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Syracuse: Athletic Director Explains Decision

Syracuse athletic director Dr. Daryl Gross, spoke to invited members of the press today regarding the leak and subsequent announcement regarding the elimination of men’s and women’s swimming teams. In a press conference Gross outlined a strategic planning process that sought to create a successful environment with the greatest possible efficiencies.

“When we looked at SU dept and future and viability an long-term success, there’s some efficiencies we’ve been looking at. We concluded on the elimination of two sports with the replacement of one. Part of my job is to make these decisions and do what’s right for the athletic department. “

Women’s hockey was identified as the sport of choice – “We’re a winter Olympic sports town, it makes sense for us.” Gross explained that there is “a multitude of great women hockey players in New York.”

In discussing the decision, Gross described an the painful process of eliminating one sport in favor of another, that he felt could be more successful on a national level. “Anytime a sport becomes extinct it’s something none of us want, but the women’s ice hockey program will be given the resources and culture to foster one of the great programs in the country. Whatever the sport, we want to give our athletes the resources, culture and care necessary.”

The problem, Gross explained, came down to money. “We don’t have the resources to compete the right way in swimming.” Chief among those needs was a facility that he pegged in the $35-40 million range. “If we were gong to have a swimming program here then its very important that we have the resources to do it the right way and that would mean a new facility.”

Not that a hockey facility wouldn’t necessitate its own costs. “Obviously we’re looking at some other facility changes that will impact eighteen teams. To do it for just two is tougher. If we’re going to fundraise we need to help as many teams as we can help.”

Gross then offered the standard lines provided each time a team is eliminated, explaining that they’d anticipated the reaction they’d received and that Syracuse would honor all scholarships and do everything in their power to assist the affected swimmers. As for the coach, Gross added, “Lou Walker has given a lot of time to this program. We are not ignorant of that. He’s done a great job of keeping this program as long as he has. I wish we could have every sport and the proper facilities, but when you look at the long-term survival and enhancement of the athletic department you have to make decisions that won’t please everyone.” He added that the coaching staff would stay on for another year and they will attempt to help “every way possible with career moves or jobs internally. They’ve served us very, very well. Lou is a solid individual, terrific person, and I’m going to help him in any way I can.”

Gross was interrupted by Peter Gollands, a member of the team who asked if the team could be preserved if funding wasn’t an issue. Gross’ response was quick and to the point “If funding was not an issue? Sure, if somebody could put together a $40 million facility and we had a line item that would cover swimming, then yeah, we could have a team.”

Part of swimming’s problem, it seemed, was recruiting. In the course of the discussion, a CollegeSwimming.com intern pointed out that the National Federation of High Schools reported 7,480 girls high school swimmers in New York compared to 7,398 female hockey players in the whole of the United States. When asked if this move was worthwhile in light of student interest, Gross explained, “Look, we have 14 women’s swimming scholarships and this pas year we had just thirteen women on a team. With fourteen scholarships we’d have liked to have 28-30 women. There’s a high interest in women’s hockey here and with eighteen scholarships in hockey we expect to carry thirty-two. In swimming we’ve been going overseas to try to compete with the Auburn’s, Texas’, and Stanford’s. You’re spending a lot of resources to keep up. We’ve had some decent results, but haven’t had national championships.”

Gross repeatedly discussed creating the right type of culture – a culture rich in resources and producing of championships. He made reference of the football team’s progress, going from 1-10 to 4-8 in the past two years. He was then asked about another culture – one in which the university is eliminating one of the highest-performing programs academically – while continuing to support programs with deficient APR scores or, in the case of men’s lacrosse, programs with a history of arrests. The question agitated Dr. Gross who explained, “We have a problem and those are things that we’re working on internally. We have many other tremendous programs that we’re proud of. “

Instead, it was a need to make tough choices and if to make is point, concluded, “I love swimming. I came from a university (Southern California) with highly successful swimming and I was always a the dual meets and national championships.” With that, the discussion was brought to an abrupt end.

 

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