitution are not disrespected. Sincerely, Mark Mecum Post a Comment |
  
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