Towson drops mens soccer and baseball.

[andy7171]

Shit is hitting the fan. Interesting why two coaches with over 70 year(both with losing records) at the school are being defended in the media, but LONG time Towson football coach didn't make any noise when fired over the phone while recruiting in 2009.

[dal4018]

**** is hitting the fan. Interesting why two coaches with over 70 year(both with losing records) at the school are being defended in the media, but LONG time Towson football coach didn't make any noise when fired over the phone while recruiting in 2009.

Politics or blackmail????

[SDHornet]

Sounds like Title IX issues. Good luck in Towson land Andy.

[andy7171]

Blaming it on Title IX, but it's obvious the new AD is spending money on stupid shit like redoing the locker room in the field house TWICE in the last three years.

[CAA Flagship]

[Ibanez]

What?! What logical reason is there for this? Is Towson going to realize the cost savings? Will they honor students with baseball and soccer scholarships? Will Robin arrive in time to save Batman?!

[andy7171]

What?! What logical reason is there for this? Is Towson going to realize the cost savings? Will they honor students with baseball and soccer scholarships? Will Robin arrive in time to save Batman?!

Scholarships are being honored.

[Grizalltheway]

Shouldn't you be happy that they're dropping soccer?

[andy7171]

Shouldn't you be happy that they're dropping soccer?

It's still one othe the biggest sports played. The men playing just need to acknowledge that it is a girls sport.

It's silly that a school the size of Towson isn't going to have a soccer or baseball team.

Atlanta Braves President donated a shit load of money to renovate the baseball complex. It's friggin beautiful. Now its just going to be unused? It's at one of the main entrances to campus. Its the only field in the middle of campus.

[CAA Flagship]

SVP just talked about it on the radio. Said the way they did it was BS. Had cops there when they gave them the news. Spelled the coach's name wrong on the paperwork. I guess 30+ years is not long enough to get the spelling right.

It's a difficult decision to have to deal with for everyone. But the school's handling of the notifications is weak at best.

[andy7171]

SVP just talked about it on the radio. Said the way they did it was BS. Had cops there when they gave them the news. Spelled the coach's name wrong on the paperwork. I guess 30+ years is not long enough to get the spelling right.

It's a difficult decision to have to deal with for everyone. But the school's handling of the notifications is weak at best.

This is a pretty damning article by a local sports caster that's been here for a long time.

A Black Eye For Towson University & Its Athletic Program
It has been a brutal weekend to be Towson University alumni. In fact, for the first time ever I am embarrassed to say I graduated from the school. Not because the baseball and men's soccer programs were dropped. That happens so often now we've become almost numb to how many programs are eliminated around the country by college presidents.

No, my embarrassment comes from how it was done. A level of arrogance and isolation from the school's administration toward the players, their families, and the coaches involved (even some influential alumni) that I have never witnessed in my 35-year connection with the school.

And specifically how the coaches, baseball's Mike Gottlieb and soccer's Frank Olszewski, who have combined to serve the school for more than 70 years, were treated like a pair of insubordinate school children when they were told their programs were being cut.

http://www.wbal.com/article/98199/21/te ... ic-Program" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[andy7171]

Eyecarumba!

Top story on Yahoo! homepage!

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-l ... --mlb.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[BDKJMU]

It makes no sense for a Div I south of the Mason Dixon line to not have baseball, one of your "Big 3" sports (football, basketball, baseball). I can understand maybe not having it up in new England or the northern midwest because of the still cold spring weather. I can understand a large public (examples VCU, GMU) not having football, but not baseball.

MLB is the #1 pro sports league in the world in term of total attendance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...tal_attendance" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
You've got 5-6 minor league teams for every MLB team, I believe around 170.

You have thousands if not tens of thousands of communities in the US that have little league teams. In terms of youth participation #s its #3 behind basketball and soccer. In terms of HS participation #s its #4 behind football, track, and basketball.
http://www.nfhs.org/content.aspx?id=3282" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Baseball is as American as apple pie.

Should have cut lacrosse instead of baseball.

[andy7171]

Should have cut lacrosse instead of baseball.

You've never lived in Baltimore.

[UNI88]

Shouldn't you be happy that they're dropping baseball?

It's still one othe the biggest sports played. The men playing just need to acknowledge that it is a boring girls sport with a slightly smaller ball.

FIFY

[BDKJMU]

Should have cut lacrosse instead of baseball.

You've never lived in Baltimore.

In terms of youth participation I found this that claimed baseball was down over 17% in total youth participation 2001-2011, but still had 12.3 million kids playing it, plus another 10.4 million playing softball
http://www.nsga.org/files/public/2011vs ... ebsite.pdf

USlacrosse.org claimed 680,000 participants 2011 (boys and girls).

Thats a ratio of over 30 youths playing baseball & softball for every one playing boys & girls youth lacrosse.

Yeah, I know lacrosse is hugely popular in Maryland, the #1 lacrosee state. But I'd be suprised if the # of boys & girls youth lacrosse participants came even close to that of youth participants baseball & softball. I can't find anything that gives the total # of youths in MD that play baseball & softball. Maryland has a population of about 5.9 million out of 311 million in the US. Using the 22.7 million figure given above for youths playing baseball & softball in the US, if baseball & softball had only avg popularity in MD you're be talking over 400k youths playing it. So even if baseball & softball aren't as popular in MD, you without a doubt still have a 6 figure # of kids playing it.

"Maryland has more than 48,000 youths participating in lacrosse programs,"
http://www.pressboxonline.com/story.cfm?id=8635" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So even in MD you undoubtedly have more youths competing baseball & softball than boys & girls lacrosse.

At the college level, what would cause more excitement, a Maryland team in the College World series final versus a Maryland team in the mens lacrosse championship game?

At the pro level, what would cause more excitement in the state of Maryland, the Orioles making the World Series, or the Chesapeake Bayhawks makking the MLL championship game? Well, that one is obvious.

Even in Maryland, the #1 lacrosse state, overall baseball is still more popular than lacrosse.

[BDKJMU]

Hopefully a big enough stink is raised that the state of Maryland investigates this. The Towson AD and president seem incompetent & shady at best, downright crooked at worst.