Save the Syracuse University Swimming and Diving Program

The Syracuse Post Standard is reporting that Syracuse University will drop men's and women's swimming after the coming season.  The move will be made to free up resources to begin a women's hockey team.Syracuse previously dropped wrestling and men's gymnastics to achieve compliance with Title IX.  In the case of swimming, competitiveness appears to be key.  According to an unnamed source, Syracuse's athletic director Daryl Gross, "Wants to place more emphasis on sports that can compete for NCAA championships" and that a new aquatic center - presumably to make the Orangemen competitive on a national level - would cost $35-50 million. Dr. Phil Whitten, Executive Director of the Collegiate Swimming Coaches Association explained that the decision makes little sense.  "Even with the Northeast being the center of collegiate hockey, there are far more high school swimmers than hockey players. This is doing a gross inservice to the students of Syracuse." According to the Department of Education, the Syracuse men's and women's teams operating budgets were $95,600 each (excluding scholarships and salaries).  By way of comparison, rival schools with women's hockey boasted budgets of $137,772 (Colgate), $99,993 (Cornell) and $133,122 (St. Lawrence).  The obvious advantage of women's hockey, of course, is that there are just thirty-three participating schools making national qualification far easier than in swimming. [Perhaps they should reinstate men's gymnastics considering Syracuse would instantly make the top twenty...considering there's just 17 teams left. -GE]When asked by the Post, Gross was uncommitted "It's premature to talk about it right now.  There are many things in the athletic department's long-term viability that have been researched and discussed at length, and we'll discuss those things at the appropriate time." "What shocks me is that we heard no previous mention of our team being in jeopardy of being cut," said Catrina Roth, a member of the team,"Members of the team found out through this newspaper instead of from our head coach."Added rising junior Peter Gollands, "How can this not make me question all the hard work, sweat and tears I have put into swimming since I was eight years old?  How can I look back on that and say it was worth it, when the school I prayed to get accepted into looks upon my team as dispensable?" Former head coach Jon Buzzard, when told of the news this morning said, "I feel very bad for Lou.  The best thing I can say about my coaching is that I produced a coach better than me." That time gap might offer the swimmers a ray of hope, though the lead time has not proven useful to swimmers at James Madison or Rutgers.If the rumors are to believed, Syracuse will be cutting a team with a 90 year history, though that might not mean much to an AD bent on national level success.  In the thirty-one years of the women's program just two swimmers have qualified for NCAA's.  On the men's side, Syracuse has reguarly been represented at the big meet, though their presense in the Big East as slipped as the conference has grown in recent years.Said Roth "Swimming has been a part of all of our lives since we were little kids. I never knew i could come so far and be accepted into one of the best schools in the nation for my major and be provided with the opportunity to compete at a D1 level. Years of hard work, sweat, and tears are resulting in me being denied to finish all four years of my college career.Guy Edson, of the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) and a 1973 Syracuse grad said, "While some of the high profile sports seems to be training people for professional sports careers.  Swimming prepares people for life.  [Jon Buzzard] was like a second father and I'm sure Lou has become the same to his swimmers as Coach Buzzard was to me. What's going through college all about?  I appreciate football and basketball, but swimming at Syracuse changed my life - to see that missing is a huge heartbreak." John Leonard, Executive Director of ASCA and also a Syracuse graduate, was unavailable for comment, but spoke last week at the CSCAA Convention about proactively saving programs.  One of the things he discussed was the need for teams to immerse themselves in their own communities - something Syracuse has traditionally done.  Explained former Syracuse coach Buzzard, "We worked to build a community outreach program similar to what Dave Robertson of New Trier had formed."  A president of the local school board, Buzzard explained, "We tried to make ourselves valuable to the community so that we'd have support."That's something Syracuse needs now as Gollands pleaded, "Please just help me let it be known to the swimming community that there are swimmers who need some support." -CollegeSwimming.com Here are a few more articles:http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/14840.asphttp://www.syracuse.com/articles/sports/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1180605573113600.xml&coll=1http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/14836.asp